Favourite Operating System ?

[BONES]

For me it's still Windows 7... more polished than 10.

More polished? It's a f**king disaster from start to finish. It's Vista SP2. Every single thing that was bad about Vista is still there in W7. Every, Single. Thing. It is the worst version of Windows I have ever used and I couldn't wait to get onto the W8 beta programme so I could be rid of it. It was/is a complete workflow killer.

Infact I'm using Windows 7 now because Windows 10 doesn't like one of my Hard Disks after I did a check disk on it. Windows 7 seems more accepting of it so I'm able to access it.

So when that disk fails and you lose everything, that will be your fault, not Windows'.

The only thing Windows 10 has over Windows 7 is being able to access all my ram that I have (20 Gigs).

What about accessing your applications? W10 has a Start Menu that is actually useful. I'd have thought you'd love it for its customisability, if nothing else.

having to buy a third party program to make Windows 10 look more prettier and a free alternative to customise the Start menu seemed like a bit much

Why would you need to do that when it's already so flexible? I mean, I've had to do that for W11 but W10's Start is pretty close to perfect. Everything is laid out so it's easy to get to. I pretty much never have to go looking for anything, it's like a built-in memory palace. OTOH, W7's Start was all but useless and everyone had stopped using it, which is why they came up with such a radical solution in W8, which they refined beautifully for W10.

Then there is the simple fact that Windows 10 uses one-third less system resources than Win7. That alone makes it a no-brainer. Or it should.

[BONES]

I use both. I make music on both.

Both what? Windows 7 and 10? Debian and Red Hat? There are way more than two operating systems to choose from.

I'm all for people loving whatever they want to love. <3

I find it quite strange that people choose their OS. I choose my applications, the OS I end up with is a simple consequence of those choices, not a choice in itself, except maybe for which version of the OS I am saddled with. Because there are definitely better and worse iterations of most OSes.

I use ~3 different OSs on a typical day.

Why? Surely the hassle of switching between computers and OS is more hassle than simply picking one and sticking with it? I used to dual-boot between Linux and Windows and it drove me nuts. Similar story at work, having a Windows partition on a MacPro at work so I could use 3DS Max. It was way more trouble than it was worth so I stopped doing anything in 3D, whether it would have been faster and/or better or not.

Win 11 continues being obnoxious. This is one reason I'm reluctant to buy into stuff like iLok.

I'm loving W11. I was really disappointed with the new Start and the gimped Taskbar, to the point I was happy to go out of my way to avoid W11, but Stardock fixed that for $10 and everything else about W11 is a big improvement over W10. (W11 came preinstalled on my new laptop.) If you don't care about the Taskbar and Start, Win11 should be a no-brainer for most people.

[liquidsound]

I use both. I make music on both.

Both what? Windows 7 and 10? Debian and Red Hat? There are way more than two operating systems to choose from.

It's explained in my post but here it is in a different format:
iMac/Surface Pro. No preference in the OS beside what applications I need to run. W7 is no longer supported by my CAD program.

[fese]

I kinda liked OpenSolaris, but then Oracle f**ked that up…
But all operating systems suck one way or the other. They’re just necessary tools to start programs and manage files, and for that purpose, most of them are way too bloated, especially the “mainstream” ones.

[BONES]

So is Linux unless you compile your own custom kernel. Linux can be very efficient and light on resources but if you're just downloading a distro and installing it, it's as bloated as any mainstream OS. e.g. The last time I installed SUSE, it came on 7 CD-ROMs. That's around 5GB of bloat.

W7 is no longer supported by my CAD program.

I bet it would still work, though, dropping support just means they don't want to have to keep any support machines around with W7 on them. 3DS Max 2009 still installs and runs fine on Windows 11. It even still authorises.

I assume you have no issues upgrading macOS as soon as a new version is available, so it's more than a little bit strange that you'd stick on a 13 year old version of Windows, don't you think?

[liquidsound]

So is Linux unless you compile your own custom kernel. Linux can be very efficient and light on resources but if you're just downloading a distro and installing it, it's as bloated as any mainstream OS. e.g. The last time I installed SUSE, it came on 7 CD-ROMs. That's around 5GB of bloat.

W7 is no longer supported by my CAD program.

I bet it would still work, though, dropping support just means they don't want to have to keep any support machines around with W7 on them. 3DS Max 2009 still installs and runs fine on Windows 11. It even still authorises.

I assume you have no issues upgrading macOS as soon as a new version is available, so it's more than a little bit strange that you'd stick on a 13 year old version of Windows, don't you think?

I don’t upgrade my Mac unless there is a practical reason.
Same with Windows.
I’m on W10 by default with the surface pro.
Several plugins that are used in my CAD program do not work on W7 and I have not the slightest idea why.
My focus is on expanding my business in the most effective way possible.
Operating systems are irrelevant to me beside providing support for whatever program or hardware I need.

