What was your favorite version of Windows (if any)?

What was your favorite version of Windows?

  • Pre Windows 95 (including MS-DOS which I know isn't Windows)

    Votes: 1 5.3%

  • Windows 95

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Windows 98

    Votes: 1 5.3%

  • Windows 2000

    Votes: 1 5.3%

  • Windows ME

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Windows XP

    Votes: 8 42.1%

  • Windows Vista (yeah, I know)

    Votes: 1 5.3%

  • Windows 7

    Votes: 7 36.8%

  • Windows 8.1 (skipped 8, of course)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Windows 10

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    19
ron.alan

ron.alan

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I often see in Linux forums (not just this one) many who say that XP was their favorite version of Windows. I'm somewhat surprised because I myself always felt that 7 was Windows' best version (perhaps many who answer XP never ran 7?). Vista wasn't so bad once they got the bugs worked out; and the fix for 8 --8.1-- was also decent in my opinion.

Anyway, I am very curious, so that's why I made this poll/thread.
 


windoze 7 I think but that was before I found Linux...now it's Linux or nothing.
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Yup, I'm one of those who abandoned the shipwreck at EOL of XP. Never ran 7; wasn't prepared to throw any more of my hard-earnt in Microsoft's direction! For me, XP was the 'best' version (if such a thing can be said without sounding like a contradiction in terms...) o_O :p

But after nearly 13 years, meh.......the polish had well & truly 'worn off'. At that point, I was sick of it..!


Mike. ;)
 
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Vista, for me. After SP1 it was great.

It was also the last Windows OS that I used. I never migrated to 7.
 
I prefer any one of 5 looking out toward my back yard.

But if I HAVE to choose an MS product? Well, I was somewhat upset back when my Win 2000 Pro machine went down. Fortunately, I had back-ups of all my files. However, the install disk got a huge scratch in it when a certain toddler (left unattended by someone we won't mention here) decided it was his new toy. Pricey (at the time) to replace.
 
I started out using XP. Other than being sluggish when I was using rendering software I had no problems with it. I had to replace my laptop when it was stolen. The day I bought a new one was the very same day Vista was released.

I hated it! I bought an installation disc for XP and my education concerning OS's went on overdrive. I loved 7. I never felt strangled by it. If not for 8, I might not have ever made it to Linux. But I also wouldn't know about other things I can't mention.
 
I did start with XP...back then I didn't know any better. I went from XP to 7...never used vista because someone said it was garbage.
m1213.gif


The funny thing is...everything after 7 was pure garbage...the guy was right.
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ron.alan said:
I often see in Linux forums (not just this one) many who say that XP was their favorite version of Windows. I'm somewhat surprised because I myself always felt that 7 was Windows' best version (perhaps many who answer XP never ran 7?). Vista wasn't so bad once they got the bugs worked out; and the fix for 8 --8.1-- was also decent in my opinion.

Anyway, I am very curious, so that's why I made this poll/thread.
Click to expand...
I had to say Windows 7 (Pro) since I'm actually still running it, but there's so much baggage for me in the whole question.

Windows 3.x just wasn't worth having - I immediately deleted it off of my first PC compatible... Though I did upgrade to DOS 5 when that came out
95 was a great way to run lots of terminal sessions at the same time.
2000 was fine
XP was fine
7 is fine, especially after installing a ton of cygwin stuff
I've tried 10 and hated it, though I had to use it for work for a couple of years.

I skipped 98, M.E., Vista and 8.x entirely and I've drawn the line at 11 - I'm just not going there.

My usual MO on getting a machine with a newer Windows was always to make it look and act as much like the previous version as possible, so I got 2000 to look and feel mostly like 95 and I got XP to look and feel mostly like 2000 (and hence, in my case, mostly like 95) etc. But that gets harder and harder with each successive iteration and the frustrating part is that there's no reason for it! MS just randomly changes the user interface every few years without adding any worthwhile functionality.

I try to be patient with those who continue to use Windows because they "don't want to have to learn linux". I just want to scream "WHY NOT?! you have to completely relearn Windows every couple of years".

