The 2016 Operating System Thread

[Topcat]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

Right.
But have you ever wondered why that is?

I still believe it to be a crock. Also, the PC gaming community is very small these days....just a whisper now. Consoles do not count. I also know how many of my clientele begged me to undo their W10 "upgrade", that was forced upon them by MS. After almost a year of W10, I would still maintain that 35% is very low. Look at the Win95, Win98, Win2k, WinXP, and Win7 numbers in their first years....but those days are long gone. An OS built on targeted advertising, built-in spyware, and fees for applications....well, I don't see a bright future in it, especially in the business/IT world.

[kaboom]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

With all of that said, the Steam survey is NOT a true representation of the global OS distribution. Rather, it is only a good representation of the gaming community.

And of the gaming community, that segment which happens to be "tooting" nicely along!

Well, kaboom... if you really really dislike Windows 10, you can always give Steam OS a try.
No need to thank me now. You're most certainly welcome!

The real thing is much better-- try it, you'll like it!

[pfrcom]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

^
I havent done an XP install in ages. Are the activation servers still alive?

I Internet activated a clean install of XP yesterday

[momaka]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

Takes some tweaks to disable the "feedback" and as always the Search function is completely broken.

I guess there isn't a Microsoft product that doesn't need a good deal of teaks and workarounds. Even my beloved XP isn't perfect "out-of-the-box" until I disable a bunch of stuff.
Still, I am not quite ready to upgrade. I mean, I just don't see why.

But hey it's Windows; what did you expect a working search function?

Works fine for me on XP. With Indexing (dis)service disabled, and all.

Low usage numbers of W10?
Are you kidding?
It's already close to 35% in the steam hardware survey...

Right.
But have you ever wondered why that is?

I'll tell you why. People who have Steam on their PCs are generally home users who play games. The Steam survey obviously doesn't include the millions of office PCs and servers around the world (which are likely running anything but the latest Microsoft OS). So yeah, if Steam is not on those PCs, then they won't be in the survey. Simple as that.

Also, these two things also impact the Steam survey:

Fact #1: If you go to a computer store nowadays and you buy a PC for home (on which you might put Steam), chances are it will come with Windows 10.

Fact #2: Most gamers tend to update with the latest... well everything. It's the way the gaming industry runs. Windows 10 has DirectX 12. So that's a big reason why. And the "newer is better" mentality that prevails with the common person. So if you have the latest games, you will sooner or later switch to the newest OS too.

With all of that said, the Steam survey is NOT a true representation of the global OS distribution. Rather, it is only a good representation of the gaming community.

Win10 and steaming hell- a perfect combination.

Well, kaboom... if you really really dislike Windows 10, you can always give Steam OS a try.
No need to thank me now. You're most certainly welcome!

[kaboom]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

Low usage numbers of W10?
Are you kidding?
It's already close to 35% in the steam hardware survey...

I'll put it this way: most who fall for steam(ing) bullshit are guaranteed to be suckers for win-lose 10.

If someone's "Patty Hearst" enough for steaming trash, it's always an easy sell for ten. Besides, why stop at "I love DRM, gimme more"- let's declare, via win10, certain programs "not in M$'s best interest" and remo-kill 'em.


Win10 and steaming hell- a perfect combination.

[stj]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

you know what they say about statistics.

this forum pol is probably more realistic with 7 dominating followed by linux at about 20%

[Topcat]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

Low usage numbers of W10?
Are you kidding?
It's already close to 35% in the steam hardware survey...

Not quite. See above. Also, before you post nonsense like that again, please cite sources. Hell, in our humble little poll here, it's only at 14%...

Lets just say for the sake of argument that its true....how many of those were forced "upgrades", IE, the user inadvertently switched over, having no real clue what they were doing? I bet that percentage would be very high. I stand by my comments above....the OS war is over, and MS lost in the end.

[goontron]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

Low usage numbers of W10?
Are you kidding?
It's already close to 35% in the steam hardware survey...
Though you'll get it for free if you have a valid Windows 7 and/or Windows 8(.1) license.


naa
I agree that it was released (way) too early. But not because of the hardware of that time but rather it wasn't ready/done.
There were some applications that were not updated with Windows Vista...

