Once And For All...WHAT IS THE BEST O/S?

[Tolemac]

I have never used Linux, so I can't comment on it. I am using XP Pro on one machine and XP Home on another. Yeah, I spent the extra $ on Home cause I wanted to see the difference. If you are into networking and running a small (or large!) server, then XP Pro is the way to go. Otherwise, Home works just as good.

[bitbyte]

Win XP
very stable. you also can get rid of the garish xp theme !!!

[jackdav]

I have used:
pc dos, ms dos, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98 (1st ed upgrade) and XP pro in that order over the too-numerous years. I have now had XP pro running for about 2 months. It has been rock solid. Not even one freeze up or BSOD. It starts right the first time every time and pretty quickly, though I never noticed whether it takes more or less time than W98. I can leave my PC running for 4 or 5 days and it doesn't start getting weird...... I am not a Microsoft groupie, but I like XP. I still wonder how much privacy I might have lost ......... but then again, maybe I'm paranoid ......

Jack in almost below 100 degrees Phoenix
________
oxygen vaporizer

[TremousOLyryus]

By far, the best O/S I have ever used has got to be Windows XP. I also use Windows 98 a whole lot, but I really like the user friendly interface that comes with XP.

[NascarFool]

Currently I use WinXP Pro on my main comp (XP2200+) and XP Home on my lappy. (1.2GHz Athlon 4)

[JKUHNE]

I have used most of the microsoft operating systems, my best experience has been with WIN2K PRO. Stable for years without problems and blows all others out of the water with my current setup.

Supermicro PIIIDME Main Board Intel 840 Chipset
2 - 800 MhZ Pentium IIIs
133 MhZ FSB
256 Meg PC133 Memory
WD ATA66 20G 7200 RPM HD
IBM Ultra SCSI 160 40GB 7200 RPM HD
ATI Radeon 8500 128 MEG
Kenwood 72X CDROM
Sony 32X CD-Record

My new Dell Dimension 8200 with 1.9 GhZ P4 and XP Pro is slow in comparison.

[danoaks15]

GENTOO LINUX RULES

Why
1. More Stable
2. Completly Free
3. Better filesystems
5. You can edit the kernel
6. Free stuff on freshmeat.net

[undying fenix]

Well wheres Mac OS???? HAAHAHAHA JK. Win XP Pro would be my game cept the fact that its not always compatible with hardware. That kind of bytes. haha. (joke) (laugh) (now!) . Anyway, I like Win 98 too cuz it has a really good interface and I have had that longer than any other operating system that I have had: MS-DOS, 3.1, 98, and XP Pro respectively. I would definitely take Win XP Home or Pro since games will eventually not be compatible with anything less, so buy buy buy. Happy shopping kids!

[rigelf]

Easily linux. I use Redhat 7.3 on an athlon 1900xp. Also have xp home on (POS) celeron 700. Never yet had to hard reboot linux, though xp does that on its own now (hehe). Haven't done official benchmark, but return to wolfenstein for windows runs *much* smoother, i'd say maybe double fps, emulated on linux than native for windows. Linux comes bundled with software you'd pay thousands of dollars for on winblows. Plus, you don't have to feel guilty about propagating the world's largest terrorist organization (Micro$quash) by using it.
And how 'bout mac X. Now that's a kick-ass commercially developed os.

[snakebite66]

I voted for XP, used to run 98 se but since getting used to XPpro I would never go back to anything else.

I am a gamer and many gripes you get regarding XP come from gamers.

All I can say is that it is the best platform I have used for gaming, you can congigure so much to help the older games run well. New games just do not have a problem.

I think many of the shortcomings happen when people upgrade from another OS without starting from a newly formated HD. Then old drivers and files can effect the new OS.

I think for safety sake it is best to load a fresh installation of XP.