What's your current OS?

[Sirber]

What's your current OS?

[check]

You forgot the "other" option :)
I use XPPro SP2, and various linux/BSDs on servers.

[Sirber]

Forgot Mac, sorry :(

[chainring]

XP on a laptop..oops, the pc term is "Notebook". Don't want my lap to get fried by an exploding battery, do we?

Two Mac's: both Intel machines, so OS X 10.4.9.

[Shinigami-Sama]

What if I use Solaris a lot as well?
but yeah mostly XP, Solaris on workstations, but patching is a pain -.-

[HowlerX]

WinXP on my main PC. Ubuntu on another. Learning the quirks of Linux for when WinXP is no longer supported.

[Beastie Boy]

I have dual boot with Ubuntu 7.04 and Win XP on both my main PC and laptop. I mainly use Ubuntu, and only fire up XP to use Premiere and Photoshop (no printer drivers available under Linux, damn Canon!).
I am avoiding Vista as I refuse to use an OS that wants to lock me out of my own machine with TCP (Trusted Computing Platform).

Cheers, Beastie

[Sirber]

I am avoiding Vista as I refuse to use an OS that wants to lock me out of my own machine with TCP (Trusted Computing Platform).

Cheers, BeastieWell, I'm on vista and my new system and my motherboard don't even have a TPM chip :)

[richardlee]

Stuck with XP, I don't like where Vista is going so I won't be jumping on that bandwagon.

Have seriously considered a move to linux but it wont install on my pc's, damn unsupported legacy hardware! however I'm not going to upgrade when they already do everything I want.

I do lust after beryl though, 3D spinning desktop goodness that it is (wipes drool from chin).

[chongy5]

I also want beryl heh! Currently running XP, for me it is still better than Vista (on my hardware). I would run Ubuntu but due to a networking problem I couldn't be bothered to work it out.

[DarkZell666]

Dual boot XP pro and Ubuntu. I'm learning linux step by step, I'll be launching it more often. The day SiS comes out with a SIS M760GX driver for linux I'll be switching even faster =) (m760GX is one of the rare graphic chipsets that doesn't have a driver for linux that is DRI compatible ...)

I won't be buying vista any time soon ... I might have a try if it's bundled with the next rig I'll buy though :o

[JohnnyMalaria]

Mainly XP Pro SP2.

But on my development box, I multiboot to:

XP Pro SP2
XP Pro x64
XP Pro SP2 (Dutch Language Version)
XP MCE 2005
Vista Ultimate 32-bit
Vista Ultimate 64-bit

And I have recently downloaded Ubuntu 7.0.4 so, at some point, I will add that (once I am absolutely sure of the procedure to install it to co-exist with my others)

[Sirber]

@JohnnyMalaria

Be sure to install linux after windows and you are ok.

[chongy5]

Just to point out on that multi-boot set up that Grub, the linux bootloader, will take over as bootloader for all of those Windows OS's (i.e. boot screen will be run using Grub).

Just in case you were not aware (I believe you can remove it and keep the Vista/XP one still).

[Grumpy Troll]

Windows XP Home SP2+.

I don't Think I will install Vista anytime soon...too many DRM restrictions.

Grumpy

[Shinigami-Sama]

@JohnnyMalaria

Be sure to install linux after windows and you are ok.

also it'd be a smart Idea to ghost the image afterwards so, you can have the image on a DVD along with MiniPE+ghost and just ghost it if you break the install
so there'd be no playing with grub/lilo anymore
we did that most of this year with all the reinstalls -.-

[Sirber]

I don't Think I will install Vista anytime soon...too many DRM restrictions.
Like what? I'm on it and I don't see any. There's been a lot of FUD (http://encyclopedia.tfd.com/fear,+uncertainty+and+doubt) in the past, most of them are false.

[zambelli]

Windows XP Home SP2 at home, with dual boot into XP x64 (not sure why - it seemed like a good idea at the time).

[Limit]

I have dual boot with Ubuntu 7.04 and Win XP on both my main PC and laptop. I mainly use Ubuntu, and only fire up XP to use Premiere and Photoshop (no printer drivers available under Linux, damn Canon!).
I am avoiding Vista as I refuse to use an OS that wants to lock me out of my own machine with TCP (Trusted Computing Platform).

Cheers, Beastie

Try to use Turboprint-drivers for your printer or the drivers from the japanese canon-page.

[unmei]

4x xp pro, 1x xp home.
I very rarely work on servers at work (not my job to keep them running :)), but they'd be solaris and debian (iirc).

