Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 squeeze & sid + Oracle Linux 4/5 (Test Servers, VMs)

Linux kernel 2.6.22.7 arm + Optware NAS (Buffalo Linkstation Live CHL-320)

OS Ratio:

GNU/Linux 80%

Mac OS X 10%

Windows 9%
Solaris & OpenSolaris (for ZFS) 1%

Reason why I use Windows (including running as guest OS): games, bloody Cisco IP Communicator, ActiveX based craps(like Siebel), some commercial apps and apps I can't find their *NIX equivalent.

Why do I prefer *NIX systems? I am a Linux and open source advocate. Say no, thanks to Bill and his bloody Windows (even it's free). And Say more yes to open source!

*NIX operating systems take care of themselves once installed and configured properly. Once installed and configured, run until the hardware dies. Not like crappy Windows, the older it gets the slower it will be. No matter how we tweak and tune, it does not stop aging and finally it dies, possibly BSOD as surprising gift.

No package management system to take care of the upgrade, install/uninstall and dependencies. 3rd party applications require manual upgrade, what the fuck!?

Too many junks left behind and there is no easy way to clean up, for example registry, %systemroot%\ServicePackFiles and heaps of other junks that will never be freed up. The only way to revive is reinstall or re-image using Ghost/Clonezilla or things like that.

The fastest boot OS I have ever tried should be Mac OS X Leopard (<15s into Aqua), Gentoo and Arch Linux (<20s into Gnome/XFCE, can be even faster, it depends). They can remain almost the same state after several years, what about Windows? Is 5 minutes an average time Windows users waste in front of the fucking computer before it is USABLE?

Something about system Hang up/BSOD

If Windows gives you a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), there is no way to survive unless hard reset. While *NIX system, even if the X Window system (X, X11, Desktop Environment) hangs, we can kill the X session using ctrl+alt+backspace (if not blocked in xorg.conf), if this doesn't work ssh to the machine from other client, even an iPhone will do. And try to kill the culprit process. If lucky enough, you can get your unsaved docs or data back, even the X session.

The other point is that most of the Microsoft stuff is not cheap, like Windows and Office. Of course M$ offers some good stuff for free. However, they run only on Windows. Normally we can do 95% or more things using free operating system, why not?

I am not a strong anti-Microsoft guy, but I can find good free and open source apps for personal/business purpose, what's the point to pay, do you have money to burn? Did you see Uncle Bill quit? What's more, as Windows itself is WinDOS, a operating system far from fast, elegant and reliable, I have no interest even it's free.

See more at: Why Windows Sucks?

Recommended tools for all platform: tools

GNU/Linux

Mac OS X

Windows