What is your favorite Windows OS?

[binaryzero]

I think I've got VB 5.0 - 6.0, Office 97 SR2 MSDN disks somewhere, used to have VB4 on floppies, 16bit and 32bit! Good old days.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Moa7VJr.jpg is my fav <3. 

 

All original disks and CDs, manuals, warranty cards, bonus packs, updates, etc.. Wouldn't surprise me there's a copy of MS-DOS 6.22 (3 floppies) in one of the boxes as well to give the red spine version supplemental MS-DOS support. There's also Warp 3.0 connect CD in one of the boxes. Anyone got OS/2 1.0, hit me up! Will pay $$.

 

And Office 4.3! The last version of Office to work under the WinOS/2 environment. 

[glcjr]

Windows 7 because it was stable and it did what it was supposed to.

 

I'm currently on windows 8.1 pro and have been trying to wait for 10 and go without the start menu until 10 gets here. I bought this computer a couple months ago and it replaced an 8.1 that had classic shell on it which made 8.1 fine. I really miss the start menu but I figured I'd give the native 10 start menu a try and thought I could wait for it... Now if I just keep my sanity.

 

8.1 also drives me crazy with its habit of clicking things that I didn't tell it to. Thank God I don't have one click on on amazon. Although that would be a good excuse to get an xbox one. It wasnt my fault... the computer wanted it...

[betam4x]

I've used Windows 95 throughout most my teenage years.  I had 2 versions of Windows 95, the first did not have IE and had to be installed from 13 floppies...that was actually my favorite one.  OSR 2.1/2.5 included IE and active desktop.  Everything ran slower and things were a lot buggier...but it included USB support.  I have OSR 2.1 on CD

 

I liked Windows NT 4.0.  It was like Windows 9x, but without the crashes.  You could do all kinds of crazy hacks and stuff to get games to work (DirectX 5 or 6 was unofficially supported.)  I have this on CD still.  An original copy.

 

Windows 2000 was probably my favorite.  I used it forever, well into Windows XP's life-cycle.  I couldn't stand XP's Luna interface.  Lost my CD for it, but i have an ISO on a hard drive.

 

Windows 7 has been my workhorse since release.  Flirted with Vista when it came out, but it ran too slow on then current-gen hardware.  Curious side note, played with vista recently while repairing a laptop for a friend.  It actually isn't a bad or slow OS, It was just a bit ahead of it's time.  Still alive via my msdn account.

 

Hated Windows 8/8.1.  Felt like they were trying to cram a mobile interface onto a desktop.  Even casual users didn't like Windows 8.  I used it for 3 months on the desktop and a year on the laptop...desktop was downgraded to Windows 7 and then upgraded to Windows 10.  Laptop donated to wife and i picked up a macbook pro.

 

Every so often I install ReactOS in a VM, marvel at the fact it can run Windows programs, then give up and walk away when it crashes.

 

Windows 3.1 was also a hoot.  Have that one on floppies somewhere along with DOS 6.22 and DOS 5.0.

 

Also have linux mandrake 6 somewhere.  Memories...

 

Edit:  Just had to throw this in there.  Also used XP64 for a bit, it was based on the Server 2003 kernel.  Most games had issues recognizing it initially, but it was Microsoft's first 64 bit client OS.  Probably would have stayed with that one longer if it had been more compatible.

[offroadaaron]

Windows 8.1 with a start menu for home.

 

Windows 7 for enterprise/work.

 

Windows 2000 Prior to Windows 8.1 for home/work

[LUTZIFER]

Windows XP. Definitely the nicest looking OS. But for under the hood performance, Windows 7.

I still miss XP as I stopped using it back when I installed an early version of Windows 7, and stuck with it, till Windows 8.1.

[Sszecret Veteran]

First contact I had was with Windows 95 (or was it 98? Was too young at the time, don't remember).

 

Used XP SP2 for most of my computing time, saw a little glimpse of Vista on someone else's PC and was quite intrigued. Then Windows 7 came around and I was immediately hooked.

 

My favourite though has got to be Windows 8.1. Might not be a popular opinion here, but I never really had any problems with it. Loved the new copy dialog, the new task manager and used the Start Screen as just that, a dashboard for weather / email and other such updates.

