What's your platform history (Mac/Windows/Linux)

I was just wondering what the numbers look like for people that have switched from various platforms. What made you switch? Has anyone switched from Mac to another platform?

For me I used Windows most of my life until 4 years ago. A friend of mine showed me Linux (Ubuntu) and there were some things about it that I liked a lot better than Windows. It still wasn't perfect but it made me open to new platforms.

I then took a job a year later at a company that used only Macs where I was forced to use them. I wasn't very open to the Apple platform since the last Mac I had used was a painful experience, but after a few weeks I grew to love them and eventually decided to switch completely over.

Please no Mac vs. PC wars. We don't need another one of those.

Tags: linux, mac, os, windows, x

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Permalink Reply by Greg De Santis on August 8, 2009 at 9:38pm: I have been DOS / Windows since the beginning. But at work I have had to build and use the following non Microsoft workstations / servers: IBM OS/2 Warp 3, Unix Open Server 3.x, Unix Open Server 5.x, Red Hat Linux, Novell Netware 3.x and 4.x

If you are curious this is my main operating system history, there are probably others that I have missed that I have used. I think of operating systems as not only an overlapping tool see everyone's take on how to do the same thing in many different ways, but as a fun learning experience.

Apple Macintosh 128K: System 1.0

Texas Instruments TI-99/4A: TI BASIC

Commodore 64: C64's BASIC operating system, Berkeley Softworks GEOS for Commodore 64

Microsoft Dos 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 6.21, 6.22

Microsoft Windows Workstation: 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, NT 3.1, NT 3.51, NT 3.56, NT 4.0, 95, 95A, 95B, 95C, 98, 98 2nd ed., ME, 2000 - 2000 sp6, , XP Home, XP Pro - XP Pro sp3, Windows XP Media Center, Windows XP Tablet 2005, Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit, Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit, Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit RC, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit RC

Microsoft Windows Server: 3.1, 3.56, 4.0, 2000, 2003, 2008

IBM Pc Dos, IBM OS/2 Warp 3

Santa Cruz Operation Unix: SCO Open Server 3.2, SCO Open Server 5.0.0, SCO Open Server 5.0.2, SCO Open Server 5.0.4, SCO Open Server 5.0.5, SCO Open Server 5.0.6

Santa Cruz Operation UnixWare: 2.1, 7.1, 7.12

Novell: Gnet 2.0 advanced 8086 file server, Netware 2.2, Netware 3.11, Netware 3.12, Netware 4.1, Netware 4.12, Netware 4.2, Netware 5.0, Netware 6.0, Novell Caldera OpenLinux

Linux Distros: Ubuntu 7.0.4, Ubuntu 7.10, Ubuntu Desktop 8.0.4.1, Ubuntu Server 8.0.4.1, Ubuntu Desktop 9.0.4 32bit, Ubuntu Desktop 9.0.4 64bit, OpenSUSE, Red Hat 6.2, Red Hat 7, Red Hat 9, Fedora, PCLinuxOS, Mandriva, CentOS, Kubuntu, Gentoo, FreeBDS, OpenBSD 4.3, Knoppix, FreeNAS, Clonezilla, Kanotix, Gnoppix Gnome, Games Knoppix, Linux Defender, Fire Forensics Linux, Slax Linux, Beatrix Linux, React OS, Slackware 1.0, Sabayon-Linux-x86-4, linuX-gamers-0.9.4; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mohd Fauzi A Rahman on August 9, 2009 at 2:13am: I haven't really got a chance to use a Mac but for me ... I'm much a Windows guy.

Tried a couple of distros which didn't turn very well . From Vector Linux to PC Linux OS to Ubuntu to recently Puppy Linux.

But as you can say Windows is kinda like the comfort zone for me but "maybe" in the future I can stay on an OS (rather than WIndows) for at least a year.... Hopefully that happens soon.

