What Operating System Do You Use?

[Uncrowned Guard]

Lets see what everyone has going on their devices!

I try to use a bit of everything as I love finding out the little tech each system uses.

Work/Gaming Laptop: Windows 11
Travel Laptop: Chrome OS
Tablet: iOS
Phone: Android
Home Server: Windows 10 (This could be Linux, but it angers a lot of people that I use Windows for a serve and therefore it shall remain.)

[ZandraJoi]

Desktop & Laptop: Windows 10.

We don't have a phone, tablet, or any other tech lol

 

[Uncrowned Guard]

On 7/2/2022 at 9:24 AM, ZandraJoi said:

Desktop & Laptop: Windows 10.

We don't have a phone, tablet, or any other tech lol

 

That is an uncommon thing to see anymore.  Although most days I feel like not having a phone would be for the best.

[ZandraJoi]

On 7/4/2022 at 2:51 PM, Uncrowned Guard said:

That is an uncommon thing to see anymore.  Although most days I feel like not having a phone would be for the best.

Yeah it is uncommon lol I like being outdoors & in nature. I don't like being tied down to a phone dinging constantly. I feel I'm healthier that way. We are able to have a landline still so that makes the difference. But even if they got rid of the landline, I would only use the cell as much as I use the landline now. Hardly ever LOL

[Kyng]

I have Windows 11 on my laptop, and Android on my phone. 

Not exactly a fan of Windows 11, but now I'm just used to it 😛 .

[Aerodynamic]

Windows 10 still since my processor is too old to be able to run Windows 11.

[Joshua Farrell]

Using Windows 10 on my desktop. And I have Android 11, I think, on my samsung phone. I know it was updated recently. Not sure if the Android version finally went to 12, as I don't see much of a difference in how it operates.

[Cory]

I use Chrome OS because my Windows laptop died on me and this laptop was on sale at the time for a rather cheap price.

[Bizdustry]

I use iOS on my mobile phone and Windows on my computer. Probably the two best operating systems but everyone will have different opinions of this. It also depends on what you are wanting to use the device for, to what OS best suits you.

[Laifot]

Laptop: W11

Battlestation: W10

I'm not too happy using W11, but it was included so.. i had no other option. 

[Guest]

I tend to like a compromise between modified Windows 10, Linux Mint and tacit use of Android because I just haven't gotten far enough into breaking phones to consider obscure options better than experimental. At one point I was going to do a full conversion to Linux but the desire to eventually break into Windows 11 was too tempting, on top of the extremely high maintenance of replacing my careful windows setup on a feature by feature level. If you're not a gamer (or even if you are to a point) or don't use specialized / generally very proprietary tools, and even if you're not all that savvy, Linux is ready and waiting for desktop/laptop use and is in my opinion the far more sanitary choice. However I regret to admit I've been on Windows too long and have too many cookie jars to poke for the inconvenience cutting it out entirely would cause. In any case you will not find me with an apple system, and I'm tired of chromeos/chromebook equating quick e-waste.

[Grungie]

On 7/1/2022 at 6:41 PM, Uncrowned Guard said:

Home Server: Windows 10 (This could be Linux, but it angers a lot of people that I use Windows for a serve and therefore it shall remain.)

Honestly, anyone that is angry that you use Windows as a server OS doesn’t actually know what they’re talking about. Servers running some version of Windows Server is incredibly common.

They're more than likely home enthusiasts and have no real world experience.

[Uncrowned Guard]

11 hours ago, Grungie said:

Honestly, anyone that is angry that you use Windows as a server OS doesn’t actually know what they’re talking about. Servers running some version of Windows Server is incredibly common.

They're more than likely home enthusiasts and have no real world experience.

Ya, I can see some of the cracks in using Windows for multi million dollar data center, but for more home users and even most small scale business use, I don't have any issues with it at all.  

[Grungie]

1 hour ago, Uncrowned Guard said:

Ya, I can see some of the cracks in using Windows for multi million dollar data center, but for more home users and even most small scale business use, I don't have any issues with it at all.  

Idk what you're talking about with "cracks", it works perfectly fine in a multi-million dollar data center. My work's server suite is worth $84M and 20 out of 24 servers are running some variant of Windows Server.

The hypervisor for your VM's should be running some version of Linux like ESXI, but that's more for having a lightweight bare metal hypervisor than "real" functionality. That way the rest of your system resources can be fully utilized for your VM's. Though the individual VM's are perfectly fine to run some version of Windows Server.

