What OS do you use?

[XPav]

Answer the question!

[Chris]

42!

[Chris]

Damn double post!

[XPav]

Wrong!

[TimElhajj]

What, no Windows CE option?

:)

[Dirt]

How should I vote if I have dual boot?

[TimElhajj]

How should I vote if I have dual boot?

You need to get a new avatar if you want to fully participate in the poll.

[XPav]

How should I vote if I have dual boot?
Pick the one that you do most of your gaming on.

[XPav]

What, no Windows CE option?

:)
If you have Windows CE installed on a PDA, by all means, pick the "I play games on my PDA".

If you've installed Windows CE on your desktop computer, you're a fruitcake.

[Aleck]

It's a sad state of affairs when Windows ME is whooping Windows 98's ass. I didn't think Windows ME was stable enough to let you make it all the way through loading the Qt3 forums, let alone actually voting...

Aleck

EDIT: okay, WinMe only has 2 votes (to Win98's 1) -- does that count as an ass whooping?

[tromik]

No BeOS? And apparently many are using Longhorn now thanks to an unofficial "patch" for XP.

[Woolen Horde]

It's a sad state of affairs when Windows ME is whooping Windows 98's ass. I didn't think Windows ME was stable enough to let you make it all the way through loading the Qt3 forums, let alone actually voting...

Aleck

EDIT: okay, WinMe only has 2 votes (to Win98's 1) -- does that count as an ass whooping?

Me was a craptacularly horrible OS that did more to tarnish the Windows reputation than Win95 and 98 put together. The only reason Me existed was because XP had been delayed by a year. So they got everyone to upgrade from 98 to Me, which was horrible. Then a year later, they expected everyone would just jump to XP. So the consumer felt really ripped off at that point, when MS should have just waited for XP.

[Mike Hussey]

I went straight from a machine running Win 95 to one running XP. I guess I'm not Bill's idea of a perfect customer.

[DennyA]

FWIW, I had no problems with Me at all. And it had features I liked over 98se, although I have no memory of what those were.

I'd intended to dual-boot XP and Me, but never could find any reason to run Me again, so I went all XP upon the OS's release.

[Kalle]

I skipped on ME. A friend got it preinstalled on his HP computer though and man was that OS craptacular.

Got XP now, upgraded from 98 SE, to which I grudgingly upgraded from 98 because my motherboard drivers did not work with pure 98.

[Mike Cathcart]

Most of my gaming is on the XP box, but I've got a few games running on the Debian machine with WineX. One step closer...

[quatoria]

I'm surprised how few of us use Win2K. I love it, and have yet to see a compelling reason to switch to XP.

[Chris Nahr]

I'm surprised how few of us use Win2K. I love it, and have yet to see a compelling reason to switch to XP.

Most gamers never got Windows 2000 because of actual or rumoured compatibility problems with games, because it didn't have an Interface for Dummies (tm), or simply because Microsoft never pushed this OS for home users (the cheapest version started with the "Professional" label).

The only compelling reason to switch to XP would be the fact that game publishers tend to test on XP but not on 2000. But so far, games tend to work either with both or neither OS regardless what's printed on the box.

[Mike Cathcart]

I'm surprised how few of us use Win2K. I love it, and have yet to see a compelling reason to switch to XP.
I've got 2K on my second Windows machine. XP came with my computer, otherwise I agree with you, there's no reason to upgrade from 2000.

[graller]

Been using 2000 now on my last two laptops. I have to say i really like it. Have not made the leap to XP. I probably will have to when I get my next upgrade next Spring.

[curst]

Win98, for pretty much the same reason. I'll upgrade my OS when I get a new computer. Right now I have no discernible need to get XP.

[Xaroc]

2000 is pretty solid and better with games than most people would think. I can see not upgrading from 2000 more than from a 9x setup.

-- Xaroc

[Rywill]

I see "OS" and my brain translates it as "Orbital Strike." Put down the PlanetSide and step away, sir.

[Pjerrot]

Win 98 1st Edition actually - on a 200MMX - right now Disciples (Gold Edition)
Has Fantasy General ready, but need a bit colder weather before tackling that. And THEN - if I REALLY get my act together, I will try to install some off the double-packs I bought 5-8 years ago: Ultima Underworld I+II and Poupulous + Powermonger.
(found the receipt - bought Jan. 20 1996)

What was the choices again? DOS included?

Oh right - at the top. But most of my games are played on Win 98.

PS

Tell me again why this Poll aren't in the Game section?

[Guido Jones]

I did have issues with certain (Older) games on Win 2k. As I like to brush off the older stuff from time to time, WinXP is a much better gaming OS for me.

There's a Win2k Games compatibility page somewhere, I'll have to look for it later.

[Chris Nahr]

The share of XP users in this poll is really amazing. Granted, Windows 2000 was unpopular with gamers but I would have thought more people would stick with Windows 98 as long as it works.

For popular edification and amusement, here are the OS usage statistics for my website covering the 140 days through 4 August 2003:


no.: reqs: pages: OS
---: -----: -----: --
1: 38181: 28328: Windows
: 16593: 12497: Windows XP
: 8427: 6404: Windows 2000
: 8463: 5854: Windows 98
: 2449: 1833: Windows ME
: 1475: 1177: Windows NT
: 496: 336: Windows 95
: 276: 225: Unknown Windows
: 1: 1: Windows 32-bit
: 1: 1: Windows 3.1
2: 5556: 3822: Known robots
3: 3315: 1983: OS unknown
4: 414: 338: Unix
: 384: 315: Linux
: 24: 17: SunOS
: 3: 3: BSD
: 2: 2: HP-UX
: 1: 1: IRIX
5: 297: 209: Macintosh
6: 3: 3: OS/2
7: 2: 1: Amiga

The first column relates to a graph in the Analog output. To put things into perspective, the most popular stuff on my site is related to the Might and Magic and Heroes games. The remaining hits are mostly programming stuff.

I really love the one Amiga hit. Even better than the three OS/2 hits! :)

[DennyA]

Not totally surprising, given:

1) It's a fairly tech-savvy readership here, and
2) It's a group that on the whole upgrades hardware fairly often.

XP really *is* better than the operating systems that preceded it, particularly if you didn't use 2000. More stable, lots of nice enhanced features, etc.