I was reading another thread in one of the forums, and saw some comments where people love/hate certain OS's for different reasons, both valid and in-valid (in my opinion).
I was just curious as to what others use for their personal computers and why?
I personally use a combination on my own home LAN.
1. Machine #1 is my personal desktop machine. I primarily use Linux (Mint Deb 64 bit) and use VirtualBox to run Windows 7 in a virtual machine for certain Windows based applications that I need mainly for work (though I really like AVRStudio). I have been using Linux since the late 1990's and am comfortable with installing either via packages or compiling software from source.
2. Machine #2 is my laptop computer. I dual boot it between Linux Mint Deb 64 as well as Windows 7 Professional 64 bit, again for the same reasons. I mostly use this when I travel, or if I run into a situation where a program doesn't work well in a virtual machine on my desktop machine. I would guess that 95% of the time I boot it up into Linux.
3. Machine #3 is a Linux machine (Mint Deb 64) that serves as a backup server as well as a media server for my home entertainment system. The only time that it gets turned on is if a backup is going to happen from my desktop machine (scripted and a cron job) or if we want to watch a movie that I have on it. Otherwise it stays off.
4. Machine #4 is a Windows 7 Professional machine (64 bit) that is my wife's desktop machine. She pretty much uses this for simple tasks such as browsing the internet, checking email or playing one of her games. Every now and then she needs to use a basic office suite (Office 2010) to do stuff for work, but that isn't very often.
5. Finally, machine #5 is my wife's laptop computer that runs Windows 7 Professional. She uses it much like I use my laptop, more-or-less when she is away on travel, and uses it for the same application as described in machine #4.
Besides those computers we also have our tablets (Androids) and phones (Androids) that connect to our home LAN as well as a couple of "smart" tv's.
I'm pretty much a "Linux guy", but some Windows applications that are essential either for my job or my hobby are as follows.
AutoCAD 2010 - (This is getting upgraded soon)
Visual Studio 2013
LTSpice
Adobe Acrobat XI - (There are Linux alternatives, but some methods that I use for my work need Adobe Acrobat)
AVRStudio 6.1
Microsoft Office - (Some work databases are done in Access)
I have very limited experience with MAC OSX, but with that limited experience it seemed to be a "dumbed down" *nix kind of system. I don't mean that in a bad way, but to me it was somewhat familiar to me as a Unix/Linux guy, but many of the usual tools were missing and the file system was different.
So what do you use and why? Let's please keep this from turning into a flamewar. As far as I am concerned, each OS has it's Pros and Cons.