What OS do you mostly use.

[Urbandreamer]

An off the cuff comment by Mike4 got me thinking.

Just what OS are people using?
For the sake of the Poll I have assumed that those who regularly use more than one will add a post saying so and which.

I myself use both Windows and Linux almost every day. I use write stuff to run under QNX and use it every week. But I do expect that I will be an outlier in the poll.

[Mike4]

An off the cuff comment by Mike4 got me thinking.

Just what OS are people using?
For the sake of the Poll I have assumed that those who regularly use more than one will add a post saying so and which.

I myself use both Windows and Linux almost every day. I use write stuff to run under QNX and use it every week. But I do expect that I will be an outlier in the poll.

I think perhaps I didn't quite explain properly why I switched from Windows to Mac. It wasn't because I wanted IOS, so much as I wanted to get away from the unreliability of Windows.

I'd have been happy to continue with Windows were it not for the persistent breakdowns and time wasted fixing them. For me, a computer that works reliably and never breaks down is really important and I was no longer getting that with Windows.

Yes I was always able to fix the various stuff that inexplicably stopped working randomly and inconveniently, sometimes taking many hours of precious time to fix, but now I don't have to. Many here seem to enjoy the challenge of getting computers configured to work but to me it is just one utter gigantic PITA. My change was nothing to do with wanting IOS or needing to run any particular software. I was seeking reliability. I was seeking a tool that 'just works', always. And so far, for me, Macs come the closest. In fact finding new software to run on the Macs was a massive amount of work I'd prefer not to have had to do but it have paid off handsomely now. I now have tools that (by and large) work when I need to use them.

Having said all that my desktop has been running like a dog recently. I can feel a phone call to Mac support coming on.

[Infrasonic]

In terms of hours used per week Chrome OS (+Android), W10, Linux.

For serious 'business' use then it would be W10/Chrome OS (+Android)/Linux.

[Urbandreamer]

I think perhaps I didn't quite explain properly why I switched from Windows to Mac. It wasn't because I wanted IOS, so much as I wanted to get away from the unreliability of Windows.

I did say that it was a "off the cuff" comment. It was your comment about most using Linux that lead to the poll. Many have given the same reason you have just explained for their switch to Linux*, though I confess that the rest of your post on the other thread made me feel that you wouldn't be of the same opinion.

The poll is not "what is the best", but what do people use.

I certainly am not going to be telling people that they are wrong, if as I suspect, the poll shows that many use Windows.

*as yet no votes for Chrome or anyone mentioning Android. If you just surf the web (I suspect the most common task) then an Android tablet / Ipad / Chromebook will do the job well. Oops, Infrasonic just chipped that in.

[johnhemming]

I have answered Windows, but I have an Android mobile as well. I do have linux on my laptop as an alternative OS and recently when Windows messed up Chrome I had a glance at it, but I have got round the Chrome problem and don't really want to spend the time to shift to Linux.

Microsoft do really irritate me, however.

[monabri]

Android & Win 10 (60:40 at a guess timewise).

However, 10:90 when complaining about/to ITI Crapital.

[scotview]

I've used windows for a long time (currently windows 10).

Reliability is exceptional, in my opinion, compared with other engineering systems.

Reliability must be near 99.9%,

Use factor (in my case) high (75%),

Availability (99.99 %)

What particular problem do you have ??

[GeoffF100]

I have answered Windows, but I have an Android mobile as well. I do have linux on my laptop as an alternative OS and recently when Windows messed up Chrome I had a glance at it, but I have got round the Chrome problem and don't really want to spend the time to shift to Linux.

Microsoft do really irritate me, however.

Google Chrome worked perfectly for me on Xubuntu 20.04 until a day or two ago. Now it misbehaves when I maximise Windows. Ironically, it is at its worst on YouTube. I am resorting to Firefox some of the time, but I expect that Google will fix the problem soon.

[johnhemming]

I've used windows for a long time (currently windows 10).

What particular problem do you have ??

It logs me off Chrome sometimes when I switch it on again. That means logging back into chrome with the OTP and then logging back into everything else including doing OTP again.

I can get around that by using "sleep", but I really prefer to reboot from scratch if at all possible.

[Urbandreamer]

What particular problem do you have ??

This poll really is intended to gather info about what people do use.

