Dvorak Poll: What OS & Version Are You Running?

Published on May 18th, 2009

Lifehacker is running a poll on what Windows version people are using. We’re expanding it to all operating systems. Now if you’re like Uncle Dave (one with Vista, two with XP, two with OSX) you have multiple OS’ and versions going. Since the poll software apparently will only let you vote once, enter the OS you use the most.

And if you have something else, tell us what. And why.

39 users responded in " Dvorak Poll: What OS & Version Are You Running? "

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# 1 Hugh Ripper said, on May 18th, 2009 at 4:01 pm

I run XP in the office and Vista at home on my media centre and PC. My non-media centre at home is mid range i7 based with a decent graphics card, which seems to provide enough grunt to overcome Vista sluggishness, but the media centre runs like a dog with 2g of RAM.

Now that I’m using XBMC as a media player (fantastic product btw)and I watch very little broadcast TV, I may look as going to linux on the media centre machine. PC Games are the only reason I don’t have a Mac or linux main PC.

# 2 DJ said, on May 18th, 2009 at 4:02 pm

39% OSX to 24% XP! Wow, Dave, I had no idea that you had such a deeply disturbed following… Are you a closet artist or something?

# 3 MeAndOnlyMe said, on May 18th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

I use two computers at work, plus two laptops (one travels back and forth from work), plus at home a desktop machine.

One desktop at work is running XP. One desktop at work is running VMWare with XP and Vista Enterprise. The desktop at home is running Vista Ultimate. The Dell laptop is running Vista Ultimate. The second laptop is a Mac iBook G4 running Mac OS.

So, how exactly would I answer this poll? I’m sure I’m not the only geek out there with more than two machines…

# 4 Floyd said, on May 18th, 2009 at 4:52 pm

I use Vista and like its configurability. If Win7 will run OK on my laptop and the upgrade price is reasonable, I might upgrade a few months after the release.

My wife uses OSX and likes it, mostly for the pretty user interface. I know enough about Unix to fix things under the interface if needed.

Both of us use laptops, by the way.

# 5 Jägermeister said, on May 18th, 2009 at 4:52 pm

Commodore 64 not a option?

# 6 Special Ed said, on May 18th, 2009 at 4:59 pm

#4 – You like Vistas configurability? You’re going to fix your wifes OSX “under the interface?” You sound like a retard and your wife sounds fat.

# 7 Joe said, on May 18th, 2009 at 5:08 pm

I’ve been using Vista on all my machines since it came out. Its a very under-appreciated OS.

I’m trying out the Windows 7 RC on my main system right now.

# 8 dusanmal said, on May 18th, 2009 at 5:20 pm

Work: 1 Linux (Fedora), 1 Sun
Home: 1 Win XP, 1 Mac OSX, 5 Linux (3 Fedora, 1 SUSE, 1 home brew), 1 virtual Mac on Linux, 1 virtual Linux (Ubuntu) on XP.

Future? I am done with MS. I’ll keep my XP copy as a virtual machine when current hardware dies. Linux workstations and Mac laptop (dual boot with Linux) is in the cards.

# 9 Uncle Don said, on May 18th, 2009 at 5:24 pm

Me?

* Vista 64-bit
* XP on Bootcamp
* 2 x OS X.5.7

Vista has NEVER crashed, XP randomly does, my 2003 powerBook had frozen a few times, the new MBPro has yet to.

Will I upgrade Win7? No, as everything is stable. Why upset stability?

# 10 Eric said, on May 18th, 2009 at 5:26 pm

I dual boot Ubuntu Linux and Vista, although I spend 90+% of my time in Linux. I installed Linux because the laptop came with Vista Home. I paid for a 64 bit processor and I wanted to use it.

Vista is pleasant but boring. Linux is hours of fun tweaking and learning. And fast, fast, fast.

# 11 Mr. Fusion said, on May 18th, 2009 at 5:33 pm

Two machines running XP Pro, one on XP Home, and one on Vista.