[Tatsh]

I dual-boot XP Pro and Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE). I've tried Ubuntu and Xubuntu before, and Kubuntu long before, and I think it's the best one. KDE4 is definitely going to be a huge improvement. I use Linux a lot more, and I'm trying to learn to do everything I do on WIndows on Linux. dvd::rip is a nice tool for DVD-rips, kind of like GordianKnot on Linux. And there are several tools on the repositories for converting DVD9 to DVD5, but I have not tried those yet.

Unfortunately, Windows dominates the gaming market, and I do like to play every once in a while. Soon enough that will be my only reason to run Windows. Wine is making great progress with games however. C&C Renegade (yes it is old) runs with minimal flaws and at full speed on my notebook.

So far I haven't got Beryl to work. ATI sucks at writing drivers for Linux (actually I think they suck as much on Windows to be honest). Somehow, Nvidia writes non-open source drivers and yet they work great and nobody is complaining (except Project Nouveau).

[DarkNite]

Gaming box = Windows XP Pro SP2 / Windows Vista Ultimate
HTPC's = Windows MCE 2005 / Windows Vista Home Premium
Encoding box = Windows XP Pro SP2 / Windows Vista Home Premium
Home Server 1 = Windows Home Server CTP
Home Server 2 = Longhorn Server Beta 3 (Core Install)
Laptop = Ubuntu 7.0.4 ("it just works")

There are a lot of things I like about Vista, and a lot of things I don't. The same can be said for Longhorn Server and the CTP of Home Server, although both show a lot of promise in their respective areas, especially on the deployment side of Longhorn Server. Ubuntu, however, just gets the job done for me quickly when I'm out and about. I've always liked Ubuntu, and for my mobile needs it's more than enough without being just plain bloated or requiring too much effort to trim it down.

[Lenny_Nero]

Windows 2000 for my main OS (I have it on all of my computers, I also use Slackware but not so much of late.

I have a few 64 bit boots (2003) and Sun have just sent me the the new Solaris 10 DVD's which I will have to get round to putting somewhere.

As for the in built Vista DRM it would take a long time to go thru it all as there is so much of it, but some people are happy living in denial, if your not...A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection (http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html) it also works with the in built DRM and content management of the later Intel chips, most people and companies that I know and my dad works with are not having anything to do with either, and many that had moved up to XP are now moving back to Win 2000 as it still has the longest support lifeline of all windows OS's. Its also the best.

[gameplaya15143]

Primary: winXP sp1 home (very stable)
multi-booting with dos7 & win98se and mandrake linux 10 that I installed about 3 years ago and haven't done much with.

[ilovejedd]

old desktop: Windows 98SE
slightly less older desktop: Windows XP Pro SP2
"file server" desktop: Windows XP Home SP2 (basically, only desktop with SATA and USB 2.0 ports)
laptop 1: Windows XP Home SP2 (shuts down when you move the screen)
laptop 2: Windows XP Home SP2 (what I'm using right now)
laptop 3: Windows XP Pro SP2

All OSes pre-installed, although, I re-installed the WinXP's to get rid of bloatware.

[zambelli]

As for the in built Vista DRM it would take a long time to go thru it all as there is so much of it, but some people are happy living in denial, if your not...A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection (http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html) it also works with the in built DRM and content management of the later Intel chips
You're late to the game. That article has been debated endlessly. Seriously, DRM is the least of Vista's worries. If I had to list 20 things that I don't like about Vista, DRM wouldn't even make the list because it has absolutely no effect on my daily work (and I work A LOT with multimedia).

If I don't use it, it can't annoy me.

most people and companies that I know and my dad works with are not having anything to do with either, and many that had moved up to XP are now moving back to Win 2000 as it still has the longest support lifeline of all windows OS's. Its also the best.
AFAIK, Win 2000 is no longer sold/licensed, has no plans for service packs and is only updated for security bugs. It's a good OS but I think its time has passed. MS is no longer even developing/testing any products for Win2K.

[Lenny_Nero]

Windows 2000 was never really meant for the home user so it has a different set of rules, even so it still has a much longer support life cycle than XP (only XP SP2 is even supported any more) because it still earns M$ the most money out of its OS dept, just short of 50% last time I read about it.

One of my dads friends has just got (some time 1st Q this year) another 500 Windows 2000 seats because he wanted the same M$ select Win 2000 server Burgundy Release that we use. M$ did try to push him to vista but after he said that he was not interested and would migrate all of his stuff to Solaris/*nix because they are not willing to run 2 sets of everything.

