I use just about every OS frequently depending on what I am doing. With work it is the Windows 7.x\8.x, MacOS, *nix's, server OS's of several types, mobile OS's, embedded OS's, custom OS's.... Home is pretty much Windows 8.x, Ubuntu, and iOS...though I do also "manage" a couple of home servers as well.</p>
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Before I get into my preferences I do want to make a couple of points:</p>
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(1) Windows tried the variations for work, home, and entertainment. It sucked and helped produce things like Windows ME and Vista. They figured out that was not the best approach, and pretty much 7 and 8 are designed with all three in mind, but only the purpose is active with the foundation the same. </p>
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(2) I grew up on Apple ][, Commodore, DOS, and UNIX (did some consulting in HS and this is where I got to learn it). I got into Linux before dealing with Windows 3.1\95. I have a history and love of "Li"nix OSes, but have a problem with how long it has taken for them to get to where they are. In the late 80's some of the real UNIX systems far outpaced what the free *nixes were doing since they were mired in their own stupid games...and for some realizing they were only going to get bragging rights and took their talents elsewhere for cash. </p>
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(3) Following on (2), I love Open-source and Open-source is a really good idea, that, unfortunately, still suffers from the sins of the past and really is most effective in server environments. On the "desktop side" they are only effective if they have click-ads for funding, or if they have a Windows or Mac version they can make money from. </p>
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Mozilla's issues is a large indicator of how open-source initiative can die a slow death, and Oracle is gunning to curtail it's databases running on open-source *nix's. And that is a large part of the install base, according to Gartner, and why they are targeting it as a way make money. This is not doom and gloom, as it will survive, but I think the OS side is going to become a pocket OS and mobile. </p>
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It is obvious that mobile will outpace and be the dominant when it comes to open-source OS's.</p>
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(4) Apple, without a doubt, is strategically getting rid of the Mac OS and making everything (even a desktop pc), be iOS. This is not a bad thing due to what the iOS has done to the industry that is already rippling across the board (see (6) below).</p>
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(5) On desktops, Windows has been the way to go primarily due to the wealth of 3rd party applications and direct and seemless integration into many, many things. They may have played the "game" to get the foothold they have, but it did mature the entire industry...though longer than it should of (too bad BeOS or OS\2 never took off and Jobs was canned from Apple when he was because Jobs was starting to target business at the time as Apple had the largest install base, but a low percentage in business, and he saw that was the next market. All three had high security, application separation (can't see you unless you let me), awesome memory management, UNIX de-integration of subsystems, and were "light and optimized" OS's). </p>
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Microsoft knows that the model that built them is dying, and have known that for a long time and tried to build a mobile OS market...but well before the tech, needs, and money was there. They are going retain their sever and email side (because those are pretty solid for their specific uses and installation base), but they are going to change into a cloud based solution and services company. That is very much obvious based on what Windows 8 is at it's core....a much, much lighter Windows OS with very high security and web integration (which one can argue the Netscape debate in the 90's stalled this), and $12 billion put into web based applications and data storage. Office 365 is none to shabby and neither is the free version....and it works on all OS's even iOS. This integration into free storage, and no MS scanned for "targeting", of data (yea you Google), for most users is seamless, very divine, and shows what that next model of storage can be for the majority of users. In the business world, it is easy to dump most of the datacenter and host it with MS or IBM at a much cheaper cost than maintaining it yourself (one of the studies I have been part of at our work). Best part from the business standpoint is you own your data, and they just host and secure it (both encrypt on the disk).</p>
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(6) The success of the iOS and Apple store has greatly reduced the laziness of programming (hey there is a blazing fast processor and tons of memory in the common system, and to meet the deadline we won't spend the time or money to optimize), and has forced that strong optimization and lightness of applications that existed when I was first learning to be a programmer. </p>
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This has rippled to many, many companies and the products they have released (hell Windows 7 runs better than Windows XP on PC's when Windows XP came out, for example), and we are seeing this with a large chunk of the 4000 desktop applications we support.</p>
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The other ripple is that a light "mobile" OS is on the cusp of being able to what the business and normal user world needs in a much smaller and portable package. It is so much easier now to use something, like an iPhone, and connect some type of display, maybe add a Bluetooth keyboard, and presto I have a portable desktop. Yes, things like gamming and higher end engineering and graphs need more beef (primarily from the video card), but those are the very small pockets of the computing industry at this point. </p>
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(7) My preference? At home I have Windows 8.1 as my main PC and *nix OS's running in VMs (using Microsoft's Virtual Machine since it is free and has tighter integration to the OS than VMware (without having to pay the big bucks). Windows 8.1 is a vastly improved Windows OS, in terms of the over all performance, security, and stability (I struggled to type that, really, but what it does to help reduce the easy holes of skimming data from local memory for bad apps and web pages, is outstanding and genius). However, I don't do any of my banking, etc through the Windows machine (yet), but through the *nix VM's, because I have a better understanding and control over what I can do with the OS. </p>
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However, the Windows 8 side has most of the general applications I use that I have not found open-source apps that are remotely equivalent. However, however, I have found that I do many more things with my iOS or Android devices since there are easier apps and I can send the display to any TV or monitor in my house. Wife talking too much in the living room, just pick up that iPad (walk and still work), and go the bedroom and use the TV there...etc. Plus both OSes have vastly improved in being able to remotely connect to my main PC or VM's (for the WoW raid nights), with very good performance. The wave of the future.</p>
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So maybe my preference depends on my needs at the moment....which after that novel seems like a "surprise ending" that leaves you empty and with many questions...so I leave you with Kyle Turris to ponder.</p>
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HF50....err BiTB50</p>
