what's your favorite OS?

[Memory]

Q4OS (This one i am using currently)

God yes the Trinity desktop! I was a contributor to that once and I still spin it up often! :)

I can relate to everything you just said, especially about older desktops feeling less like "business" and more like fun. They remind me of older video game UIs more than accounting software!

That's also why I like Bodhi, because I can do things like this (my netbook)

[Plasmon]

Just for nostalgia purposes, probably either Ubuntu 12—I used to play with it on one of my dad's old computers—or Windows XP. Nowadays I don't have a favorite OS—I'm looking to jump ship from Manjaro to use EndeavorOS, but I need more free time for that.

[starbreaker]

I have a M1 iMac and a M1 Macbook Air, both purchased secondhand, so I've been using macOS a lot lately (with FOSS tools installed by Homebrew) but I'm looking forward to Asahi Linux becoming ready for general use. I want to go back to GNU/Linux, but I want to do so on nice computers with energy-efficient hardware. I'd *really* like to run Slackware on my Apple Silicon gear, but ARM isn't Slackware's top priority and it doesn't *really* matter as long as I can run Emacs and pandoc.

[Cele]

Well it's got to be Windows XP to be honest. Not just because of the OS itself but also it feels like that time was just simply a better time. For myself. Not for all issues in the world of course

[Memory]

@Cele: Ah no, XP was a better OS indeed to what you can get nowadays. Although let's not forget that many problems started there.

Long Kugee video about how Windows XP really was:
https://www.razorback95.com/resources/videos/video-260?size=480
https://invidious.lunar.icu/watch?v=3HSIdnxXSXY

My favourite Linux distro, Salix, went in a bad direction I think. The new 15.0 release is much slower than 14.2 on the dated hardware here, a 2007 desktop and a 2010 netbook, to the point, where it makes those machines unviable. Considering Salix 14.1 was a good option on a crusty Pentium 3, a rather disappointing development.
And some design choices... not being able to choose a password freely or "hiding" programs instead of uninstalling them. Xfce (the desktop environment) being less tidy as before. I expect it to look as simple as on the screenshot in the attachments, showing the Salix 14.2 desktop on a tiny 1024x600 screen.
Most programs (or at least their versions of the systems time) still install fine on the old Salix, but in some cases, the older versions have been taken down, which can be a bit frustrating when running the older Salix. It's a case-by-case decision if Linux or Windows is better for the job. Windows 98 / XP and 7 have excellent programs as well, especially since many great software is dropping into the abandonware category now.

Edit: Kugee link corrected (Homepage disappeared). Added some more info as well.

[fizzylimesoda]

both windows xp and 7.

i mostly liked 7 because of the bulit-in games and media center.

[Memory]

Windows was a big part of my childhood, I used to have Windows XP. There was some time I used 98 or Millenium for a short time. For nostalgic reasons I'd go with XP, but for usability my fav one is Windows 7 all the way. I don't remember having any bloatware problems with it (except MS pushing Internet Exploder on every click) and games ran marvelously. Modern Windows is ew ew ew ew starting with Windows 8, but for AA & AAA gaming is a must unfortunately (good thing I prefer indie games instead  )

I never had an opportunity to use early Macs, I just got one only recently, but I can see why people like the vibe of old MacOS. It's very iconic. Modern MacOS, while looking very bland, works well and is great for art-related work (e.g. music, design, video).

Aand for Linux - Ubuntu was the first distro I used on a real hardware when it still had Unity desktop environment, but never really liked it much. I tried messing around with many distros on vm's and in the end I fell in love with Linux Mint and Manjaro. They are easy to use from the get-go and work nicely on older hardware (at least for me). Though recent events with Ubuntu (Canonical selling data) which Mint is based on and questionable decisions thoughout the years of the Manjaro team makes me think of distro hopping again. I see you guys recommending EndeavourOS so maybe I'd go with that.