However as I said that it was in response to a off the cuff comment, and given that Mike4 suspected that I was commenting about the rest of his post...

Here is a link.
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=25604#p346743
And, while I'm sure that he could add to the post, here is a quote from it.

(e.g. stuff like the scanner would stop working when I downloaded a Windows update)

PLEASE, this poll is about what people use, NOT WHY.

[scotview]

Well, the poster did mention, in his second post the word "RELIABILITY" , as the justification to moving to Apple.........just saying.

Reliabilility, is quite a rigorous, measurable engineering term.

[scotview]

By the way, the other measurable of engineering performance is "downtime".

I didnt mention that because "Windows" , amazingly, doesn't seem to exhibit any downtime.

[6Tricia]

Mostly Android - tablet, very occasionally Windows 7 - desktop.

Tricia

[Urbandreamer]

Well, the poster did mention, in his second post the word "RELIABILITY" , as the justification to moving to Apple.........just saying.

Reliabilility, is quite a rigorous, measurable engineering term.

Unfortunately "reliability" is quite a dodgy term*. Windows is not the only OS that changes things without asking or telling, yet if something is changed, is it the same? This ignores the entire re-boot question/issue. Would you want such on a pace maker or nuclear power station?

As for Windows not exhibiting downtime, tell that to anyone who has sat in front of a unusable computer while windows goes through the update-reboot sequence.

I repeat, I was asking what people use, NOT trying to point the finger at any OS.

FWIW, my background is systems that were always on and unchanging. Changing software entailed changing chips. Though we now do allow easier software changes. Some of the software I wrote 25 years ago is still running unchanged, as is the OS.

*Actually the engineering terms are MTBF (Mean time between failure), MTBDF (Mean time between dangerous failure) and SIL (Safety integrity level). This is why I don't use Windows for anything that is safety critical (and wouldn't use Linux for the same).

[scotview]

MTBF, MTTB, MTTR are DERIVED from Reliability, Availaibility, Use factor and downtime data. They are derivatives. I'll stop posting on this one now.

[servodude]

Ticked the bit of a mix option
- generally run Win10 as a host
- developing on a Linux VM (Ubuntu 19 or 20 these days) for software to run on a custom Linux target (via poky)

Doing the development in a virtual machine helps keep things up to date as upgrades don't put the hardware at risk
- and I can have different VMs for different contracts
- there's also just some stuff that doesn't work in Linux depending on who your chip vendors are (typically windows drivers for development hardware - but also some chip specific software)

-sd

[UncleEbenezer]

You're missing two of the most popular: Android and IOS.

Different OSs for different devices. Android for the pocket-size 'puter. MacOS (OK, BSD with a proprietary skin) for the macbook. Linux for all other purposes. Making overall a mix.

[Urbandreamer]

You're missing two of the most popular: Android and IOS.

Different OSs for different devices. Android for the pocket-size 'puter. MacOS (OK, BSD with a proprietary skin) for the macbook. Linux for all other purposes. Making overall a mix.

I did indeed.

I was thinking in terms of PC use. However it's too late to change the poll so I fear that such people will have to tick the "other" or "mix" box and post.

I confess that I thought that MacOS was NOT BSD, MacOS is posix compliant while BSD is not. Though internally they are very similar.
More here, for geeks.
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/differenc ... d-freebsd/

[Bagger46]

I use windows 10 on a Surface Pro tablet for most of my serious business related work. It it absolutely fine as far as I am concerned.

We do have lots of other PCs in our daughter’s office, just across the yard, but I rarely need to use them, only when I finalise contract/legal complex docs. They all run Windows 10.

I occasionally, as now, use my wife’s IPad Pro for browsing. As far as I am concerned, despite the slicker interface, it is not a patch of the MS Surface, can’t run my macros, can’t open multiple interlinked spreadsheets, etc...An expensive toy.

I have never owned a mobile phone, never needed one, but with various banks (UK and EU) seriously messing me around with so called increased security) might have to soon.

Bagger

PS I used to ‘fiddle’ a lot with IT, built numerous machines, installed countless systems, used lots of programming languages, no more. Just use the thing as is now.

[swill453]

I have never owned a mobile phone, never needed one, but with various banks (UK and EU) seriously messing me around with so called increased security) might have to soon.

Can't the Surface Pro take a SIM card? May be able to receive SMS messages, even if it can't make phone calls.

Scott.