Our file server, print server, domain controller, sql database, etc, are running some variant of Windows Server and they work perfectly fine. The ones that don't are running RHEL because the application it's providing can only be done on RHEL or CentOS.

That's why I said anyone seething that you're using Windows for a home server doesn't know what they're talking about. I've been a server admin for almost a decade, and any server failures had nothing to do with it being Windows based. The vast majority of people who seeth at someone using Windows as a server is usually an enthusiast that doesn't have much real world experience. Sure there's specific applications where you would be using Linux, but that's mostly because the application requires running on a Linux environment. Though for any standard server, including home servers, Windows is incredibly capable at it.

[Uncrowned Guard]

4 hours ago, Grungie said:

Our file server, print server, domain controller, sql database, etc, are running some variant of Windows Server and they work perfectly fine. The ones that don't are running RHEL because the application it's providing can only be done on RHEL or CentOS.

 

This is actually what I was mostly talking about.  Windows Server still lacks a lot when compared directly to Linux in terms of applications and compatibility.  Windows server certainly has the capability and power to do it, but sometimes it just does not have the answer to do it.  Even with our home server, we run our home file cloud off our NAS as the offerings for Windows were basically none with only a few network-focused solutions that were pretty poor on mobile devices and such.  The other alternative was to run a VM with Linux for the files, but I can't exactly give Windows that win if it needs to run on a VM using a different OS.  

Perhaps that is unfair to call that a "crack" in the OS as it is more a crack in the available software to run on the OS, but I can't really call it a perfect OS when it needs to run VMs to achieve the task when other offerings do not.  Ya, many people would rather split things up into VMs anyway, but I still can't avoid the lack of options at times.

[Grungie]

4 hours ago, Uncrowned Guard said:

This is actually what I was mostly talking about.  Windows Server still lacks a lot when compared directly to Linux in terms of applications and compatibility.  Windows server certainly has the capability and power to do it, but sometimes it just does not have the answer to do it.  Even with our home server, we run our home file cloud off our NAS as the offerings for Windows were basically none with only a few network-focused solutions that were pretty poor on mobile devices and such.  The other alternative was to run a VM with Linux for the files, but I can't exactly give Windows that win if it needs to run on a VM using a different OS.  

Perhaps that is unfair to call that a "crack" in the OS as it is more a crack in the available software to run on the OS, but I can't really call it a perfect OS when it needs to run VMs to achieve the task when other offerings do not.  Ya, many people would rather split things up into VMs anyway, but I still can't avoid the lack of options at times.

Windows Server isn’t lacking in applications and compatibility, it really depends on what you’re doing. There’s several instances where it’s the standard. If you go back to my post, 20 out of 24 of my servers run Windows Server, and the 4 that don’t are running some niche applications. So I personally wouldn’t call it lacking if the vast majority run Windows, unless you consider not 100% as lacking. Especially when those Windows servers are running some common things you’d see in an enterprise environment. I feel like you need to name some specific examples instead of just using a blanket statement like “it lacks a lot in comparison to Linux in terms of applications and compatibility”. That statement is meaningless on its own, as the same can be said with Linux, as there’s applications and compatibility issues with Linux as well.

Also with your NAS problem, what exactly are you trying to do that Windows Server was lacking in? I’ve managed file servers that support around 10K people, and a NAS is really just a specific type of file server. The only thing I can think of, because you mentioned phones, is maybe accessing the files away from your home network. I don’t have any experience with this, because our stuff is set up to only be accessed locally, but if you’re talking about connecting your phone locally, then Windows has that capability.

While it’s technically true that the majority of the world’s servers are running Linux, they don’t tell you that a lot of those servers are running some niche or customized software, and the average server a lot of admins will actually run into in a real world experience would mostly be Windows based. Actually, I feel small businesses would most likely run Linux, but that’s largely due to the price of licenses. That’s why places like r/homelabs would suggest Linux, as its free options work perfectly fine, especially in home use. If it’s a large enterprise environment, they’re either skimping on money, or that’s just what their main server guy wants to use.

Edited December 4, 2023 by Grungie

[Heatman]

Currently, I'm using Windows 11 on both my laptop and PC. I have always upgraded whenever there's a new version out. I don't see any reason why I need to wait out for too long when I know that upgrading and using it is inevitable at some point. My smartphone (Samsung) is on Android 13 already.