What's your main operating system? (Poll)

[jadew]

If you switch between them often, please explain why.

[German_EE]

Main OS is Linux Mint, I switched over when MS Windows Vista appeared. I retain a copy of Windows XP because one of my pieces of test equipment still needs it but that's now its only purpose.

[nctnico]

Same here. My primary OS is Linux with Windows in VMs for software for which no Linux alternative exists.

[SeanB]

Same here, use a VM. This helps as disk space is cheap, and you can then have a bare image that you copy as needed and install software on as needed. That way you have less issues with driver conflicts and with it becoming unstable with time. Update the image once a month with windows update and use that as the master for the next image, keeping a backup copy to roll back if needed. Sparse containers of ca 4G are simple enough ( if slow over USB2.0 to back up to a drive) to handle, though transferring them on a flash drive not formatted as NTFS ( for compatability with NT systems) or EXT2 will be a problem.

[Balaur]

My choice is "switch often" and here is why:

All my works stuff is on Linux (was Solaris previously - though we still have a license server on an Ultra 10 workstation). I also have an always-on, rather powerful Linux server at home (my personal cloud and a Windows VirtualBox for heavy lifting).
However, my laptop PC is on Windows for documents and stuff. I have VNC windows to everywhere and I massively use putty and screen.

[c4757p]

Linux, to be exact, Arch Linux running i3 as a window manager (no desktop environment). Windows 7 sits in a VirtualBox instance for when I need to use Windows software.

[Tinkerer]

Windows. Why? The simple reason is that most programs work with little fuss. Most programs are written to work in Windows and most do so without any problems or needing to tweak things. Yes, things have been getting alot better for programs with Linux, but Windows still reigns at the moment.
In the next couple years or the computer after the next one I get, I will likely think of switching to Linux.

[tom66]

Ubuntu Linux with a Windows XP VM.

[dannyf]

Windows - because it works.

[Howardlong]

I have a comment about running Windows in VMs to run software. I found that some software with copy protection breaks in a VM, in my case VMWare Workstation, because it regularly changed the MAC address of the network adapter, a feature that some licensing systems use. I had to get my license reset, which took some time, but not as long as it took to figure out why something, that was working perfectly, suddenly broke.

While it is possible to fix guest MAC addresses in VMWare, it is a manual edit that you need to do, and if you fiddle about with guest network settings it's all too easy to break it again. I went back to running Windows natively, it was just too flakey, and one of the software vendors simply said "we don't support it running in a VM".

The packages in question were all the Microchip XC series compilers, and Marmalade (a cross platform mobile development environment). They both use the same licensing system.

[codeboy2k]

My everyday always on OS is crunchbang linux ( #! ) with Windows 7, Windows XP in VirtualBox. I also run Ubuntu 14.10 in VirtualBox for some opensource work I do that must support Ubuntu Linux.

[tautech]

Windows - because it works.

Yep.
Win 7
Some recent HW, SSD for OS, plenty of RAM and it flies.

For any old stuff, an XP VM and every thing works. 

[jeremy]

MacBook Pro 13" with maximum specs. I switch between oses regularly (I use all three basically every day) and have many vms under VMware.

VMware never changes my MAC addresses. Not sure why that is happening to you. All commercial licensing systems work fine as well as all usb hardware.

[miguelvp]

Windows as well, I did try linux many times since I started with Unix systems but Windows is the most supported OS.

My current system only cost me $139.80 with taxes.

(Open Box) HP DC8000 Desktop Computer Off Lease Refurbished; Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Processor 3.0GHz; Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64bit; 4GB DDR3-1333 RAM; 160GB Hard Drive; DVD-RW Drive; Display Not Included

A friend of mine gave me a 500 GB drive he didn't need anymore because he upgraded his system to 1 TB drives. I already had the monitor and an extra 2GB stick from upgrading the wife's computer.

[aroby]

Windows 7 for my desktops, Windows Server 2013 for servers, Hyper-V for my main servers, everything running on it virtualized.  VirtualBox on my dekstops for running older Windows versions and Linux when I need to or to have sacrificial machines when dealing with unknown software.  I'll delve into Linux on my NAS and on various appliances when I need to.

I tried Macs years ago and never could get to grips with the UI, so have never looked at OSX since.  Linux generally drives me nuts with everything spread all over the place, but there again I've never needed to get to grips with it for what I do.  As a server, it's great.

[MacAttak]

Windows on a refurbed 2012 MBP (directly on the metal, no hypervisor) because the vast majority of software I need supports Windows as the primary platform. EE is also just a hobby, and my "day job" involves desktop/server/mobile software development, so no matter what I need a Windows box somewhere even if just to run Visual Studio.

I also keep a headless Mac Mini (also refurb) on my desk for when I need to deal with iOS builds/debugging or the occasional software that works better on OS X. I connect to it using NoMachine.

I've really not found a reason to introduce Linux into my current mix. I've used Linux in the past (several distros) and have no problem with it. But right now I have no pressing need for it.

Also have a Windows tablet (Surface Pro 2) in my lab that is mounted to a shelf and runs all of the equipment in there - 3D printers, my ReLoad, USB endoscope, etc. I keep my main dev tools installed on the tablet but it's not as convenient (my eyes aren't great) as my main system in my office. I use private repositories on GitHub to share code and other files between the two desks.

[Balaur]

I use private repositories on GitHub to share code and other files between the two desks.

Please have a look at Bittorrent Sync. I have around 250 GB of stuff shared between Windows and Linux clients and works really great. Real-time sync but no revision control.

[zapta]

11" MAC OSX ultrabook for personal stuff (including electronics, EAGLE, Arduino, Eclipse, Saleae and 3D design and slicing) and 30" Linux desktop for work (mostly software).

[electronics-whiz]

Win 7 SP1 pro X64. Wanting to learn linux, but Vbox had some snafu and is now useless even reinstall fails.

[Galenbo]

I don't know what I run. I downloaded it from Piratebay, it appears to be Win7.

[dfmischler]

The last few boards I designed were done on a FreeBSD system (I use it for other things, and because I could).  No, it is not a flavor of Linux.

[Monkeh]

The last few boards I designed were done on a FreeBSD system (I use it for other things, and because I could).  No, it is not a flavor of Linux.

Sure it is. It looks just like it!

[free_electron]

whatever let's me run the application i want to use.

Sometimes windows, sometimes OsX , hardly ever anything *nix or *ux ...

[GreyWoolfe]

Company laptop and test computer run Win 7 Enterprise.  Personal computer runs Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit with a Win XP 32 bit VM only for running MusicMatch jukebox.  Personal laptop runs Win 7 Ultimate 32 bit.

[Lightages]

I added to the Windows statistics. I use Win7 Pro on all my computers, only one only has 32 bit. Why only windows? Well I do many things that are not easy to do or were not easy to do in the past on Linux. I tried to run a distro exclusively back in 2006 because I wanted off the Windows train. For my uses it was impossible. All the types of software I wanted to use eventually caused dependency errors and I always ended with a broken OS and needed to go back to Windows to get my work done.

Nine years is a long time and I know things have changed. So I am starting to pay with a distro or two again to see what can be done but I have so much and money invested in Windows programs it would be more work to change than it is worth IMHO, even if Linux did everything I want without problems. I am willing to guess it is not problem free however.