# What OS do you primarily run? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174 "2011-03-10T14:34:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/41 "2011-03-11T09:34:49Z")
All Mac all the time. Except when I’m on my iPad. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/42 "2011-03-11T11:55:58Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > I run Linux on my desktop and PC-BSD on my laptop, so I guess I’m one of those mythical “other-OS-using” people you guys are wondering about. While BSD isn’t Linux, I would call it a is a Unix clone, or \*nix. I personally am now 100% Windows again. For a while, I was a Linux lover, but I tired of everyone complaining about not being a particular program, and having to be tech support, tweaking Wine to get said programs to work. And it’s too much of a hassle to reboot to Linux every time. So the main house computer became Windows XP only. However, people like to give me their old computers, and household of four can use a second one. When the P4 I was using for that purpose died, I wound up using a P3, but had to use the P4’s hard drive. Windows XP would not boot, and, after reinstalling, it wouldn’t take the code on the back of the box. So I wound up using a Linux that blows Windows XP out of the water when it comes to speed. However, my dad needed to do some work that required three different Windows programs that worked together. While Linux had equivalents, the equivalents wouldn’t work together. Plus, it involved a device that didn’t have good Linux drivers. So I stumbled on a copy of Windows 2000, and put that on there. At first, everyone dual booted, as Windows was slower on the one thing my parents use the computer for the most: Facebook games. But I stumbled on a secret: IE 6 with the latest Flash player is not only faster than Firefox, it is faster than any Linux program that plays Flash. And Facebook still has good enough IE6 support that at least its games are playable. No one in my house has booted to Linux since I made that discovery. Still, I will be getting a laptop soon, and I will likely put Linux on it, even if only to goof around. I might even try to make it a Hackintosh, just for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/43 "2011-03-11T13:40:27Z")
Mac OSX for my laptop, Windows 7 for my desktop. I use them about equally. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/44 "2011-03-11T14:32:53Z")
[QUOTE=TimeWinder] You still occasionally see job openings for folks with VMS, IBM 370, and similar type experience (presumably for maintaining old code). [/QUOTE] In that case… at work I’m often up to my ankles in z/OS, REXX, RACF and CICS. The problem with mainframe applications is that they just never die. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/45 "2011-03-11T15:01:20Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > 7% Mac? That seems like an outdated stat. It might’ve been true pre-2005, but now I’d double that at least, maybe triple it to 20%. That’s not what I found. [This site](http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp) says 7.8% as of January 2011. The [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems) has 7.07%. [This site](http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8) has 5.19%. [ZDNet](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/mac-os-usage-share-in-decline/9579) has it hovering around 5%. Even adding in Mac iOS the numbers only go up a percentage point or two. ---
**Author:** ![born\_too\_late](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@born\_too\_late](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/born_too_late)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/46 "2011-03-11T15:56:35Z")
55% Mac at work and 2 home MacBooks, 40% Windows on the HTPC, 5% Ubuntu for hobby/testing ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/47 "2011-03-11T21:53:33Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > That’s not what I found. [This site](http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp) says 7.8% as of January 2011. The [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems) has 7.07%. [This site](http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8) has 5.19%. [ZDNet](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/mac-os-usage-share-in-decline/9579) has it hovering around 5%. > > Even adding in Mac iOS the numbers only go up a percentage point or two. I was thinking about this, and I reckon what skews it is office buildings, or even countries, that are 100% PC. If the stats could be somehow restricted to homes only, I think the Mac percentile would shoot up. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/48 "2011-03-11T22:03:44Z")
I use Kubuntu on my laptop, and my wife uses it on her laptop, too. She does have an XP VM for her vinyl cutting software (she makes cards and scrapbooks). My son uses Win7. Si ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/49 "2011-03-11T22:42:50Z")
I run Debian/Linux for work on my desktop, but I use my Mac Book on the couch and for on-site projects, and I’ve been on-site a lot recently so lately it’s about 50/50 Linux/OSX, but over the last year (and the last 5 years) it’s been primarily Linux. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/50 "2011-03-11T22:46:56Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Just wondering what the “other” OS might be? After Windows, Mac OS and \*nix, what’s left? I’ve got an ancient Compaq in the garage that probably can’t run anything beyond MS-DOS 3.3. If I had to put money on it: some \*BSD variant. They’re definitely out there. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/51 "2011-03-12T00:18:12Z")
Windows 7 on my main machine, which I use for anything substantial. I formatted my netbook hD, though, which had win xp and installed Ubuntu Netbook Edition instead. It’s much faster and better for a net device like that. Windows is a little bloated for a netbook IMO. ---
**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/52 "2011-03-12T14:32:53Z")
> [@EristicKallistic](#): > > I use a Mac at home and Ubuntu at work, so I am pretty evenly split. I borrow use of a Windows machine once every fortnight because our timekeeping software at work only runs in IE (and badly, at that) Hmm, we could be working at the same place. I hate my timekeeping software with the heat of a thousand suns. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/53 "2011-03-13T17:00:05Z")
At work I use Linux ( RedHat 5 in case that matters ) and in rare instances, I access a Windows pc but I don’t know what flavor it is. At home we have Mac’s. What I have found surprising in conversations with some folks in our IT department is that many of them that support the Windows platform at work have a Mac at home. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/54 "2011-03-13T17:05:26Z")
Win XP at work and on my home laptop. However, once home I use my iPad most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![ramel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ramel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ramel)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/55 "2011-03-14T02:59:39Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I’m just curious how the SDMB community compares to the general population. I’m sure someone out there has more recent and more accurate numbers than I have found, but the general usage percentages I have found are roughly in the neighborhood of: There’s quite a large self selection bias here. I can easily see people who are running OS’s other than Windows being more likely to click on this thread and vote in this poll than Windows users. Partly because other OS users may want to show how different they are. And partly because people who use an OS than windows probably had to make a conscious choice to have something other than windows, and so probably care more. Windows users possibly are more likely to not really be interested in OSes, and windows is just what came with their PCs. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/56 "2011-03-14T03:33:19Z")
Windows at work and Mac OS/Windows 7 (via Parallels) at home. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/57 "2011-03-14T03:39:10Z")
I run Windows since that is the system that came with the computer. But my younger relatives all want me to switch to Linux. We shall see. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174/58 "2011-03-14T04:30:25Z")
Os/2 Warp and Tandy Deskmate, mostly. Naw, but I kid. My netbook has Windows XP. I miss Os/2 Warp. Yet another franchise which Kate Mulgrew ruined…😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-os-do-you-primarily-run/574174.md?page=2)