im just wondering here, interested in finding out what kind of people use this site. also if you answered linux, which build?

Hmmm, first time I've noticed the distinct lack of a multiple answer option in the poll.

I use a mac at home, and would use a mac at all times if I could but I'm forced to use XP at work.

Kubuntu Gutsy amd64 , plus winxp on a different machine (just for compatibility).

I dual-boot WinXP Pro and openSUSE 10.3 on my gaming desktop, going to be using Debian Etch on my laptop and probably on a PC I'm rebuilding to use as a dedicated Linux box (file server, probably).

I use the latest Ubuntu, Gutsy Gibbon. 7.10, I believe. However, I intend to get an Xbox and I regularly listen to my iPod, so any fanboys (if there were actually any fanboys on this beautiful site) can shut the mediocre afterlife up.

For my laptop I have Vista Home Premium installed, while on my home gaming machine I use XP.

Prefer Vista for general stuff, but if I am going to do any proper gaming then it has to be XP for me still.

One day I may start to dual-boot with Linux and XP/Vista.

OSX Tiger. If I was employed I'd have bought Leopard by now but que sera. I have a desktop running XP but since I don't use it for games, It rarely gets switched on. I got sick of XP crashing on me. In the year since I bought my MacBook it has never crashed once. The only problem I've had is the death of the onboard speakers.

Vista =P
Vista is really pretty, but other than that it is pretty pathetic.
I'd have chosen XP, but my mom claimed that I couldn't get a laptop with it anymore (which I knew was a load, but I didn't have time to fuss around with it).
All in all, it isn't too bad, but I also have a widescreen display, which makes everything other than viewing movies difficult (I can't find wallpapers, games look stretched horizontally, etc.)

XP Home on my desktop, and XP Pro Tablet Edition on my portable.

-- Steve

Ubuntu Gutsy for everything except for studio recording and (modern) gaming, for which I use Win XP on a separate computer. Haven't touched Vista, since there's no way in hell I'm paying $400 for a full version. Dumbed down versions of hardware make me rather irritated, but in software it's so blatantly greedy I don't know where to begin.

I have an old XP Pro license that I bought during my college days and only if my workplace would provide a Vista license would I even consider installing it.

I just wish Microsoft would really implement their anti-piracy schemes all the way. Let's see what would happen to Microsoft if they lost their unofficial user-base. Then maybe gamedevs would start developing portable games, which honestly isn't that much work if you use OpenGL. There's a horde of open source devs out there who would gladly spend considerable time on making GNU-based systems into specialized and capable gaming platforms (I'm one of them).

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Piracy is what keeps Microsoft alive.
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EDIT: These kind of statements usually spark debate, so I'm starting a separate thread if you care for some ranting of mine on the topic.

Windows XP x64 Edition on my gaming machine, Windows 2000 Standard Server on (obviously) my server.

OSX 10.3 at home. I can't be arsed to upgrade, I'll skint myself buying a new MacBook Pro at some point though.

I got XP on my main machine to game and on the Laptop I use at the army I got Linux but right now I am between builds:D since they are free I want to try them all.

I use XP now. I used to use Vista, and I think as long as you have 2GB of memory, most of the complaints are kinda unwarranted. (It'll normally perform about as well as XP would with 2GB) On the other hand, it doesn't really make enough glorious advances for me to reconsider it on my last hard drive format.

using mac OSX 10.3 on my MacBook, and I love the stability. I'm using windows XP on my desktop...which is starting to behave oddly (again) and I've only had the installation on it for about a year, so I'll be looking at cleaning it up, and perhaps doing an xp/linux dual-boot, or just a simple xp job. Though patching various things (on a fairly sluggish connection) will be a pain about as far up the rear as they can get.

Right now I'm using OSX Tiger, and Windows XP on my iMac through the wonders of partitioning for dummies, which is also known as Boot Camp. I'm planning to move to a Macbook Pro, and a dedicated gaming desktop when I upgrade so then I'll probably be using Leopard, and Vista.

Work issues aside, my primary vehicle of choice is leopard. It's true my most frequently used laptop is still running tiger, but I doubt it has the system resources for leopard. I keep XP around for the time being, but I really only tolerate it for games.

I used to use Linux Ubuntu but some of my software didn't work properly so I was forced to move to Windows XP.

XP and Windows 2000.

The windows 2000 is largely for putting on older software and it never sees an internet connection.

Vista. I have no problems playing games, but I could definitely do with another gig of Ram. I remember a time when a computer ran super fast on 512MB of ram though. What the heck happened to those days?

Windows XP.

I've given Linux a chance a few times but quickly realized that I would never ever find the energy it takes to be able to use it to it's fullest potential. Besides, Windows XP does what it's supposed to do and does it good enough without too much trouble.

