Best Windows?

[Fred Barclay]

Of all places to ask this, I know a Linux forum is a strange choice, but I'm curious what the preferred Window's OS of the forum members would be. Which Windows edition do you use, or if only Windows existed, which edition would you choose for everyday use?
Please, no Windows bashing here. I don't like Windows personally, but I am not asking what you don't like about it, but what edition you would use if you had no choice. If you wouldn't use Windows under any circumstances, please don't post here. I am interested in the opinions of those who would/do use Windows. If you do use Windows, please feel free to list what you don't like along with what you do. But if you wouldn't use it, please don't judge it here.
In case you can't pick one favorite, I've set it up where you may choose up to 2. For example, my favorite is Win 7. However, I think that having an XP machine would be highly practical, so I would run both.
Note: This ignores security issues. I am aware that from XP back Microsoft is no longer offering support. However, my focus is more on which Windows fit your computer style most. Which did you find most appealing? or usefull? or efficient?
Best to you!
fred_B

[Bolle1961]

Windows7, bought it 3 years ago because EOL of XP was coming. XP was also a good system.
I only need it for some GPS tools, deDRM some books and lately for grabbing my movies from my camcorder on my netbook (my desktop has firewire so I can use Linux)

Btw, i voted XP and 7

[Pierre]

one of the main reasons for keeping a Windows bases PC,
is either for Gaming reasons,
or
for hardware comparability, like a scanner in a MFD.

better still, do some research, on what devices work with Linux O/Ss.
- this PC dual_boots with win_xp - for the scanner. ..
but - it is *not* used on-line.

[excollier]

I use Windows 8 in a VM to copy user profiles of a Windows computer. It takes ownership of file permissions without a fight.
I do this when doing fresh Windows install for people mainly.

[Night Wing]

Windows 7 is my choice and it's my backup operating system to Linux Mint. My two desktop computers are in a dual boot configuration since both desktop computers have two hard drives in each of them.

[skywolfblue]

It's ...hard to comment without doing some bashing.

Windows prior to 7 was just a terrible, awful ugly mess.
Ignoring the bugs:
Win2k was really rudimentary. It worked well enough for the time I suppose, but it's woefully outclassed. It's like Mac OS 9, it served it's purpose, but OS X outclasses it in every way.
WinXP fisher-price interface was horrid.
Windows 7 was the first one I tried and thought "Oh, wow, this is actually a halfway decent OS!". That goes for it's tools and stability as well. I actually like Windows 7, that's high praise compared to it's predecessors.

[Fred Barclay]

It's ...hard to comment without doing some bashing.

I don't mind voters bashing. I just didn't want people who would never use Windows (and therefore didn't vote) to see this as an opportunity to list all the reasons why they hate it.

[BenTrabetere]

I am (currently) the lone supporter of Win 3x. I found very few things to like about it - it was predicably unstable and memory management (if you aren't familiar with conventional, extended and expanded memory, himem.sys or QEMM need to stay off my lawn) was a pain.

It gets my vote because it ran under OS/2, and for me it extended its useful life long after IBM gave up. The few must-have Windows programs I used ran well, and since I almost always ran them in individual sessions I never had a problem with an errant program, or Windows itself, bringing down the whole house.

The next version of Windows to hit my home system was XP, and satisfied my needs sufficiently enough that I ran it until a last July, when I switched to Linux.

[RacerBG]

Windows XP is my favorite and reasons are many. I want just to note that the last time when I installed XP the whole process, including installing drivers, programs, codecs, lasted 8 hours...

The last time when I was installing Debian including every program which I want and tweaking KDE settings lasted around 3 hours.

[BigEasy]

Actually Windows 2003 best of all. Since it is not in list, I vote for XP.

[Fred Barclay]

Thanks to all who have responded so far. I think it's interesting that no one has voted for Vista yet.

[Pilosopong Tasyo]

I think it's interesting that no one has voted for Vista yet.

Probably because -- according to people I know who used Windows from the get-go -- every other [major] version of Windows was crap? Win2000 - good, WinME - bad, WinXP - good, Vista - bad, Win7 - good...

Anyway, the two Windows versions I've used for the longest period were Windows 2000 and XP. They were decent enough for my day-to-day activities then. WinXP was the last version I used before moving over to Linux.

[/dev/urandom]

Vista was better than people say, it just required a bit of manual adjustment. Technically, Windows 8 is the best Windows yet (if it just didn't have that weird GUI they refined in 8.1).

[lgt791]

Winxp Pro think it is the beat microsoft has made. Vista not very good , win 7 same , win 8 and onward just phone apps without the phone. I use xp for several things one of which is a tv set. Works just fine no problems it is not broke so why fix it ?

[kenetics]

Win XP without an internet connection, which I keep around just for a handfull of games such as MS Flight Sim and a couple of other programs. Haven't booted it up for several months though.

Don't have any experience with Win 7 or 8. My wife has a laptop which came with Vista. It was too under powered for that and was a dog. It now runs Mint Xfce very nicely.

[Derek_S]

Thanks to all who have responded so far. I think it's interesting that no one has voted for Vista yet.

Those people are still in the asylum - and they won't be getting out anytime soon.

In early 2014 I made a decision to get a laptop to use exclusively for Linux. I bought a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad T400 from a company that leases laptops to businesses and then resells them when the lease is up. My T400 originally had Windows Vista Business 32 bit installed, which I thought was a bit odd, since the machine itself is 64 bit. Vista lasted just long enough for me to download and install the BIOS and firmware updates from Lenovo's support website. Then I wiped the drive, did a clean install of Linux Mint 16, and never looked back.

Personally, I've used Windows 98SE, 2000, XP, 7, 8, and 8.1. My favorite is still Windows 7, with XP running a close second.

[MartyMint]

Vista was better than people say...

You can't sat that in normal conversation, because people have an irrational reaction to Vista, based largely on anecdotal and out-dated info.

[dXTC]

I am (currently) the lone supporter of Win 3x. I found very few things to like about it - it was predicably unstable and memory management (if you aren't familiar with conventional, extended and expanded memory, himem.sys or QEMM need to stay off my lawn) was a pain.

...

The next version of Windows to hit my home system was XP, and satisfied my needs sufficiently enough that I ran it until a last July, when I switched to Linux.

My Windows experience over the years are quite similar to yours. My first real OS was 3.11 for Workgroups. Yes, dealing with expanded vs. extended memory and optimizing TSR/driver loading sequence in himem.sys was an adventure (sarcasm alert), but I "cut my teeth", so to speak, on that OS.

I also voted for XP, mainly because of its longevity. I haven't bothered to get any newer Windows OS on my machines, partly because XP runs my long-standing DAW software Cakewalk Sonar quite well, and partly because I decided to try Mac OS X Leopard when the Intel Macs came out in 2007 (they were the first to feature Boot Camp so I could run XP for my DAW on my Mac).

[deleted]

Please, no Windows bashing here. I don't like Windows personally...

Sorry Fred, I had to laugh this

-Hinto

[dXTC]

Vista was better than people say, it just required a bit of manual adjustment.

My mom's old Windows computer has Vista, and I agree that from an overall standpoint, it's not totally horrid. I think a lot of people weren't accustomed to being asked by the system about every adjustment they made-- an aspect that Apple attacked in one of the more memorable Mac versus PC ads:

"Mac has issued a salutation. Cancel or Allow?" <- YouTube link