The last lot of update CD's I got were classed as Pre SP5 and when I check with Belarc Advisor it says under the updates "Windows 2000 SP5", also on the M$ life cycle page/FAQ it says under SP4 support "Support ends either 12 or 24 months after the next service pack releases" i.e. as per normal. But that could just be their (M$) way of getting round it, as the way they word OS support is 5 + 5 years and then 3 after the last service pack so if they just 'say' that there is another service pack coming it will always be supported and they dont break their own rules, and thus annoy the ones that did upgrade to dead ends like MCE/Vista

I know that W2k was put into extended (at the end of last year when M$ dropped all support for non SP2 XP) support which is the last 5 of the 10+ years and then plus 3 after that... either way Win 2000 is easy for the home user to get hold of 2nd hand or whatever if they dont have it and there are no worries about support ending any time soon, without the fact that there is so much out there for it, including an open source OS that will be able to run anything that it (NT5) can run natively and getting better everyday, its more stable than the Win9x versions by miles and generally better all round over XP for one thing does not screw up if your over clocking like XP or phone home in any of its 12 ways your use of it. I get much longer up times from the Win2k stuff I see over XP, I have gone on more than enuff.

I understand that it might be 'older' as far as OS's go, IMO (and many others I know) a perfectly viable OS, and I have yet to see any newer ones offer anything important that it cant do... silly fisher price 'bling' UI tweaks just dont count.

[zambelli]

generally better all round over XP for one thing does not screw up if your over clocking like XP or phone home in any of its 12 ways your use of it. I get much longer up times from the Win2k stuff I see over XP, I have gone on more than enuff.
XP screws up if you overclock? Weird. I must have a lucky XP build or something since I've been running my CPU overclocked since day 1. :rolleyes:

I won't dissect your points since OS choice is a personal thing... but I will say it certainly seems like you're basing your decision more on incomplete experience than actual fact. But hey, if it works for you, it works for you.

[Lenny_Nero]

I have just heard of and know of many people that have had problems with XP when pushing up the FSB speed, as I understand it this is well known in overclocking groups.

I dont know what you mean by "incomplete experience", I have been using computers for a long time and been around them even longer and seen the OS evolve and use most of them, I've worked with large numbers of users that have had XP as the OS and seen its problems first hand, and moved from 2000/NT4/9x to XP and in the other direction... I will admit I am not a gamer so that is the only area I dont have XP vs 2000 experience, so if that is what you mean, then yes.

[int 21h]

Windows 2000 ...


SP5 for Win2k was canceled long ago. Update Rollup 1 for SP4 is the last major update for Win2k. (http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/server/evaluation/news/bulletins/rollup.mspx)
If you're running a Microsoft shop there are quite a few reasons to upgrade to Win2k3 on the server side (AD, GPOs, TermServ, MSSQL, IIS, high availability clustering, etc.)
Win2k was put into extended support on June 30th, 2005 and security updates will end in 2010 (3 years from now).


I could see making an argument to run Win2k3 on the desktop instead of Vista and maybe instead of XP, but Win2k instead of any of those?

Suppose I should answer the survey, I have a Lenovo X60 Tablet with Vista Ultimate, a workstation with Win2k3 (along with VMware Workstation and lots of RIS deployments of XP SP2 for staging + development), XP SP2 at home on my main PC, and Red Hat FC5 on a MythTV box. I've just started messing around with kUbuntu for a few reasons and as soon as I get around to disabling Bitlocker and unencrypting my drive, I plan on installing a dual boot setup on my X60 (for Kismet, if nothing else).

[purpaboo]

I use whatever works best for my needs, hence:

1 win2k admin machine (pentium 2!)
1 win2k authoring box (dual P3, SCSI discs)
1 XP2 play box (P4)
1 Irix Blender box (SGI Octane, dual R12k)
1 Solaris Unix admin box (Sun Ultra 60)

3 FreeBSD webservers (Sun Netra T1-105s)
3 NetBSD fileservers (1 Cobalt Qube2, 2 P2s)
2 OpenBSD routers (P2s)
2 FreeBSD firewalls (P2s, pfsense)

No Macs, as I can't afford $299 every time a power supply goes...

[DarkNite]

Finally someone who mentions BSD. I didn't know we were including work machines here. Three cheers for OpenBSD routers!

