Operating Systems

[froggalexis]

What operating system do you use on your computer? I use Windows 10 on my desktop but really love using Gentoo Linux on every laptop I've put it on, so I will probably swap my desktop to Gentoo soon. Curious what you all use!

[Squecca]

Windows 10! I'm dreading eventually being forced to downgrade to Windows 11 because of the AI, bloatware, and decreased privacy.
I used Mac OS for 5 or 6 years and I'll never go back. It's so much more restrictive than Windows.

[evolotto]

Kubuntu on our main PC and PopOS on our laptop here!

It's kind of a funny story, we started with PopOS as a test to see if we liked it, then our PC completely broke to where we had to replace pretty much half the parts on it, so we decided to switch to Linux fully. We realised though there was a GPU issue and while testing it and using Kubuntu, we realised we actually love that distro a lot more, and decided to switch to it.

still have GPU issues because turns out it's an issue with the kernel itself and there's been an open bug ticket for it for 4 years-

[Imbion]

Linux user here! The direction of microsoft and Windows 11 changes did in fact cause me to jump ship, and I am very happy that I started using Linux.

I switched my laptop to Linux Mint first because I heard it was a good first time distribution, and I absolutely loved it. There's rarely any need to use the command line for a normal user, which made it very easy to get into without having to find a unix cheat sheet. I'm a computer scientist, so switching to linux wouldn't have much of a learning curve anyways for me - but I needed something usable right away for school and such.

My desktop has a bit more varried journey, because I specifically needed the best compatibility for video games which meant a distribution from the Arch family (since that behaves the best for gaming). I honestly like Ubuntu/Debian based distributions more still - I do not like Arch's cutting edge approach to updates because I want the software I am using to be well tested.

I first went to NixOS at the suggestion of a friend. It was really neat - The idea behind it is that everything about your programs is controlled by a config file, which was quite fun to tinker with. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to use a Linux distribution and is ready to tinker with it. I ended up switching though because there were some quirks that made it not work well for me - NixOS' file path behaviour is very different from most Linux environments and couldn't elegantly run some of the niche software I needed to. There was also a pretty noticeable bootup delay of around a minute, which is very slow if you're like me and prefer to shut down your computer rather than let it hibernate.

I tried Garuda Linux, which while was very usable had a whole lot of weird "user friendly" quirks that made it... Actually very unfriendly to me. Flatpak was outright disabled on there, as I discovered eventually - aaand that caused me to instantly switch to Manjaro Linux. Which turns out was a bit friendlier, but still had some limitations for the tradeoff of usability.

And then like a week later I switched to Arch Linux proper. Yeah, I spent an entire day trying to figure out how to configure it and bothering one of my friends for her config setup. I've customized it to use niri with noctalia shell - so the environment I have is pretty unique and doesn't use any of the major windows managers. Which is good, as I don't like KDE or Gnome... I also wanted to try a tiling windows manager, and niri with noctalia shell was what my friend was using.

To be honest I do not recommend Arch for most people - if you want the whole customization stuff, you should use NixOS. In fact, NixOS is what I'd consider my default "average" user recommendation for a linux distribution, as although it didn't fit what I exactly needed well it's a really good compromise between control and usability. If you like it a lot but need to go one step further, then go switch to Arch Linux.

(But, if you do want to install and configure Arch - check out the arch wiki for everything you need! And PM me if you need direct help, I'm still newish at this but I'll do my best to help...)

Windows 10! I'm dreading eventually being forced to downgrade to Windows 11 because of the AI, bloatware, and decreased privacy.
I used Mac OS for 5 or 6 years and I'll never go back. It's so much more restrictive than Windows.

I have a suggestion. (I suggest Linux)

But for real, I highly suggest switching to Linux Mint specifically for Windows users trying to flee Microsoft's current direction. It's really usable for former Windows users specifically and a very good introduction to the linux ecosystem. If you need Windows to run specific software, you can also just run a virtual machine of Windows.