I am a Vistard, Home Premium

I remember a time when a computer ran super fast on 512MB of ram though. What the heck happened to those days?

Never mind that: What happened to the days when 64MB of RAM was sufficient? I mean, Windows XP really shouldn't have needed that much extra RAM over Windows 2000, which was largely the same in terms of what it provided software-wise.

[quote]I've given Linux a chance a few times but quickly realized that I would never ever find the energy it takes to be able to use it to it's fullest potential.[quote]

While I understand what you're saying, there are certainly advantages in having at least a dual-boot system, for instance in case Windows craps out (a rarity with WinXP, but still within the realms of plausibility). That's at least one of the reasons why I retain it on my desktop now that I have a full-time Linux system.

XP all the way, baby. I avoid Macs on principal-- their owners always seem to be the prickiest of pricks (no offense to non-prick Mac owners), and I don't want to be lumped in with that crowd.

Plus, who's retard idea was it to put the _ [] X buttons on the LEFT side of the window?

RAKtheUndead:

I remember a time when a computer ran super fast on 512MB of ram though. What the heck happened to those days?

Never mind that: What happened to the days when 64MB of RAM was sufficient?

Pfft. You'll never need more than 640kB. (Yeah, I had one of those doohickies. I even gamed on it; Test Drive, Art of War, the obligatory chess... and then I threw in a VGA card to play M1 Tank Platoon. That was a mistake.)

-- Steve

Vista HP on my desktop (with SP1 RC1), XP on my laptop (If I could afford Vista on it, I would put it on).

That being said, I would like to dual-boot on my desktop with Vista and Linux, although It's most likely pointless.

Had Windows 98/ME, they both sucked. More crashes than destruction derby with drunk guys.

Vista - Absolutely no problems, SP1 makes a slight improvement to speed, mem usage, FPS and OCing stability. (Yeah, I'm a techno freak/Hardcore gamer. I care about these things)

I use XP on my computer at my dad's house, XP on the family laptop at my mom's house, and 2000 on the computer in my sisters' room at my mom's house.

Chris Evans:
For my laptop I have Vista Home Premium installed, while on my home gaming machine I use XP.

Prefer Vista for general stuff, but if I am going to do any proper gaming then it has to be XP for me still.

- So true. When I got my laptop I tried installing XP on it so I could game, but it seems that all new computer components don't have drivers for XP. So I got stuck with Vista, but it turned out ok. I haven't had any problems with it and I've had my laptop for about 6 months now.

XP. Professional.

For about five years.

I use XP. It's easy, simple, and not full of bugs like Vista. Although the architecture firm I interned at used Vista and it looked like it ran quite well for them, unfortunately for me, they give the teenage interns the 'Windows 2000 ghetto machine'.

Mac OSX looks nice but my experience with it in middle school tells me it's for people who refuse to learn how the magical blue smoke inside the computer works. Or folks who like to make funny videos, it's pretty much the same demographic.

Vista - Absolutely no problems, SP1 makes a slight improvement to speed, mem usage, FPS and OCing stability. (Yeah, I'm a techno freak/Hardcore gamer. I care about these things)

I'd be inclined to say that the hardcore gamer would be more supportive of using XP, because of the additional framerate per unit hardware and the extra potential stability (XP with SP2 is the best operating system that Microsoft have brought out so far, and even from a part-time and intermediate-experience Linux user, that's intended as praise).

Then again, I clinged to Windows 98 for dear life when it was released, to the point where the alternate operating system (at the time, SUSE 10.1) ended up being eight years newer than my Windows install. That brings me nicely onto my next point...

Had Windows 98/ME, they both sucked. More crashes than destruction derby with drunk guys.

Agreed. In fact, I ended up making a game of how many times ME would BSOD on me in a day with normal use. I ended up with a top score of twelve BSODs. That said, I'm the sort of person who's BSOD'd WinXP with normal use (playing games), so I don't know what that says about me - either WinXP is still unreliable (most likely) or Windows just doesn't like me - I haven't had those sorts of problems with Linux or even MS-DOS.

I'm running vista ultimate
it looks great and it lets me play halo 2 on my pc but besides that i liked xp a lot more while i had it

Windows XP on the computer in my room, and Windows Vista Premium on the computer in my living room (basically I use the Vista computer for video gaming [it's new] while my XP based system is for everything else... internet, writing, etc).

Vista, admitably i have 4 GB of RAM so some of the problems might not apply to me, but I've never had any problems that people talk about.
Which is to say I find Vista to be better "gasp!" and more intuitive.

I found ME slow but it hardly ever gave me a BSOD. My legacy days were with Win 3.1[1 for Workgroups]. Start Bar is for jerks.