I'll probably abandon Windows entirely when the Win7 box finally dies - but it's a Dell Precision tower, so it might still be a while.

Ima stop ranting now. The choir has been preached to.
 
Windows 7 was the last windows I ran, I was dual booting with Linux by the time 7 arrived. But I used it for a bit. And then switched to 100% Linux never looked back. I run only one windows program under wine now and find I use it seldom now as other Linux programs have equaled it. I do distro hop quite a bit. Each distro has it's pluses and minuses.
But windows never again for me.
 
Yeah, this is definitely an unscientific poll, as most would answer the last version of Windows they used, except for those of us, like me, that still keep a Windows box for the few programs that just don't have a good Linux equivalent. I started on 98, which was a huge freeze-fest. Then to XP which was a big improvement. Then came 7 which was even better, to me at least. I switched to Linux in 2014 when 8 was out and could see the handwriting on the wall. My current Windows box is 10. I have no need to upgrade it as it is never connected to the internet. I have also used Vista and 8.1, but I think that was after I already switched to Linux, on my secondary Windows boxes at the time. On second thought, Vista may have been when I was dual booting? Memory is fuzzy.
 
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I don't remember which one it was, I think XP - I liked it because it crashed, "ate" my homework alongside it, which sparked my curiousity in "how do disk drives actually save data" and ultimately led me to learn about it and switch to Linux xD
 
I wasn't really impressed with 1.0 or 2.0. But 3.0 and 3.1 were great. Still MS/DOS at the core, and I liked MS/DOS really, really, really. Open, accessible for the user/programmer, I could do anything with it. You could do calls via int 21h to the O/S but if you wanted you could also access the BIOS directly via interrupt calls. With simple TSR's you could add your own functionality to a BIOS- or DOS interrupt vector.

Windows was nice, but it wasn't in your way. Until 95 came. I hated 95 with the force of a thousand suns. In fact it was Windows 95 that made me stop programming for a very long time.

I assume it isn't a surprise I like the Linux CLI just a bit more than the GUI :)
 
Windows 11.
 
Yep Windows XP Home or Professional was by far the best Windows imo.

I used Windows Vista on computers made to run Windows Vista so I had no complaints.

I never had any complaints with Windows OSs.

Only reason I use Linux is I was board one day and tried Linux.

Unless the Wife buys a new Windows 11 PC Windows 10 will be the last Windows OS in our house.
 
3.11, 98SE, XP, and 7 were all okay for the time. Even 10 is okay after I manually uninstall everything that it will allow (which doesn't take too long after a fresh install). Or this tool can be used to debloat both Win 10 and 11. (Thanks @Emanate Presence for that tip!)

Windows is just another distro to me, but one that I don't use as much. Windows still has purpose because, thankfully, Linux is different. I would prefer Linux to remain different, but the demand seems to always be to make them more alike, and more compatible. Between WINE and WSL, they may get there one day. :eek:o_O

Hello OpenBSD! ;)
 
I ditched Windows for Linux on all of my PC's when one of the XP service packs crippled my PC and I didn't look back. And I'd been using Windows since it first came out. And MSDOS before that.

Unfortunately at work, I have to use Windows.
I can't say I've ever really liked windows. For many years I had a Windows 7 Pro rig that I had set up nicely with Cygwin (So I had a decent terminal emulator and all of my favourite CLI based tools available). And I'd completely hacked the desktop using registry hacks to modify a number of things. It was a pretty sweet setup, considering it was a Windows machine.

I politely declined the "upgrade" to Windows 8 and Windows 10. Ads and other random shizz in the menu? Ew, no thanks! But after the EOL of W7, I was forced to switch to a W11 pro machine.

And whilst W11 has things like virtual desktops (a feature that Linux desktops have had for decades) and the WSL - I find W11 increasingly annoying. There are a number of bugs and other regular annoyances. Cygwin is still the only thing that is keeping me sane and preventing me from quitting my job, or going postal!

So I don't really have a favourite version of windows. But W7 is probably the one I despise the least. Ha ha!
 
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