I use Windows XP cause that's the system that came with the PC lol...

Windows XP Professional at work - we do a lot of development work here and XP Pro is the standard operating system used by the company, so I can't argue too much - although I also use a Mac in the office because we do cross-development work and we have that one around for testing purposes.
Install size: 2.83GB

Windows XP Professional at home - but a special "homebrew" version that I optimized exclusively for gaming.
Install size: 480MB

The one on my home computer literally flies. It uses only 40MB of my 2GB RAM, and starts with only 23 processes. Virtually everything that is not gaming-related is stripped from the OS.

Why do I use it? Well, a few thousand DOS/Windows games in your collection will keep you using Microsoft!

I will only upgrade to Vista once DirectX10 games are out aplenty and there are more than three flavors of DX10 graphics to choose from (and no, those newer craptastic 8500s and 2400s don't fit the bill).

If there is another OS that can run the entire vast library of Wintel games natively (or emulated but without suffering performance impacts) then I'll consider. Otherwise, for PC gamers, I don't see how you can go wrong with XP today.

@ redspear

AmigaOS 4.0 July 2007 Update Available

http://amigaworld.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3854 

I use Linux because that's the only OS that allows me to do everything I need to do, at least at home.
No other can, so the choice was quick.
It's no distribution either like Ubuntu or Mandriva, it's my own Linux entirely compiled and integrated by myself. Even the PCs are custom made from parts.
I'm exclusively using it since 2001 in fact.

Makes me wonder what you're doing that you can't do on any other OS.

I use Vista Business 64-bit for my main workstation.  I wanted to develop with Visual Studio on a 64-bit development platform, so it was either that or 64-bit XP, which is poorly supported.  I haven't had many problems with Vista, and it really puzzles me that other users can't stand it.  I don't know what's so terrible about it.

I run Fedora Core 2 on my server, it's rather old but it works just fine, so there's no sense in me upgrading it with a newer flavor of Linux.  I tried Ubuntu on my main workstation, but after 2 hours or so of dealing with the package manager crashing and screwing up my install, I said to hell with it.  I don't have time to fiddle with an OS to make it work right on my main computer, I need it to do what I want it to do when I want it to do it.

Yeah and thats exactly the reason I use Ubuntu 7.04 on my main computer. Just as you can't understand ppl hating vista, I can't understand ppl not liking ubuntu. It's in so many ways more advanced than any Windows OS (this goes for debian in general, not just ubuntu).

Most people who rant about linux being bad probably just tried it for 15 minutes and when something didn't work, they just tossed it away saying "Linux is bad, I couldn't do XY" . As if you don't run into problems with M$ Software. HA HA HA

Of course you need time to adapt to a new type of OS when you change from Windows to Linux but this could well be the best spent computer time of your life...

 BTW: I run Mac OS X on my media centre mini mac.

Ubuntu 7.04 running here. I have 6.06 running on a server.

Free as in Freedom is about much more than just being able to modify the source code. The idea is having the freedom to use the software however you want. It's about not having artificial barriers in place. It's about knowing that someone isn't hiding something nasty in your software.

I have only very rarely gone in and changed the source code of a piece of software, but that's not the point. When you run software from Microsoft you're putting your complete trust in a company that has shown time and time again that they cannot e trusted. They have complete control over your computer, and they can do whatever you want. Suspected of piracy? Disable access! Send usage information to headquarters!

You're more than welcome to give away your freedom for the sake of a bit of convenience, but I'll pass on that. Once you've gotten used to Linux you'll find it's not worse than Windows, only different.

Oh and Nvidia cards are an absolute breeze to set up on Ubuntu 7.06. Literally 3 clicks and you're done.

A lot of this OS business and what you end up using depends on timing. My case was definitely a case of adopting too early and hating the consequences.

I'll tell you my experience with Linux. It was about five years ago. I decided to try it to see how it would work as a print/scan/torrent server.

Back then the most user-friendly was Mandrake. I downloaded it, and attempted to install. The process took about two weeks of intermittent fiddling around. Then when I finally got it to work I went online to the Mandrake site to download the drivers for my printer and scanner. The printer was not a problem but once I started looking for the scanner drivers everything went downhill. Some software required you to first compile the binary? Come on! You've got to be kidding!

It wasn't worth my aggravation nor the time, so I uninstalled it. My conclusion back then was Linux is not ready for consumer prime-time.

Back then: 

• If you are familiar with Linux or Unix you should have no problem working around these issues.
• If you are familiar with Windows and programming you can still encounter issues simply installing Linux.
• If you are a newbie with no previous computer experience you would have more fun whale-gutting in the Arctic than getting Linux to run.

That was then, however. Seems like Linux has matured these days, and Ubuntu seems to be the entryway into Linux nirvana. I guess I will try it again but if Linux ever wants to be considered a consumer/mass market OS it needs to be more than just an OS - it needs to offer a painless user experience and that starts with the installation - and extends across every facet of the OS.

Obviously you haven't tried installing Ubuntu. For those that have, you know what I'm talking about. :D

 You mean me? No - my experience five years ago with Linux was horrific to say the least, and ever since then I've had this nasty taste in my mouth.

However, most of you that do use Linux seem to be using Ubuntu, and so far the comments seem positive. I will try this one out when I have some extra time, though. It does sound like a "penguin of a different color".