It just needed some (more) time, done right it wohld have been a hit.
I myself used Windows Vista as well and I pretty much liked it.
Though there were many situations where I thought that it was only about half way done, sadly...


Windows 9 became 10 because of various reasons, whatever story you want to belive the most...

Some say it is because of (old) software so that it doesn't get confused with the old Windows 9x.

Some say it is because they want to make it clear to the people that the difference between Windows 8 and '10' is so much greater...

Well, in reality Windows 8 was more like Windows NT 6.2 (Vista was 6.0, "7" was 6.1).

With Windows 10 there were some changes in the Kernel and driver system, so I woudn't count it to the 'NT6' Kernel...


If Linux wouldn't be such a botched piece and the developers would stop flaming each other and work together to get rid of Windows, it could actually be quite good.
I always try Linux from time to time, but there are always some things I really don't want to live with...

For example:
an easy network share for example. With windows it's right click on the folder -> add share and you are done with it.
With a Linux Mint, it's not so easy...
The Ubuntu desktop is just awful...
And for the others, there is no Steam

"no Steam" then why do I have it running on suse?

[Stefan Payne]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

I'm actually not surprised by the very low usage numbers of w10 even for as long as it has been out.

Low usage numbers of W10?
Are you kidding?
It's already close to 35% in the steam hardware survey...
Though you'll get it for free if you have a valid Windows 7 and/or Windows 8(.1) license.

Windows Vista was a turd (released way too early for the hardware of the time IMO)

naa
I agree that it was released (way) too early. But not because of the hardware of that time but rather it wasn't ready/done.
There were some applications that were not updated with Windows Vista...

It just needed some (more) time, done right it wohld have been a hit.
I myself used Windows Vista as well and I pretty much liked it.
Though there were many situations where I thought that it was only about half way done, sadly...

Windows 9 was never released (what does that tell us)
Windows 10 is a turd

Windows 9 became 10 because of various reasons, whatever story you want to belive the most...

Some say it is because of (old) software so that it doesn't get confused with the old Windows 9x.

Some say it is because they want to make it clear to the people that the difference between Windows 8 and '10' is so much greater...

Well, in reality Windows 8 was more like Windows NT 6.2 (Vista was 6.0, "7" was 6.1).

With Windows 10 there were some changes in the Kernel and driver system, so I woudn't count it to the 'NT6' Kernel...


If Linux wouldn't be such a botched piece and the developers would stop flaming each other and work together to get rid of Windows, it could actually be quite good.
I always try Linux from time to time, but there are always some things I really don't want to live with...

For example:
an easy network share for example. With windows it's right click on the folder -> add share and you are done with it.
With a Linux Mint, it's not so easy...
The Ubuntu desktop is just awful...
And for the others, there is no Steam

[Topcat]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

I'm actually not surprised by the very low usage numbers of w10 even for as long as it has been out.

Windows 95 was a smash hit upon release!
Windows 98 was a smash hit upon release!
Windows 2000 was a smash hit upon release!
Windows XP was a smash hit upon release!
Windows Vista was a turd (released way too early for the hardware of the time IMO)
Windows 7 was a smash hit upon release!
Windows 8 was a turd
Windows 8.1 was a turd
Windows 9 was never released (what does that tell us)
Windows 10 is a turd

I'll just leave it at that....I'm sure the trend is very clear.

[diif]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

here is a quote frm another site i liked!

Well it must be true if its written on the internet !
Sounds like it was written by a child not an IT professional.
People "hack" software does not.

[stj]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

here is a quote frm another site i liked!

Take this as a warning about Windows 10 - You would be better off with a Commodore Vic 20 than with a quad core hacked by Windows 10, USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

[Per Hansson]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

I split the off topic discussion into a new thread.

As for me I've been running Win10 on some different hardware for over a year now, including on my main workstation.
I must say it's working quite well, it does have some issues that annoy me though.
Like how convoluted it is to setup and establish a VPN connection.
They finally did fix the issue that TCP/IP parameters could not be edited for VPN connections in the November update.
Anyones guess how that ended up in RTM!

