For desktop computers, either Windows or Linux. Windows on my main computer since I rely on so much Windows-only software (MS Office, Many Games) despite the BS that Microsoft does to windows in new versions, but Linux has gotten way better lately, especially as it picks up new users as Windows declines. MacOS to me the worst of both worlds when it comes to lack of software support and corporate BS
For Mobile, definitely Android. Android is what I wish Linux was for Desktop computers; Loads of software you can get from many places, open source, and not locked down. It’s mainly the way it is because for Mobile OS’s, Microsoft was spending too much resources shooting itself in the foot with the Zune than to make the necessary improvements to make Windows Mobile to be competitive, and by the time they realized their mistake it was too late. iOS is such a pain in the ass for me to use due to how locked down it is, and while it has more software support than MacOS, its locked down nature and being mostly restricted to getting software from Apple means that several apps that I rely on (including a few apps not on the Google Play store) will never be available for iOS. I also like to see where every single file on my phone actually is
Desktop = Fedora
Home server = AlmaLinux
Mobile = GrapheneOS
Router = OpenWrt
For desktop I’m a Linux or macOS guy. I use Fedora Workstation on my main laptop because it’s been damn stable while also being up-to-date, and I like the workflow of GNOME and the flexibility Linux offers (experimenting with tiling windows managers is a recent example). I have an old MacBook with OCLP for easy access to creative software like Adobe and Ableton etc, but I find macOS takes a lot more configuration to make it comfortable – it’s not a perfect OS and it’s no privacy bastion, but it sure beats Windows. I also have a relatively powerful Windows laptop I used for gaming (yes I agree, not the best choice), but I’m using it more rarely since only a few games with anticheat keep Windows necessary. I’ve just always felt like I have to actively fight Windows to get work done, its automatic updates are way more intrusive than they need to be; it’s annoying as hell to be playing a game when suddenly the system decides it wants to download updates right now, tanking my network performance.
In the mobile world I tend to prefer Android of really any variety just because it doesn’t pretend it’s not a computer: file managers aren’t as underpowered here as they were on iOS last I tried. More than ever I’m in the Android camp now that software update guarantees are more reasonable, and the whole texting between iPhones thing is much better after iOS 18. I’m not opposed to an iPhone in the future since they do still have great software support and iOS is somewhat more customizable now, but I’ll probably sooner get a solid Android phone to run CalyxOS or GrapheneOS, that’s my ideal outcome.
Honestly, aside from Windows 11 and its insanely inconsistent/unpolished UX and awful AI integrations, operating systems have been pretty damn good lately. This opinion mostly coincides with modern desktop Linux being such a joy to use now that I’ve found what I like, things are stable and modern, and it’s just not as annoying as Windows.
Windows 11
...
I’m just fucking with y’all. Debian, of course.
Nobara. Because it makes gaming on Linux very easy. It’s based on Fedora, and out of all the operating systems I’ve tried, Fedora and Nobara are the most stable on my laptop.
Windows 70. Percent of the time and mint linux 30 percent of the time.
But that ratio is moving in mint linux favor.
Mobile is iphone and ipad
OpenBSD is surprisingly good as a desktop, as long as you don’t need something that needs shoehorning in or some fancy filesystem. But if you use it as intended, it’s good. Like, there’s no linux compatibility, no proprietary nvidia drivers, etc. You probably want to switch away from the default window manager though unless you think perfection was reached in the early 90s.
It comes with both fvwm and cwm, and you can install all the usual ones or a full desktop environment. Personally I like cwm in the minimalist end and xfce for more of a full desktop, but it’s all just preferences. Which one do you like in Linux?
exwm but you don’t use emacs for anything else. Ask me to mod it to your liking.
Once I went freebsd for my servers, I never looked back. Leaves linux in the dust
Leaves more to be desired for everyday desktop use though… namely missing wifi drivers
Linux on desktop, server, and laptop. Windows VM for a few things. Android on my phone and kindle.
I generally use the OS which fits what I am trying to do. For my desktop PC, I run Arch Linux as it lets me game, run VMs and have a high level of control over what the system is doing. The VMs are mostly Windows for testing stuff and one running Ubuntu as a host for PolarProxy. My server runs Ubuntu, though really just as a platform to host docker containers. That was a decision I made years ago when I knew a lot less about Linux and was looking for something which was more turnkey. My work laptop is Windows, because my work is mostly a Microsoft shop. But, I have WSL running both Ubuntu (for the SANS Sift framework) and Kali.
An Operating System is a tool. Don’t get wedded to any one OS.
On desktop: Linux since late 1996. It is the only operating system that I can perfectly tune to adhere to my - often weird - ideas, and can run all the software I need. I’m a developer, mostly working on free and open source software, so Linux is right there to assist me with that. When I play games, I play them through Wine/Proton, have been since I started gaming on Linux some two decades ago. If a game does not work under Wine/Proton, that’s simply not a game I will be playing.