I haven't used FreeBSD as a firewall for a couple years. Is there anything new I'm missing on that front?

OT: I am unfamiliar with the Cobalt Qube2 you mentioned. What architecture, and year of production is that from? I get the feeling it might have been a little before my time.

[Doobie]

What is Windows 2000 doing on the short list? Why not "Other Windows" in its place? As someone else observed, there are actually operating systems other than Windows and Linux (thus, the choice of "Other"). Why not include the word "primary" in the question? Why qualify the question with "current", as if someone who hasn't used Linux in a decade is going to say Linux?

Distrowatch, obviously skewed toward Linux, recently showed that of their visiters, 48% use XP. 4% Vista. 6% Other Windows. 36% Linux. Leaving 6% to Other.

[purpaboo]

Hi DarkNite

> I haven't used FreeBSD as a firewall for a couple years. Is there anything new I'm missing on that front?

Not too much. It's a damn site easier to build a box than it used to be thanks to projects like M0n0wall (http://m0n0.ch/wall/) and pfSense (http://www.pfsense.com/)

> OT: I am unfamiliar with the Cobalt Qube2 you mentioned. What architecture, and year of production is that from? I get the feeling it might have been a little before my time.

Wikipedia has a little information on the Qube2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_Qube). I mostly built them into server appliances but have never documented a build. You can see comparable examples at http://www.shon.org/qube/ and http://www.teraqube.co.uk/

Thanks for looking, and have a nice day. :-)

p.s. None of the machines mentioned are "day job" machines. That would a XP SP2 dual Xeon 3.06 (with hyperthreading, so 4 cores).

[Lenny_Nero]

SP5 for Win2k was canceled long ago. Update Rollup 1 for SP4 is the last major update for Win2k. (http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/server/evaluation/news/bulletins/rollup.mspx)

I do understand that is what M$ are telling (and have done) for the home users, but its not really the way it is. Since they have seen the amount of users asking the OEM's for XP over Vista boxes shoot up because of real world use they have pushed up the shut down on XP.

As said I am classed as a Select customer and as that is one of the groups that still gives M$ the bulk of the money they earn they have and do break their own rules for them, as said Win2000 is in extended support, but the next 3 years after that have already been outlined, and I do expect more. For its ability Win2000 server is still up there with the best, and I expect that is why as a Select customer its still available to buy http://www.pc-ware.be/pcw_be/nl/licensing/Microsoft+Select.htm as well as able to function as a desktop or a server it does very well and has been able to do many of the things that are only now becoming standard in newer and 64bit OS's (multi cpu up to 32chips/cores and large memory support up to 32 GB).

I just think that the main problem is many home users jumped from 9x to XP thinking that Win2000 was too hard for the home user desktop, not knowing how much it was dumbed down and made to look nice in the guise of XP, but it also lost a large amount of its power at the same time. I also expect that this is the reason why so many will snub it when they have not even used it, or understand the power it has.

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/4125/therealdeals002vd7.th.png (http://img443.imageshack.us/my.php?image=therealdeals002vd7.png)

[ilovejedd]

Actually, I think it's more because they were marketing Windows ME for home users and Windows 2000 was viewed by most people as being for businesses and professionals so they really didn't see Win2k as a viable alternative. As for the direct 9x to XP, well, we all know what a disaster WinME is. I don't think a lot of people upgrade their operating systems, either. They just buy a new PC when their old system can't cope with their needs anymore or if it breaks down or something. By default, people got stuck with XP since that is what came with systems being sold at that time. Hmm, come to think of it, XP was released shortly after Win2k.

As for the average user, I think XP is just fine for them. I mean, how many would actually bother setting up security and permissions, etc? Sure, XP has been dumbed down and does not have the same power as Win2k, but most home users really won't care. They happen to like the eye candy and the dumbed down interface. Those that do care can and probably will install an alternate operating system on their PCs, be it either Win2k or some other OS.

[DarkNite]

@purpaboo

Wikipedia:
The original Qube systems were equipped with MIPS CPUs but later models used AMD K6-2 chips.

Yeah, a little before my "functional" time. At that time I was still plugging away on my Amiga 1200, most likely running through the Bard's Tale series again. :D

That does remind me that I have an EPIA Nano-ITX board I need to do something with though.