[alleycatz4ever]

I'm currently using Windows 11, but I am considering switching to Linux eventually. The AI stuff doesn't bother me, but the bloatware and decreased privacy do. Linux seems daunting, but thanks to Imbion's post, I am now aware of Linux Mint and will probably start with that once I decide to make the switch.

[OneAndOnlyCookie]

I use windows 10 and i swear i will NEVER touch windows 11 bc how does every update somehow BREAK it??
I would use linux if i knew how it worked. I am bad at pc operating systems

[scmarshtacky]

My home PC is Windows 10! I will die with this OS I swear. XD
I believe all of the work computers are now Windows 11. Maybe a couple are left as 10.

[Meowmocha]

I'm using Windows 11 right now, because I wanted to switch to a gaming laptop with more storage, higher specs, and pretty dedicated graphics.
Of course, I'm not a big fan of the OS, because big tech companies are pushing AI and doing shady things in regards to privacy. Plus, you used to have the option of turning automatic updates off in Windows, and later versions don't let you do that. I had to tell Windows Update not to download things over a metered connection, then mark my wifi as such. I don't trust updates these days.

Oh, and the other day, I set up a virtual machine through DOSBox-X, because I wanted a way to run old Windows programs that have issues on newer systems. It's not a regular-use thing; just a thing to play games on, much like my other emulators. I did have to go through the whole Windows 98 installation, though.

[projectdolphin]

I use windows 10 and i swear i will NEVER touch windows 11 bc how does every update somehow BREAK it??
I would use linux if i knew how it worked. I am bad at pc operating systems

I think the best way to figure out linux is to just jump into it! Theres several distros that aim to replicate the ease of macOS/Windows but I would recommend you start with something like Mint! I put it on a laptop and gifted it to my brother who was 13 at the time and he had near no issue using it daily and what he didnt understand was very easy to explain. its very windows user friendly as is well supported. For the average person youll basically never need to use cmds either which I know is whats most daunting to most people. never hurts to test it out in a VM!

[Meriamelie]

i actually use MULTIPLE operating systems depending on what computer i'm using. i have an imac from 2012 that runs mac os x mavericks and windows 10. i used to use windows 7 on it a while back. i also have an m2 macbook that runs mac os sequoia (i refuse to update to tahoe). then, finally, on top of THAT, i have a laptop (which i got almost 2 months ago as a gift) that runs windows 11 (unfortunately). you might wonder why i have so many computers, the answer is that i'm honestly a tech freak. before i got my newer laptop, i swore that i would NEVER use windows 11 on any of my personal computers. i still do not like windows 11. i'm dying on this hill.

(rant incoming because i'm passionate about this. excuse how all over the place my writing is.)

it seems like microsoft (like all of the other big tech companies) just hates their users and doesn't want them to have any convenience. honestly, this has turned more into a rant but seriously it's so irritating! windows 11 feels like it's all over the place and doesn't even know what operating system it is. for example, when you right click on your desktop and some options come up, WHY is there another option which is "show more options" which then leads you to the SAME EXACT options in the windows 10 ui?? the ui is just insanely inconsistent and don't even get me started on the constant ai being shoved in your face. plus also the operating somehow breaking itself after updates. i could go on and on about how frustrating windows 11 is and how much of a dumpster fire it is, but i fear i'd be rambling til the end of time.

but don't even think apple is safe from my rant. they also are trying to throw ai at you each time they make a new update to their operating systems. each time they release a new version of ios, it (purposely) slows your phone down and breaks it. after my iphone 13 updated to ios 26 (completely against my will), it has been lagging, running slow, and freezing. i never had these problems before the update. oh apple, how else would you get your money?

even though i'm a tech freak, i actually haven't tried linux yet. but honestly nowadays i find myself more tempted to try it out since microsoft and apple are on my last nerve. i'm shocked i didn't try it out sooner, honestly. i definitely should've tried it out ages ago.