For portable gaming, I have a Steam Deck. Surprisingly, that also runs Linux.
My phone is running stock Android, and I hate it, because the way I function, and how Android imagines I would are not compatible, and the system does not let me bend it to my will, there isn’t enough flexibility built in. Like… I can’t uninstall a bunch of applications I’m never going to use, because my phone came preinstalled with it, and they’re not removable, unless I jailbreak it. Unfortunately, I can’t jailbreak it, because then my bank’s application would stop working. Which would be fine, since I don’t do banking on the phone. Except the application is required for mandatory 2FA. FML.
Thankfully, I can go days without touching my phone, so I can live with it being a piece of crap.
(The rest of my family is also on Linux: both parents, wife, and eventually the kids too.)
Probably is not going to make your phone experience much better but I followed this to disabled (not uninstalling) some stock apps on stock Android phones, works great and if you made a mistake it’s easy to rollback.
I did that, it did not make my phone experience any better.
If you hate stock Android, definitely try Graphene. It doesn’t come with preinstalled bullshit and let’s you run your banking and other shitty apps in a different user profile. Google Play Store and Services are completely optional. You get nearly full control without the negatives associated with rooting.
My bank app does not function under Graphene, because my bank is doing anything in its power to force using a stock Android. I have friends, who use the same bank, and while the bank app works under Graphene from time to time, it is broken often enough to render it unusable.
But it doesn’t matter, because Graphene does not support my phone anyway. As I wrote: most alternative operating systems for phones support only a very limited set of phones. Mine’s not one of them.
Desktop and phone: macOS and iOS
Smart home, Docker containers, VPS servers: Alpine Linux
Sadly the nanoPi R6S I bought came with OpenWRT preinstalled which is a very annoying OS in my eyes. Wish I had enough time to get Alpine Linux built for it.
And technically I’d use FreeBSD UNIX (huge UNIX fan!) but Docker and a lot of stuff I want in unsupported, which totally blows.
Like many respondents on this decorporatized FOSS wang-dang-doodle, my answer is some variation on “Linux for desktop/laptop unless I’m forced to use the W-word” and “Whichever mobile OS makes the browser happen while I’m away from Linux, but I’m sad that it’s not Linux”.
Ha, shame my response wasn’t nearly as succinct as yours, you hit the nail on the head
Overall, ignoring the kind of device, it’s my preferred linux distro, followed by android, followed by other distros, followed by windows 7.
I wish Linux mobile was ready for what I need, but there just isn’t app parity currently.
The learning curve switching from win7 to whichever version Mint Linux was on at the time was acceptable. No harder or easier than picking up android for the first time once installation was finished. Easier than when I’ve had to dick around on iOS. I can’t say what the switch would be like now since only my laptop is running dual boot with 10 right now, and I never open it at all. I kept the windows partition for some of the crap with self publishing that isn’t as easy on Linux, but I find there’s no motivation to boot to Windows lol.
I really like excels android overall, and I used to run custom roms on everything, and had a ton of fun playing around like that. But Google has made android suckier, if not sucky enough to switch to iOS or put up with the flaws of mobile Linux (though it has been a while since I tested anything in that regard). So, as long as android is essentially controlled by a for profit company, I don’t know that it could be my favorite os.
Linux wise, Mint is the tits. Yeah, there’s distros that do some things better. But damn, I’ve thrown mint on all kinds of boxes and then just got to using it for what i want to do, not fiddling around with things. The bullshit canonical pulls isn’t an issue, and that’s nice. Popos is pretty similar in that regard tbh, but I prefer the default looks of mint better. That’s a niggling little thing, but such is life.
I’m on Windows. It’s the only OS I use that I know will run anything that I have on my machine without having to extensively grind myself down into researching or patching to make work.
I’ve at times thought about going Linux but I’m always facing the same set of problems before making the jump. That is, how much of my utilities, tools, and software that I use on Windows will work on Linux without using Wine or having to ditch it? How many of my games that I have that will run on Linux? I mean, I love Diablo II for example and Blizzard won’t ever make the Blizzard.net client for Linux. So there goes that option, just for example’s sake.
To me it’s just not worth the switch. A lot of people usually hop on Linux for cheap clout while making exaggerated claims about how Windows is declining as if they’re losing millions of users a day, which simply isn’t true.
But Linux, least for desktop users and not addressing it’s capability to be a good tool for server/programming uses, doesn’t have an awful lot to offer and your options are limited. That limit is tied to how many software developers in general, who care at all about Linux to develop for it when they know it might be easier for Windows for users to just simply run it.
Can’t speak to your other software, but battle.net and diablo 2 run great on Linux via WINE/Proton
My setup is:
- Arch (BTW) & KDE on my laptop, that’s the tinkering machine that only I use.
- Dual boot Pop!_OS & Windows on the desktop, that’s the one that other people use too so I’m not allowed to break it.
- I also have a bunch of other OS’s in VMs that I mess around with like little specimen jars lol
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