[Lenny_Nero]

As for the average user, I think XP is just fine for them. I mean, how many would actually bother setting up security and permissions, etc?
I guess your right... I would like to think the average user runs crypto and perms on their wireless and shared folders, user and admin accounts and even backups their data every few days... but as often proved to me over and over... they dont. I 'spose what I should say is that IMO Win2000 is the best M$ OS by a long way, I have the power to run multi level users with lots of security, not have to re boot often (can go months), I have it working on setups from 466 MHz with 388 MB, down to sub 1 GHz with 128 MB and run as well as a desktop or server.

I always miss out ME from the M$ OS stable, but that is just because it does not really count ;)

[dragongodz]

There's been a lot of FUD in the past, most of them are false.

You're late to the game. That article has been debated endlessly. Seriously, DRM is the least of Vista's worries.

sorry to post this a little late. a bit surprised nobody provided the link before now.

if you want to debate over what restrictions etc vista has then please go here
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=116701

you can call it FUD all you like but its interesting reading and there are plenty of things in that thread that people may not know when they are contemplating going to vista.

[FreshMeat]

Kubuntu in my laptop and XP in my desktop PC.

[FishTank]

win2k and xp.

i prefer win2k over xp. the only thing i prefer about xp is the
faster booting. btw. is it just me or does win2k take about
3 times longer to boot since service pack 3 or 4? well it seems
like that to me anyway.

TF

[DarkZell666]

Yup, this is why I switched to XP in the first place, since with windows you spend half of your time rebooting ... XD

[int 21h]

I do understand that is what M$ are telling (and have done) for the home users, but its not really the way it is. Since they have seen the amount of users asking the OEM's for XP over Vista boxes shoot up because of real world use they have pushed up the shut down on XP.

As said I am classed as a Select customer and as that is one of the groups that still gives M$ the bulk of the money they earn they have and do break their own rules for them, as said Win2000 is in extended support, but the next 3 years after that have already been outlined, and I do expect more. For its ability Win2000 server is still up there with the best, and I expect that is why as a Select customer its still available to buy http://www.pc-ware.be/pcw_be/nl/licensing/Microsoft+Select.htm as well as able to function as a desktop or a server it does very well and has been able to do many of the things that are only now becoming standard in newer and 64bit OS's (multi cpu up to 32chips/cores and large memory support up to 32 GB).

I just think that the main problem is many home users jumped from 9x to XP thinking that Win2000 was too hard for the home user desktop, not knowing how much it was dumbed down and made to look nice in the guise of XP, but it also lost a large amount of its power at the same time. I also expect that this is the reason why so many will snub it when they have not even used it, or understand the power it has.



Your replies always contain factual errors that if were not present would make your argument much more likely to persuade someone.

I am very familiar with the Select agreement, in fact, I'd be willing to wager that we have many more CALs and server licenses than you do (many times over), so I'm not putting forth any of this as a 'home user'. While it is true that Microsoft will provide support for anything you are willing to pay for, that support does not include programming operating systems (They will contract program other things though), and the level of support most customers buy with Select agreements (usually Software Assurance) definitely does not contain any provision for changes to any operating system. Furthermore, what you say about Select customers providing the 'bulk' of Microsoft's sales is completely incorrect. On the client side, sales to OEMs still far out pace everything else.


Client revenue was $3.303 billion and operating income $2.637 billion for the fourth quarter, up 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively. This compares to $3.167 billion in revenue and $2.57 billion operating income in the year-ago quarter.

License sales to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) again carried the quarter. OEM channels accounted for over 80 percent of Client revenues.

Aside from the fact that you totally side stepped the entire Win2k3 issue, obviously you snub it because you have not even used it, or understand what power it has.... I don't know what else it would take to convince you that Win2k is end-of-life. I mean if a Microsoft employee posting to this thread wasn't enough, and if IE7 not being released for Win2k wasn't enough, or any of the other numerous updates to application servers not being backported to Win2k isn't evidence enough, obviously there is nothing that will convince you... After all, you're a Select customer, you have Microsoft's ear, and I'm sure you'll get SP5 pushed through in no time.

How about in 2010, we bring this thread up again, and at that time we see who was right all along about these support issues?

[shadowtec]

Windows XP Home SP2

[Lenny_Nero]

Your quite good at twisting what I say... or, I expect, you just dont understand, I will let you have the 'I have more licences then you do' argument, because I really dont care, it means nothing.

As said I am classed as a Select customer and as that is one of the groups that still gives M$ the bulk of the money
I will point out to you the important part... 'one of the groups'. I very much doubt that we would have OEM's talking in this and so would not class them in the same area, also because the seats are not got by the person or company that are going to use them, Dell might get many more licences than someone like me, but they dont use them, so its not like it really counts, if that is the case I should then count all of the stuff that I dont have any more as well.