But on the whole I must say it's a quite nice OS!
Takes some tweaks to disable the "feedback" and as always the Search function is completely broken.
But hey it's Windows; what did you expect a working search function?

[linuxguru]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

Linux - various versions of Fedora from FC3 to F21, on various notebooks and desktops. One Pentium M notebook still has Xubuntu for i686 - it just works, and it has a full working Bluetooth stack which allows me to wirelessly browse the microSD card on my phone (which is also useful for transferring pictures and MP3s as needed). Some recent Fedora versions have a borked Bluetooth stack (it mostly works, except for file transfer).

Also have an old FreeDOS 1.x release on some desktops, mainly for mobo BIOS flashing and so on. It can also be done from Linux these days, but there are some issues with self-unpacking binaries.

I don't much like the loss of functionality in some parts of the Linux userland ecosystem these days, but there's no show-stopper, so I'll put up with it until it's fixed. The main issues left are Bluetooth and power management, i.e. battery life.

[kaboom]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

98SE? Awesome, haha
I need to find me a copy of that.

I sent you a PM.

[lti]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

I'm using Windows 7, XP, 98, and Linux. I've become more interested in Linux in the past year. I haven't used Windows 10, but I don't like what I hear about it (not just the privacy concerns).

I haven't found a website that doesn't support Linux.

[Uniballer]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

I'm mainly on *BSD, with Linux for a few systems, and Windows where the users can't cope with anything else.

[Hondaman]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

Main machine: 8-core AMD 8150, completely passive-cooled Radeon 6770, 16 GB RAM: Windows 7 Pro and Mandriva 2010.2. I'll probably switch to Win 7 Pro/Mageia 5 soon, because of weird problems with Thunderbird for Mandriva that I'm too lazy to fix.

(Interesting, 5 years ago I used Linux 99% of the time, now I use Win 7 Pro 99% of the time. But after using Win 8 in a hotel lobby in 2015, I have no plans to move past Win 7 Pro. 5 years from now I'll probably be using Linux 99% of the time again!)

DVR machine #1 - Mythbuntu (Ubuntu, not sure which version, with Myth TV PVR extensions). Intel DH77EB multimedia board, i3-3245 CPU w/stock cooler. 2 GB RAM. I don't use this machine much, because I control an HD Homerun Dual device, and it requires an UNACHIEVABLY STRONG SIGNAL. Many of my recordings are garbage, even with ZERO clouds, and I can see several Louisville KY television transmitter towers from my back yard. (I have a single-bay Gray-Hoverman in my attic pointed straight at the towers).

DVR machine #2 - Kodi PVR (formerly XBMC) version 15.2 "Isengard" running on Ubuntu 14. Running on Asus P5MX/1333, 4 GB RAM (dual core 32-bit Pentium D, 3 GHz). I got the Windows MCE remote (with the USB receiver) working a couple of hours ago. Next, I need to switch to a passive (2U) CPU cooler for quieter operation (Dynatron passive cooler is good).

Phone - replaced an Android LG39C, 512 MB RAM (made exclusively for TracFone) with an Android Samsung Galaxy S5 (NIB, about a month ago). The TracFone was hanging up on every call after about one minute, maybe it was bad soldering. TF's $10 phones are okay, but if their phone costs $50-$60 or more, it'll die right after the warranty.

[Topcat]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

I actually have one too. It's pre-activated too.

I have that as well, with several valid VLK's. its nice having low friends in high places. Back when XP was the flagship of MS, those keys were pure gold!! I have 1 XP box in my fleet that I use regularly, and several that aren't used much. Security isn't the reason I departed XP on my main rigs, as I know how to secure my systems...it was mainly software support, especially with x64, which was the workhorse of my XP fleet.

[TELVM]

Re: The 2016 Operating System Thread

Windows 7 on every decent comp I got around, XP on some relics.

Given that MS no longer releases usable OS's, I'm reluctantly preparing transition to Linux at some point (the latter the better) beyond 2020.

I'm not touching any of those post-Se7en jokes of OS with a ten-foot pole.

... I'm surprised to see this many votes still going for XP. Doing better than Windows 10 so far.

You shouldn't be surprised, this thread is a representative sample of what's going on all around.