 

Been testing Windows 10 since the beginning of the Preview, but I'm still unsure in some ways. We'll have to see post release.  

[The Evil Overlord]

The humble windows 7 for me, after 3.11

[binaryzero]

I got to have the benefits of Win 3.11 in the WinOS/2 environment (supplemental support in OS/2 Warp 3 Connect), all with having the awesome multitasking and network stack of OS/2. Mind you networking at time was done with Novel Netware 4.

[DConnell Member]

Windows 8, since it was the first one since 3.11 to not have a Start Menu, and the first one since Win95 to actually attempt something new with the UI. Every version of Windows between them was just 95 with a new paint job, and since I was less than thrilled with 95, nothing after that satisfied me until 8 came along.

[Active.]

Windows 2000 is probably the happiest I'd ever been with Windows (since switching from OS/2 to Win 3.11). Xp was alright as well but at that point OS X started to become a really compelling (and in a lot of ways technologically superior) alternative to which Windows only started catching up with Vista. Visually I can't stand either Vista or Windows 7. Then came Windows 8, the Frankenstein-OS. Now Windows 10 is the first Windows OS I'd take into consideration again purely from a visual standpoint. Technologically I'm still a bit confused by the whole win32/winrt dichotomy and remain far from convinced by Microsofts latest UI frameworks. In theory Microsoft could have a convincing story with its universal apps, but I don't to see it working out so well in practice. We'll see. I've stopped trusting Microsoft's promises.

[Mando]

after supporting all flavours since NT4 WS/Server I have to say Win 2k, it was such a stable change from the old 9x/NT 4 and still holds up fairly well today (I still have to support W2k server sp2 long story) and some w2k pro clients SP4.

 

Post 2k, I have to say XP actually, it was a worthy replacement domestically and in business (Yes I know W2k wasn't domestic, but how many of us ran it anyway??) loads!

[+devHead Subscriber²]

Windows 2000 will always have a special place in my heart, since it was the only OS that I actually won and received from Microsoft, back in February 2000.  It was part of some promotional a website was having, and I signed up to enter the drawing to win it.  4 months later, I get this box in the mail from Kent, WA with a boxed edition of Windows 2000 Pro.  I loved it so much.

 

After that, Windows 7, although I have a feeling that Windows 10 may take 7's place.  I like the beefed up Task manager (I know it was in Win8). Plus the updated Copy/Move files dialog and the ability to pause them, as well as being able to click a checkbox in File Explorer to quickly toggle between showing file extensions.

[Dadwen]

Soft spot for 3.11 and 2000 but 7 was the first one right off the bat I knew I wanted on all my computers from the get go even from playing with the pre-release, and soon as it was available I upgraded most my computers and my family's. (and didn't regret it a bit)

[PGHammer]

8.1 and 10 (draw), but for different reasons.

 

8.1 had the StartScreen and the keyboard-driven Search, which any PC could leverage - this is something 10 lacks.

10, however, is not completely desktop-formfactor-driven - as much as the feedback TRIED to force it back that way; in fact, due to the improved driver support for trackpads and touchpads, it's actually better than 8.x on notebooks and laptops.  Also, I'm finding features (that have nothing to do with touch) in portable PCs that desktop PCs (of the same age) don't have - amusingly enough, Hyper-V is one of the LEAST of said features.

 

In fact, speaking of portable PCs, I've seen Big Pavilion's replacements - plural; a pair of later generation HP Pavilion (naturally) notebooks.  (Both are the same age as Baby Pavilion, but with larger screens; distressingly, both are still running 7 x32.  Why distressingly?  Both have 4 GB of RAM - the distress is only exacerbated by the likelilihood that at least one supports Hyper-V, which no version of 7 supports.)

[Obry]

Hard to decide between Win 2K and Win 7. Both were ground breaking and extremely polished products. XP wasn't bad but until SP2 it was a virus den (only time I've gotten infected with an actual real virus was during XP SP0/1 days).

 

What impact Win 10 will have on being my favorite remains to be seen. So far it's been an interesting experience for a lack of a better term...

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

Windows 7 by far.   First time I loved everything from the start without the need to wait for updates, without crashes, and looking so good, I did not feel the need to change anything!