Vista has this, for what it’s worth.
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Mythbuster_Jamie_recommends_Ubuntu_over_Vista_s_bloat
You don’t argue with Jamie Hyneman.
Hahaa 
So when is another OS going to appear that’s, you know, actually good? I think the last one that genuinely fit the bill was BeOS.
Cas
Do you update version to version to version or have you made a clean install lately? - one thing I must admit is that updating is kinda flakey or should I just say messed up. (complete ubuntu versions at that, normal and kernel updates seem to be ok.) This shouldn’t matter but do you use ati or nvidia?
Clean install? Are you kidding? Did you take that page out of the Windows handbook? 
I don’t have the time to re-install the OS just to tweak the boot menu!
I haven’t used Ubuntu lately… I only have Windows 7 and OpenSolaris 2009.06 on this PC. I have an Ubuntu partition on my work PC, but it only gets used rarely for some cross-platform testing. But I installed the Ubuntu 8.x LTS release and have only done “normal” updates on it. I have never seen Ubuntu clean up the Grub boot menu ever. Mind you I always have it dual booting… maybe without Windows in the menu it will do it? If so then it still doesn’t matter, because I will still occasionally need Windows (alas not everything is written in Java - yet ;-)).
I use nVidia graphics cards.
Heh, well yes. I had issues with stuff that was suppose to work but didn’t(like you I gues). clean installs (well keeping ~home offcourse) made them magically go away. Now indeed everyone and bob’s uncle said it shouldn’t make a difference, but it does and I got tired arguing.
(keeping home is something that’s actually baked into the installer these days or atleast thats what I’ve been told.).
hows opensolaris working for you?
I use 9.04 and I have run some prereleases around 8.4 or w/e version it was so perhaps that’s it. I also dual boot, although very rarely(to windows), so that’s not it.
It suffers from many of the same problems as Linux in that if you can’t get software from the official update center then you might as well give up… I figure it’s just a typical unix problem stemming from the mindset that you should know the kernel source code like the back of your hand and if you don’t compile everything from scratch you’re a wuss that has no business running unix…
But in general it is stable and has some nice features like ZFS, network virtualization, etc. Of course it runs Java and JavaFX, even VirtualBox for the occasional windows program. The package manager is slow. But it’s running Gnome with all the usual bits so if you can handle Ubuntu then Solaris isn’t that big of a change. I had to go back to older audio drivers to avoid a noise problem with my HD audio chipset, but Flash works in Firefox with sound :-), nVidia makes drivers for it, etc.
I was thinking that I would try to run it as my primary OS… but I sort of miss the games on Windows and Windows 7 is a bit nicer than Vista and has some improvements over XP (and some really dumb stuff too - like the stuff you see in the latest IE or Office - hiding menus, etc.).
A lot of the “free” software is kind of crappy - like the MP3 player (Rhythmbox Music Player) - it locks up all the time. Sun is re-doing a lot of the audio stuff in OpenbSolaris though… so I’m going to give it at least until the next update. I just wish I could access ZFS from Windows and Ubuntu (technically I can, but I hear it isn’t that great).
If I could at least share all of my data between the various OS’s it would be great… I used to use Ext2 for Windows to read my Ext3 Ubuntu partition. But this machine is supposed to be my media server as well, so I can’t have it booted into Windows 7 and OpenSolaris, to get at the ZFS filesystem, at the same time. Hmm… maybe with Virtualbox running OpenSolaris in Windows 7 I can access my ZFS drives? Sounds like a potential blackhole of time though
And then there’s always Haiku…
Vista makes me want a mac so bad! But to be fair, it is not THAT bad just slightly annoying…I guess iphone dev plays a role in me wanting a mac 
Aye though there’s a lot of interesting stuff around it it’s been a while since I read the blogpost where they outlined plans but it was looking good
[quote]A lot of the “free” software is kind of crappy - like the MP3 player (Rhythmbox Music Player) - it locks up all the time. Sun is re-doing a lot of the audio stuff in OpenbSolaris though… so I’m going to give it at least until the next update.
[/quote]
Rhythmbox doesn’t seem to like me neither, though I thought opensolaris embraced Songbird? Anyways for simple playback there is javatunes, beeing java it just runs about everywhere and minimise function is nice. http://www.stigc.dk/projects/JavaTunes/
[quote] I just wish I could access ZFS from Windows and Ubuntu (technically I can, but I hear it isn’t that great).
If I could at least share all of my data between the various OS’s it would be great… I used to use Ext2 for Windows to read my Ext3 Ubuntu partition. But this machine is supposed to be my media server as well, so I can’t have it booted into Windows 7 and OpenSolaris, to get at the ZFS filesystem, at the same time. Hmm… maybe with Virtualbox running OpenSolaris in Windows 7 I can access my ZFS drives? Sounds like a potential blackhole of time though
[/quote]
The restrictiveness of the GPL license is getting to them which is why the driver needs to be done in userspace. (or compiled into the kernel by the user or something, It can’t be distributed together). Through virtual box it should work.
