Just wondering if anyone has had experience with alternative operating systems, and if so, which is your favourite?

I ask because Windows 2000 kept crashing on me, so i decided to give Linux a go incase it was a problem with the OS. However, the problem was even worse on Linux and I experienced some crashes I've never seen before! So I've just installed Windows XP and come to the conclusion the graphics card is broken as nothing seems to fix it!  

Anyway, I managed to get through four different OS's yesterday (I also tried BeOS, which I've tried before on my old computer and rather liked quite a bit, but unfortunately my graphics card wasn't supported so I couldn't use it) and I must say that XP is my favourite out of the lot - easy to use, recognises everything and it all works, it's fast at starting up and applications are fairly quick to start. Linux took too long to start up, and although there were some nice touches and features, I found it took longer than XP to get apps running in the first place.

I've tried loads more OS's, but don't have time to go into them all! But I was just wondering what other people's experiences with different OS's have been?

Posted from a mobile (Nokia 6100)

Desktop: Windows 2000 Professional

Windows 98, ME, etc, bloody unstable! Windows XP.. too idiotised, some stuff you just can't do, and I found it to be slower and unstable when I used it. So Windows 2000 professional!

Server: FreeBSD or Windows 2000 Server

If it's a webserver etc, FreeBSD is my choice for being simple and easy to use, but for network router, firewall etc Windows 2000 professional - so many tools right in front of you.

Tho I'm quite a fan of NT4 as well... Used it as a server OS for ages.. had it running for a year and a half once, till we had a power cut, with no reboots! And we use the workstation version at work, runs nice.

I did really like Windows 2000, but for me it now takes too long to load in comparison to XP, but i can see what you mean about them simplifying it - i still haven't worked out how to do some of the things i could in Win 2k! & it does feel slightly slower when browsing folders, but maybe that's due to the new theme taking up processing power?
Win ME is surely the worse version of Windows...EVER! I found it to be a worse version of Windows 98 and even more buggy!

I had a go with either a beta/RC or an evaluation version of Windows Server 2003, which i was impressed with. Seemed to be a good combo of 2k and XP, and i found browsing the internet was faster on it!

I also had a go with the alpha version of Windows Longhorn a while back too, but non of the major changes had been added (understandably since it was only an alpha version). Found it pretty similar to XP just with a different theme. From what I've heard, it's going to be interesting stuff once they've added what's planned!

Posted from a mobile (Nokia 6100)

http://www.zeta-os.com/cms/news.php

zetaos bought beos, now is a live cd to try before installing

Tried installing Zeta ages ago but wouldn't boot up on my computer, so glad they've finally had the sense to bring out a live cd to try out first

tried dreamlinux, think Mac OSX and you'll know what I mean.

busy trying pclinuxos 2007/ 0.94

and there's a new 3d thing called Metisse which lets you fold windows and rotate on a 2d plane.

XP for the simple reason that it is so simple to use! Very very easy!