I like my XP Pro but it is time to upgrade the whole machine to something a lot faster. I’ll probably stick with XP and rebuild.

# 12 McCullough said, on May 18th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

“My wife uses OSX and likes it, mostly for the pretty user interface. I know enough about Unix to fix things under the interface if needed.”

The devil you say, OSX NEVER breaks, I know this because Apple is running the commercial constantly. Now would you like to recant?

# 13 bac said, on May 18th, 2009 at 5:48 pm

Two custom built machines. My main machine runs Kubuntu 9.04 while the other PC runs Windows XP. The Windows machine is hardly used except to help troubleshoot friends and co-workers PCs. The linux machine runs Virtualbox so that I can try other Linux distributions

At work, my station uses a WinTerm that connects to a server running Windows Server 2003. I hate IE 7.0. So far I haven’t been able to get Firefox installed.

# 14 dunno said, on May 18th, 2009 at 6:12 pm

You could also just check your log files. Then determine the people who fill out the forms vs the actual number of OS users to this site and see if any certain OS lends itself to peeps answered stupid surveys.

# 15 Sister Mary Hand Grenade of Quiet Reflection said, on May 18th, 2009 at 6:16 pm

We had a lot of computers donated to the convent. The ones that had Vista load we just backed over them with the church bus and shit canned them.

# 16 B.Dog said, on May 18th, 2009 at 7:18 pm

#14 dunno has a good point. I want — no, I demand to see a comparison between the stats on your log files compared to the poll. I’ve long suspected some posters here are delusional.

# 17 brm said, on May 18th, 2009 at 7:26 pm

I key in the OS I wrote, from memory, into my Altair 680 every time I turn it on.

# 18 Uncle Patso said, on May 18th, 2009 at 7:40 pm

Let’s see — going left to right around the room: for reliable downloading and file storage, Fedora Linux; for media, browsing and games, Pre-XP. On my wife’s side: for iTunes, OS X; for media, games, email and browsing, XP Media Center Edition.

That doesn’t count the laptop or the “retired” machines, but the mix there is about the same.

These surveys never have the right box for me. We should be able to pick multiple answers.

# 19 Dallas said, on May 18th, 2009 at 7:49 pm

XP for all but one vista box bought crazy cheap in acer scratch n dent sale.

Next year it’s W7 64bit on intel 6 core westmere, ssd cache, much DDR 3.

# 20 Borat said, on May 18th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

It appears that the Vistards aren’t fairing well.

# 21 rectagon said, on May 18th, 2009 at 7:57 pm

Technically I’m running Vista x3, Windows 7, and XP x2.

# 22 Nik (no C) said, on May 18th, 2009 at 8:16 pm

I have a MBP running OS X 10.5.7 and an Acer Aspire One netbook running Vista beautifully. I liked the idea of boot camp, but in the end using windows on a netbook works quite well, and it much easier to carry around than the MBP.

# 23 qb said, on May 18th, 2009 at 8:41 pm

Two OSX
One XP
One Windows 2007 Server
One Windows 2008 RC
One Win7 RC
One Solaris
Two Linux (Ubuntu, Mint)

No frackin’ Vista, thank you

# 24 qb said, on May 18th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

Typo, 2003 Server. Yes they drive me crazy with their naming conventions. Oh, and 2008 SP2 RC. I’m really getting tired of figuring out patch and service pack levels for projects.

# 25 Buzz said, on May 18th, 2009 at 9:26 pm

Interesting that so many are on Mac OS X.

Kinda makes JD’s negatories sound a tad hollow.

Sure, the total windows-like population is bigger, but imagine what this would have been five years ago.

# 26 honkytonkwillie said, on May 18th, 2009 at 11:54 pm

2 linux boxes, 1 linux server, 1 linux/XP dual boot laptop for me. 2 Macbook something or others for the wife, Vista for my son and another OSX for my daughter. It’s difficult to quantify the other random laptops and boxes that haven’t been booted in over a year, but they’re all XP except for a single WinMe that had some expensive add-on hardware.