I use “tools” for accomplishing my goals.
I don’t get lost in them.

With music, I take it easy

[DrGonzo]

ToS

You mean "The Operating System"? For Atari?

[Googly Smythe]

ToS

You mean "The Operating System"? For Atari?

Indeed, with a whopping 4 megabytes of ram. Happy daze!

[GaryG]

My new laptop came with Win11 and I was quite prepared to roll it back to 10 but just went with it for a bit. Apart from a few UX things (the initially limited right-click menus, Start menu etc) I've found no reason to ditch it. Running everything flawlessly so far, Win10 drivers just work etc etc... And I personally like the rounded corners, makes Reaper more cuddly.

Also updates seem better behaved than on 10, obviously there's a whole other topic about security, need for an MS account etc etc but if that gets intrusive then there's always options. I hear big changes coming to the Start menu in an update soon so could be interesting.

[chk071]

My new laptop came with Win11 and I was quite prepared to roll it back to 10 but just went with it for a bit. Apart from a few UX things (the initially limited right-click menus, Start menu etc) I've found no reason to ditch it. Running everything flawlessly so far, Win10 drivers just work etc etc... And I personally like the rounded corners, makes Reaper more cuddly.

I can confirm that. Apart from a few things which require a click more (the ones you mentioned, plus the multi menus in the task area), I'm quite pleased with it. And, especially, everything which worked under Windows 10 also works under Windows 11 for me... even old stuff. That's what I always liked about Windows - it just works.

Unfortunately, without that registry tweak I couldn't upgrade my laptop to it, because, it has a 7th gen Intel CPU... pretty ridiculous, as everything else on that laptop fulfills their requirements. Just synthetic requirements to sell more OEM hardware.

[GaryG]

I can confirm that. Apart from a few things which require a click more (the ones you mentioned, plus the multi menus in the task area), I'm quite pleased with it. And, especially, everything which worked under Windows 10 also works under Windows 11 for me... even old stuff. That's what I always liked about Windows - it just works.

Exactly. I've a few old synthedit plugs from pushing 20 years ago, just drag them into the vst2 folder and they work. Same with the old tonebooster and audio damage freebies this year, all just worked, no worries about OS version and signed exes etc. Hate the word but this is pretty much a hobby for me so the less time jumping through hoops the better. Though if it was my job, the less time jumping through hoops the better.

Shame you can't run 11 on your 7th gen laptop, I did notice the refurb'ers definitely hiking their 8th gen prices a bit. When I looked earlier this year, a refurbed 8th gen i5 dell was only a little cheaper than a dell outlet refurb, current gen, better spec etc.

[chk071]

I can confirm that. Apart from a few things which require a click more (the ones you mentioned, plus the multi menus in the task area), I'm quite pleased with it. And, especially, everything which worked under Windows 10 also works under Windows 11 for me... even old stuff. That's what I always liked about Windows - it just works.

Exactly. I've a few old synthedit plugs from pushing 20 years ago, just drag them into the vst2 folder and they work. Same with the old tonebooster and audio damage freebies this year, all just worked, no worries about OS version and signed exes etc. Hate the word but this is pretty much a hobby for me so the less time jumping through hoops the better. Though if it was my job, the less time jumping through hoops the better.

Yeah. Even good old V-Station or Largo just work. At some point, they will just stop working on Mac OS, because they're more (V-Station) or less (Largo) discontinued. Not sure if they even work with Rosetta2.

[BONES]

I’m on W10 by default with the surface pro. Several plugins that are used in my CAD program do not work on W7 and I have not the slightest idea why.

OK, I had it back-to-front. I imagine if things don't work it's probably because they rely on features in W10 that weren't there in W7. If it's CAD, it's possibly to do with GPU acceleration.

[liquidsound]

I’m on W10 by default with the surface pro. Several plugins that are used in my CAD program do not work on W7 and I have not the slightest idea why.

OK, I had it back-to-front. I imagine if things don't work it's probably because they rely on features in W10 that weren't there in W7. If it's CAD, it's possibly to do with GPU acceleration.

if I was to be pushed into a corner I would investigate that aspect for sure.

[imrae]

I use ~3 different OSs on a typical day.

Why? Surely the hassle of switching between computers and OS is more hassle than simply picking one and sticking with it? I used to dual-boot between Linux and Windows and it drove me nuts. Similar story at work, having a Windows partition on a MacPro at work so I could use 3DS Max. It was way more trouble than it was worth so I stopped doing anything in 3D, whether it would have been faster and/or better or not.

The only thing I have to reboot for is music-making on Windows, and that's a context-switch anyway. It would be nice not to, but dropping Linux would be more painful.