What is the best operating system for personal desktops?

[xoxouu]

I am not sure which I should use: OS X, Windows XP, or Linux?

can anyone explain to me which is better. thanks

 

[molsen]

which are you more familiar with? if you're already familiar with the windows OS, then windows XP would probably be your choice. Linux tends to be highly rated, however, and I think runs faster and is less resource-intensive than XP. google it, i know you'll find some good info.

 

[neb1211]

Which are you more farmilar with? What are you going to be doing with the OS? How much do you know about computers and operating systems in general? These are all things you need to take into account.

Mac OS = user friendly, mostly used for video editing, graphic design, etc.

Windows = user friendly, best for gaming, compatible with most software on the market

Linux = higher learning curve than the other two, open source (completely customizable by you), free

That is just a short run down of the OSes meantioned. I am sure that a few other people can add to that list.

 

[macdude425]

MOST of the things you can do (including gaming, to a certain extent) in Windows can be done in Linux...and normally better and faster, because you can tweak it to run better on your hardware. Not to say that Windows or Mac OS X aren't for some people (in the latter case, like me)...

 

[Vybuni]

It also depends on what computer you have. Mac OSX can only run on Macintosh made computers, while Windows Xp/Linux can run on pretty much any non-mac PC.

 

[tariqadkhan]

I think you will have to decide which is best for you. i would go with the win xp pro, coz thats wat i am accustomed too. i have never used mac os and linux.

 

[icemakr]

I installed red hat linux 9 once and i couldn't figure out how to configure my network adapter so i scrapped that idea and currently use xp.

 

[003]

MOST of the things you can do (including gaming, to a certain extent) in Windows can be done in Linux...and normally better and faster

Thats not really true. If you are a gamer, windows is the only way to go. There simply arn't enough games out for linux and mac os. True, you have things like wine in linux, but that is not guaranteed to run your games, and if it does, they will be slower than they would be in windows because all it does is emulate directx through opengl.

 

[macdude425]

And that's why I used the word MOST rather than ALL, and said gaming only to a certain extent.

 

[FghtinIrshNvrDi]

All in all, I'm going to say Windows XP is the hands-down best choice for everyday users. Unless you're into mild programming and/or tweaking, I don't see why anyone would choose linux for a gaming machine. Windows is compatible with everything, because everything is designed to cater to the HUGE majority with Windows.

Ryan