# 27 davefretty said, on May 19th, 2009 at 4:36 am

I use Linux myself and just had to do the survey. Looks like I am not the only one as nearly 10% of the people who answered run Linux. Probably more close to 2-3% if you check the numbers with analytics. People who do these surveys are a self selecting group.

# 28 Bob West said, on May 19th, 2009 at 4:40 am

Vista on my main PC, Win7 32bit / 64bit and Linux on my second PC. Will upgrade to Win7 64bit upon release.

# 29 bb said, on May 19th, 2009 at 5:16 am

Triple boot (Vista/Win7-32b/Win7-64b) on my main PC, mix of XPs (Home/Pro/Media) on 5 others, and FreeNAS on the home server. And there are only two of us living in the house. This would be incredible to me 30 years ago. (First PC: Northstar Horizon running CP/M as seen above!)

What’s it going to be in another 30 years?

OBTW, the real figures are here: http://tinyurl.com/5vchbb

# 30 Cephus said, on May 19th, 2009 at 7:45 am

I am running Vista, only because it came with the new computers and personally, I think it’s a piece of shit. I’d much rather be running XP SP2 as I was previously, it’s not perfect but at least it’s more stable and user friendly than Vista is.

Typically, I wouldn’t put a Microsoft operating system on my machine before it hits SP2, that’s usually about the time it actually becomes usable and the biggest bugs have been squashed. Win7 might get on my machine sometime around 2011, maybe.

# 31 Patrick said, on May 19th, 2009 at 7:47 am

#27

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/chartfx62/temp/CFT0519_1146051624F.png

# 32 David said, on May 19th, 2009 at 8:15 am

I’m a bit surprised at the number of XP users compared to Vista or Win7. I use XP myself, but only because the machine is older and doesn’t run Vista too well. Clearly there are a disproportionate number of Mac users here, but if the Windows stats reflect the general population, it doesn’t say much for Microsoft.

# 33 Patrick said, on May 19th, 2009 at 8:19 am

#31 62% of computers are XP

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10

# 34 Alfred1 said, on May 19th, 2009 at 9:58 am

If it weren’t for John C Dvorak…he convinced us all to switch…CP/M would rule…I miss my Kaypro.

# 35 Benjamin said, on May 19th, 2009 at 11:25 am

I run Widows XP on my computer and dual boot WIndows XP/Ubuntu on my netbook. I am never going to buy a PC again. Next computer will be a Mac. I am fed up with every version of Windows having more and more bloat.

# 36 brendal said, on May 19th, 2009 at 1:24 pm

Well, “running” Vista is relative, isn’t it?

# 37 Cephus said, on May 19th, 2009 at 1:27 pm

Vista is massively bloated. I don’t know how much space it takes up right out of the box, I never looked before I started installing software, but just my Windows directory right now is about 20 gigs, that doesn’t include anything else like Explorer, other directories Vista uses, etc. That’s 20 gigs for the OS ALONE!

I might not complain if it worked well, it just doesn’t.

# 38 Alfred1 said, on May 19th, 2009 at 2:18 pm

U are all correct…in a parallel universe, where the denizens of Microsoft hell are released, and walk the earth…they will be seeking, not brains…but John C Dvorak…it was he who, like the proverbial pied piper, led the masses out of cpm, with its tight machine language and program portability, to msdos…even though he confessed, it was inferior in many respects…

The walking dead, suffering in dos hell, now windows vers. 666….coming to get you John C…no doubt pushing Curry out of the way…

# 39 cgp said, on May 19th, 2009 at 6:03 pm

Yeah OSX stats three times nominal stated values.
( I believe this poll)
This is just another example of current level of
truthful statements by players in the world’s
marketplace.

There needs to be a statistical quality number (like chi)
I’d call it ‘bs’. How would it be calculated?

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