The 2025 Operating System Thread

[Topcat]

What OS are you running these days? I am down to 3 Windows workstations and one Windows Server on my LAN, everything that doesn't have a windows-specific need has been moved to Linux. Printing abilities with my large document centers are Linux's kryptonite; the reason for 2 of the Windows machines. The third machine still has Win7 on it, and isn't connected to the outside world. It has tons of software on it I use for diagnostics and updating various hardwares. My main rig is still Win10 Enterprise, so I had to vote Win10 in the poll...but I have overwhelmingly more linux machines than windows now.

This poll is for PC's. I don't care about your phone.

[Per Hansson]

Windows 7 on my main system and work laptop.
It is still possible to install security updates intended for Server 2008 R2 x64 on Win7 x64: it has extended support contract via premium assurance till January 2026

[dmill89]

Primarily Windows 10, that is what is on my main personal laptop and desktop (and will be at least until EOL and possibly longer). My work laptop has windows 11 🤮 (Enterprise) since I got a new one in October and they are putting windows 11 images on all new PCs. I've got one HTPC still running Windows XP (due to some audio/video software on it), one running Windows 10, and one running Ubuntu. My NAS is running TruNAS core, and have a laptop running Ubuntu and another running Mint. Of course, I have other retro and experimental systems running other OSs, but that is the semi-regularly used stuff.

[stj]

i voted.
penguin power.

[Topcat]

Windows 7 on my main system and work laptop.
It is still possible to install security updates intended for Server 2008 R2 x64 on Win7 x64: it has extended support contract via premium assurance till January 2026

ORLY? Do tell...

[Per Hansson]

ORLY? Do tell...

There is a project on MDL called: "Bypass Windows 7 Extended Security Updates Eligibility" it still works to this day...

[stj]

cant you just set the registry to identify as the embeded version still?

[Per Hansson]

cant you just set the registry to identify as the embeded version still?

That only works for Windows XP

[Topcat]

Primarily Windows 10, that is what is on my main personal laptop and desktop (and will be at least until EOL and possibly longer). My work laptop has windows 11 🤮 (Enterprise) since I got a new one in October and they are putting windows 11 images on all new PCs. I've got one HTPC still running Windows XP (due to some audio/video software on it), one running Windows 10, and one running Ubuntu. My NAS is running TruNAS core, and have a laptop running Ubuntu and another running Mint. Of course, I have other retro and experimental systems running other OSs, but that is the semi-regularly used stuff.

10 and 11 are pretty much on par with being pukey.... GUI-wise, it boggles my mind why MS took away the ability to move the taskbar, I always like it vertically on the right side of the display....a feature that goes all the way back to windows 95.....why the fluck they thought it was a good idea to remove that ability I have no idea.

There is a project on MDL called: "Bypass Windows 7 Extended Security Updates Eligibility" it still works to this day...

Good to know... The only win7 systems I have left are not connected to the outside world, so I really don't worry too much about their security issues. My HTPC's are Win7.....forgot about them in the original post. They run WMC and with some mods play ISO's off my NAS....and can use any of those 'big green button' IR remotes....it's worked for ~15yrs without a single issue, never saw the need to change them.

[stj]

win11 now has mandatory AI asistant.
i look forward to people posting "i'm sorry, i cant let you do that HAL"

[Topcat]

win11 now has mandatory AI asistant.
i look forward to people posting "i'm sorry, i cant let you do that HAL"

You can remove the copilot app and kill the trending searches....not sure where else it would lay....but what do I know.... This message brought to you from Mint 22.... 😌

[left_cap]

You can remove the copilot app and kill the trending searches....not sure where else it would lay....but what do I know.... This message brought to you from Mint 22.... 😌

Its tragic how bad windows search became over the years, like seriously Microsoft if I wanted a result from the web I'd use my browser. Worse yet it's powered by bing! 🤢

[sam_sam_sam]

Windows 7 for my battery testing machine I could even use Windows XP if I had a working and stable computer to run on it but right now I do not
I have one Window 11 machine right now I do not use it very much right now but when I get a new version of the 3D printer that has auto leveling then I will be using a lot more but this is down the road maybe in the middle of this year or a little bit later than this

To me Window 7 still has it where you can control most things in the operating system but after this version they hid just about everything I do not like this at all or almost impossible to find it

[R_J]

I marked the first dot just to view the vote so I voted for windows 11 by mistake, I use windows 7 mostly and windows xp for somethings

[lti]

I'm on Windows 10 primarily. I wanted to be on Linux by now, but every distro I've tried seems to be broken in different ways on my main desktop. They all work fine on other computers, so I don't know what's going on. The last one was Mint 22, which locks up randomly (requiring me to hold down the power button to shut it off). I really don't want Windows 11, so I'm going to have to figure out what's wrong or "just buy a new one" (which will never see Microsoft software). My plan now is to run Linux on my main desktop and have my laptop dual-boot Linux and Windows 10 (maybe 11 if I need to, but 10 is working for video capture - I don't want to break a working system).

Of course, there's still the old stuff running Windows 98 or XP. I might screw around with 2000 at some point. The one computer I had running 7 is with my mom now (dual-booted with Lubuntu for web browsing, which works great).

Its tragic how bad windows search became over the years, like seriously Microsoft if I wanted a result from the web I'd use my browser. Worse yet it's powered by bing! 🤢

What really annoys me is that the start menu in Windows 8 and later is complete shit (listing all icons in alphabetical order with huge blank space between them, requiring excessive scrolling - either spinning the scroll wheel for 30 seconds or trying to drag that stupid 3-pixel-wide scroll bar that everyone is using now), so searching for a program name was faster than trying to find the shortcut. Recently, that stopped working. Searching for the program name is now a 50/50 chance of actually opening the program or opening Edge and running a Bing search for the program name. I turned off the search bar so I wouldn't keep trying to use it like an idiot.

[lti]

I've settled into running EndeavourOS now. I haven't had it on my old desktop long enough to see if it's stable, but aside from Firefox having most of its hardware acceleration "force disabled by glxInfo" (a common thing in Arch), it performs well. It even runs good on bleeding-edge hardware (which is why I said "old desktop").

[momaka]

If I have to be completely honest, I've been using my Windows 7 machines quite a bit more this year compared to my XP ones. Reason being: browser support. With Windows 7, I can still run the latest Firefox ESR (or Mypal Quantum... and Pale Moon on the side), which has been needed admin tasks. I also haven't updated most of my XP boxes to SP3 yet, which is needed for the latest Mypal browser to run on XP. But on the one box I did update XP to SP3, it's been almost as good as my Win7 boxes. So I'm not declaring XP dead quite yet. In fact, I never will, because despite my use of WIn7 to do online stuff, I still prefer my XP boxes when it comes to file storage and data organization. In particular, there are a few quirky things in the 7 interface that really bother me, which is still why I don't like it for this kind of use.

So in the end, I still juggle between different PCs, depending on what is it that I need to do. But it's really either XP or 7. I never acknowledged the existence of Windows 8/8.1... and still have not installed a single instance of that to date. For Windows 10, I have only 1 machine with it, mostly just dedicate for trying out modern games when I have the time and feel like it (something that very rarely happens these days - so rarely, that I can count the number of times I have fired up that rig on the fingers of my two hands for the past year.) And Windows 11? Maybe might try it in 11 years. Probably not a joke either, since most of my PC tech is / has been... about at least 10 years behind everyone else.