there is no "best", at most there might conceivably be a "best" for a specific purpose under specific conditions.

Personnally I think Windows XP Pro is the best, and you can mail me your legit copy if you don't need it.

XP is the most up to date version of the Windows Desktop OS family, and I think that compatibility with the greater world of IT, means it is the only OS for my requirements.

Also having slightly worked with Windows 2003, it is an amazing piece of kit, and it gives so many possibilities for a business network, (although some might argue it makes things easier rather than adds content).

I think jwenting's comment is pretty conclusive for your question, and elloquently put.

I say that no time-sharing operating system is even good, let alone best. My real-time applications require the program to have complete control. So I vote for the operating system on the Tandy Color Computer.

Hello,

I like old-fashioned games, so would say that my Atari 2600 VCS would be best, and I love playing frogger on it.

Christian

Depends on what you use it for... or how darn tired you are of Windows' stupidity

Slackware does what I want all of the time

Don't like slack? There are somewhere around 300 other linuxes to choose from

XP was a monkey on my poor VIA Cyrix III (big time hog!!!) Killed windows switched to linux. Have done things in linux that I would never dream of doing in windows. How can it be the best if you have to patch it a million times? Antivirus and firewall? Hehe... I don't use 'em. What about office and web and mail? Most linux distributions come with office and everything that can even save to MS formats. If you encounter a bug in Windows (all of the time) Send error report?
Baloney!!! does Microsoft care? Noo!!!! They're not gonna change anything! (sorry for shouting) Linux is Fun!!! At least for me. If you use a program does not have Linux solutions like MS Access (I think), then go ahead and use windows.

Windows has got some great stuff goin' with the .exe and all so Kudos!!! But, I can't re install XP more than four times!!!! If I cahnge my hardware too much,,, oops can't reinstall, there goes $200. Linux if free as in Freedom!!! No charge, gents. And thousands (possibly millions of people) out there ready to help you with any problem you may encounter. I switched because I got tired of Windows.

Linux Rules thanks for listening. (post back, it'll be fun!)

slackwarebilly :p

Linux definetly. It is much better than Windows in MANY, MANY ways.
~VaNkeNSHin123

Neither is better than the other,

In my every day work, I could not get along with out several windows programs.(Photoshop comes to mind, and don't even try to tell me the gimp is that good).

But, as far as things go, I work mostly with linux enviroments externally though SSH.

For a desktop? I wouldn't ever use Linux as my home desktop for my main workstation.
Servers, Depends on the application, php, mysql, I'd run linux, unless I needed to run .net apps too then, its onto Win2k3 and IIS and Apache or IIS with PHP as an ISAPI Filter.


It really depends on your usage and what you are used to, do you like playing modern up to date games, like WoW, or Gunbound, or other fancy games that rely on DirectX most of the time?

Stick to Windows, its much easier to manage in the long run.

Linux isn't better, its another solution for another problem, period.

A point not yet made here is that Windows XP Pro is not really a 'better' OS than XP Home Edition unless you have a need to connect the system to a complex network. For just about any other purpose, including operation in a simple network environment, the two are either identical or can be configured to act like each other by changing settings. For most purposes, changing from XP Home to XP Pro is a complete waste of money!

Comments about no OS being 'better' than any other except in relation to specific circumstance or task are ones I'd endorse. In fact, I'd add the comment that asking such open-ended questions is beyond meaningless and into 'troublesome' territory, because it invites responses from silly people who seem hell-bent on arguing simply for the sake of it, even though the argument itself has no point!

One important (to me) difference between Home and Pro is that Home does not allow you to Remote Desktop to it.