[quote]And then there’s always Haiku…
[/quote]
I’ll have a look at it.
Good catch. It reminds me what happens sometimes under Vista when I want to copy a big file. I was right, Vista is a crappy OS.
I read a couple pages of this thread. Lot of people say Vista is crap, some defend it with some good arguments. I’m not too impressed with Vista. Personally I don’t think I will bother with it or 7. I can’t justify doubling or tripling my hardware power just to run the next operating system. XP suits me fine. Am thinking of switching to Linux.
Anyways, sticking with the Microsoft line…
The worst has to be Millenium Edition. I had a copy, it went straight to the slag heap.
The best? Hard to say. I saw some posts slagging the win9x line, but I say Windows 98 Second Edition, for it’s time, was a damn good system for the home user.
I effectively hate all Linux distros, they are my worst OS, but this is purely as a desktop OS. I used to run Ubuntu on my main PC for about a year at University. I don’t understand how people can complain about the bugs in Vista when there are so many in pretty much all the free software on Linux. I bought a second monitor and plugged it, when Ubuntu booted Gnome, Compiz and my graphics drivers all crashed together and erased many of my user settings. Like all the control panels in KDE and Gnome, the dialog for setting up monitors in Ubuntu is terrible. This was compounded because I was finding I had to logout/login every time I changed a setting (I think XOrg had to restart or something like that). Separately if I opened FireFox, put it into full screen mode and then switched tabs too many times XOrg would crash and log me out; losing all my work. The drivers for my wireless card didn’t work, but what was most annoying was that it was saying they were working perfectly.
I also ran Xandros on my eee after buying the Linux version. After a few weeks it locked my keyboard into a setup for a different keyboard, with all the keys in the wrong places, and refused to switch out of it. I also installed some music libraries that Wine needed, but when I later removed them it took all sound support in the OS away with it! I had no idea how to get it back. When I tried installing Opera the package manager said it needed to uninstall literally about half of the files it had installed due to a library conflict. It also started refusing to boot after I changed the file permissions on one of the files in my home directory. Those were the major issues, there were hundreds of smaller ones. I later installed a free copy of Windows Server 2003 and whilst it seems a lot slower, I never get any bugs or major issues.
Finally why do distros keep pushing GIJ? When will they learn it doesn’t work! Why don’t distros push and install NVidia drivers by default? They do work! I always find when I install Linux I end up bookmarking loads of Linux forums for tech help. Needing to visit them in order to fix the latest bug every few days.
Windows Vista FTW!
That’s brutal. It happens that way sometimes, can’t say I blame you. I have a linux desktop PC and an XP laptop. Mostly I use the Linux to learn about Webservers and stuff, but I do use it as desktop sometimes. It’s been pretty smooth, had to mess around a bit to get printing working, play with the wireless a bit, but I don’t mind. So far it’s been rock solid for what I use it for.
Winblows sucks!
I’ve been using Linux for a month so far, and it’s working great. Xubuntu FTW!
I have to admit, I’ve been using Ubuntu for a few months now after having worked almost exclusively with Windows since Windows 95, and I am very happy with it too. Prettier than windows, more stable than windows, faster than windows, more user friendly than windows, just better than windows.
Recently I sometimes have to boot into Vista again for some BlackBerry development, and now it seems even more obvious than ever how utterly annoying and ugly Vista is after having spent so much time working with Ubuntu. Whatever MS were smoking when they developed Vista, just say no.
I would have to change my Vote
my Vote was OS/2 and will now be Vista
Why ?
OS/2 is obviously far worse than Vista, however, in university and in my job (IT), I have to deal literally every day with problems caused by Vista.
It is most annoying piece of software I have ever experienced.
The problem is that although it is bad beyond believe, many many people use it because the dont know jack about IT, because its still preinstalled on many machines, because they still trust windows / MS.
Microsoft in general shall die.
Imagine a world in which MS dies, and it will give windows to apple and the xbox to SEGA.
Thats what I dream of every night…
So you dream of a world where the price of all PCs has doubled and that one of the world’s most popular consoles is now run by a failed software/hardware company? You might want to seek professional help to stop you keep having that nightmare.
Yikes, can’t that crap just die with MS? ;D
Everyone loved SEGA consoles, and SEGA software still rocks. They need a second chance.
But ATARI could also take it for all I care, but I like to see only japanese consoles, like before Xbox.
Atleast apple products are good…
And Im sure apple could find a good solution.
Well you still NEED today Windows, I do, obviously for all the software that was only released on windows.
If you could like “PERFECT” wine or somethin and everyone could use linux and mac that would be awesome of course.
as for the xbox, well, obviously the market cant survive on ps3 and wii alone (well the japanese market can) but yea overall you dont need it…