The reason why I was not going into the win2k3 issue, is that you brought it up I did not and the main thing, it was not part of the poll, I have a few 2003 servers of my own (read my posts), and work with many more, IMO it does not make a better desktop/server, for the same reason (it was not in the poll) I did not bring up my BSD stuff, none of which I use as a desktop.

As for IE7 for 2000 ? IMO its dead in the water, Firefox kills cold any incarnation, the only thing it has going for it is that its there with the install on the newer M$ OS's. I see more working environments where the users are told that IE is not to be used because of the problems it has, I cant remember the last time I saw a M$ box that did not have it installed. I have never used it and dont think I know any that have.

[4Dude]

I cant vote,my option isnt listed :(

[Camd00d]

I'm using Windows XP right now for my own personal machine and throughout my businesses. I don't have any plans to upgrade to Vista and am seriously considering making a switch to Linux at the end of my Windows XP systems lives. I tried Ubuntu several years ago, it was clumsy, but I think it's come a long way since then!

http://www.andremorris.com

[mpucoder]

All of the above except Vista, plus Win98 and WinME. These are for testing, however I prefer Win98 and Win2K for everyday use. My servers run Red Hat Linux (tried Windows servers early on, they died)

[int 21h]

Your quite good at twisting what I say... or, I expect, you just dont understand, I will let you have the 'I have more licences then you do' argument, because I really dont care, it means nothing.


I will point out to you the important part... 'one of the groups'. I very much doubt that we would have OEM's talking in this and so would not class them in the same area, also because the seats are not got by the person or company that are going to use them, Dell might get many more licences than someone like me, but they dont use them, so its not like it really counts, if that is the case I should then count all of the stuff that I dont have any more as well.

The reason why I was not going into the win2k3 issue, is that you brought it up I did not and the main thing, it was not part of the poll, I have a few 2003 servers of my own (read my posts), and work with many more, IMO it does not make a better desktop/server, for the same reason (it was not in the poll) I did not bring up my BSD stuff, none of which I use as a desktop.

As for IE7 for 2000 ? IMO its dead in the water, Firefox kills cold any incarnation, the only thing it has going for it is that its there with the install on the newer M$ OS's. I see more working environments where the users are told that IE is not to be used because of the problems it has, I cant remember the last time I saw a M$ box that did not have it installed. I have never used it and dont think I know any that have.

Sometimes I forget to actually come back and read threads I've posted in. This was one of those times.

OEMs do use the seats they buy. OEM licenses are a non-transferable agreement between the customer and the OEM. When a company like Dell purchases 1000 licenses of Windows XP, they aren't reselling the licenses of Windows XP to their customers, the licenses are non-transferable, Dell customers are bound through Dell EULAs and Dell licensing for the use of Windows XP on the hardware they purchased. If you ever have a chance to take a look at the OEM agreement that Microsoft enters into with PC manufacturers, you will see that the OEM agrees to manage media, first tier support, and that the OEM is responsible for managing the license (because the license is between Microsoft and the OEM, not Microsoft and the customer in this case). Granted it is relatively easy to manage the number of licenses during manufacture because you need a COA for every box, and if you are out of COAs, you are out of licenses, but that is beside the point.

With regards to Internet Explorer usage, in the US, there are quite a few Information Management companies (Decision Support, Records management, etc.) that rely on Internet Explorer as a standard interface into their software. That is usually where my interactions with it and reliance on it originate. Companies such as Cerner (http://www.cerner.com/public/) (Healthcare), SunGard (http://www.sungardhe.com/) (HigherEd, Financial), and PeopleSoft (HigherEd, Business) (http://www.oracle.com/applications/peoplesoft-enterprise.html). These products make many businesses tick and hence, Internet Explorer also makes these businesses tick. I would say that reliance on Internet Explorer in mainstream, non-niche businesses is more common than not.

We will simply have to agree to disagree, but I have to say that I am leaning more towards zambelli's original statement to you:


I won't dissect your points since OS choice is a personal thing... but I will say it certainly seems like you're basing your decision more on incomplete experience than actual fact. But hey, if it works for you, it works for you.

[Arite]

I use Win XP Pro as my main OS, however I dual boot with Debian 4.0 Etch. I am thinking of getting Ubuntu or Ubuntu Studio as setting up the audio and MIDI latencies etc. is a bit of a pain on Debian - good OS though :).