WIndows system that I have work with are the Windows3.1, Windows95, Windows NT 4, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows 2003 Server, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2008 Server ..... soon it will be Windows7.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Maxima2k on August 9, 2009 at 2:41am: Primarily a DOS/Windows User since 1989. Started to switch to the Mac for computers at home when I bought a Macbook Pro, early 2008. Work still uses Windows.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ben Page on August 9, 2009 at 4:11am: DOS, NT, 95, 98, ME, XP.. SP1.. SP2, Vista, W7, in between I have used OS/2, Sun Solaris, Open SUSE 10..11, Fedora 9..10, Ubuntu Hardy..Interpid..Jaunty, Kubuntu, Red Hat, free BSD, gOS, Linpus, Puppy Linux, Tiger 10.4, Leopard 10.5, Mandriva, Symbian 8..9, Windows CE, Windows Mobile 2002..2003..5, and many more linux based distributions which are more or less the same.
I have always loved "another OS", sometimes it was better in something, sometimes it looked better or had fancier effects than Windows, but I always came back to Windows even if I hated it, and from this jurney of mine I have learned that computers are made to have Windows installed on them, everything else is just a pick nick and summer vacation from it, but you always come back to it, it is a way of life and a part of life (Windows).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Beck on August 9, 2009 at 8:46am: How long did you use Mac OS X? You would be the first person I have met that has used it for more than a week and gone back. I'm not saying it's impossible, I just have never seen it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ben Page on August 9, 2009 at 9:48am: Don't understand the question. I have used it approx for 2 years now, Tiger and than Leopard, I still use it along with Windows 7. It's cool, it's funky, it's fun, but it cant match windows - it can shoot lasers and stuff! LOL! I have used G5, but now I use a Hackintosh OSX...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nitin Nigam on August 12, 2009 at 6:19am: yup,i also had the same experience,i have used dos,NT,95,98,XP,SP1,SP2,VISTA ULTIMATE,WINDOWS 7,TURBO LINUX,FEDORA 10,SOLARIS AND UBUNTU AND i also had a mac Pro desktop i used it for 1 year,but i got frustrated with mac Prp desktop,because i invested much money on that shit and it didnt detect a thing ,but thanks to god it had a great resale value,so i sold that mac Pro desktop,and took a high end pc,and i was glad to be back to my windows and also to welcome the new UBUNTU 9.0.4,WELL i cant leave windows because my computer feels pretty incomplete without that,somehow or the other i have to get back to windows,; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Charles Woodward on August 9, 2009 at 5:52am: I started out on a Windows 98, which was okay.. nothing spectacular. I then switched from Windows 98 to Windows xp. Then, two years ago, I got my first Vista PC, which I was very fond of, however I discovered Ubuntu, and got very curious. I downloaded Ubuntu and installed it as a dual boot with vista. I now use Vista primarily (because Ubuntu doesn't quite suit me) and I love it. I just purchased a Dell Studio 1555 coming with Vista on it, and am elegible for a free Windows 7 upgrade for purchasing it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Johannes S. on August 9, 2009 at 7:10am: I started out as a Windows user. The first OS I ever used was Windows 95. Then, I used DOS, not at home, but at a neighbour's house. Then I got my first OWN computer, which was a Windows 98 PC. A few years later, when Windows XP had SP1 out, I got my first XP computer. I still have that, somewhere. And it's probably working.

I started trying out different Linux distributions and older Windows OSs. My first Linux distribution was Suse Linux. I don't know which version it was, but I quite liked it and preferred it to XP. But the sound didn't work properly, so I soon switched back. I was never a big gamer, at least not on PC, so switching to linux didn't cause me any headache.

Soon after, I had my first Mac OS X experience. A friend of mine had a Mac. At first I didn't like it, it felt weird compared to Windows and Linux, but soon I got a hang of it, after, oh, I don't know, a couple of hours on it at least.

And I immediately fell in love. This was in, I'd estimate, 2005-2006, before the Intel era of Apple. I started collecting money. I collected it for a long time, until I got enough cash, in 2007, to get a Mac Mini. I got one: It had 1GB of RAM, 1.83Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo (64bit!) processor, a combo drive and a 802.11b/g wireless built in. After 2 years it still works perfectly. Now I also have a MacBook in addition to the Mini (White, 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM, Intel Video).
I have now used most Macs, including old ones (which I didn't like very much) and all of the current product line.

So, now I'm mainly a Mac user and I quite like it. I've used so many OSs, It is hard for me to mention all of them.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by jamesjimmy23 on August 9, 2009 at 7:31am: First computer I ever used was a Mac at school. Then we bought an HP with Windows 98, then there were newer Mac's in middle school (iBook, iMac G4, eMac) and then we bought an eMachines with Windows XP. And then last year we got a notebook with... Vista. I'll be switching to a Mac by this time next year, maybe sooner.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by nfan12 on August 9, 2009 at 8:06am: I've Been using Windows since I could remember. Then I went to Ubuntu for a year or so but then went back to windows. But in june, got my mac so I use my mac more than my Windows computer now!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Pyralis on August 9, 2009 at 2:26pm: Amiga Workbench 1.3 (Amiga 500: Motorola 68000 7.16 MHz) -> Windows 98 (P3 450 MHz) -> Windows XP (P3 450 MHz / Celeron 733 MHz/ P4-M 1.6 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.2 GHz) -> Windows 7 64 bit RC (AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.2 GHz)

Some Linux distros I've played with: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xbuntu, OpenSUSE, PCLinuxOS, LinuxMint

Switched from Amiga to Windows (x86) platform due to necessity. Had to upgrade and Commodore/Amiga had gone belly up, so... yeah.

Haven't had an opportunity to live with a Mac yet. Played around with them a bit at the local Futureshop and BestBuy, but that's about it. Not enough to make a platform switch decision. Maybe a Macbook Pro in the future (dual boot Windows and MacOS) should I decide to upgrade from my old notebook PC (P4-M 1.6 GHz).; ▶ Reply to This