Windows

I am never sure what I really think of Windows. In many ways I find Linux a superior Operating System yet I still find myself using Windows day to day not because I must but because it is easier. Microsoft do know how to make things easy.

I work in system development and some of that work is based in Java but the vast majority depends at some point in windows. I must admit Microsoft make some of the best tools to build windows programs which is no small part of their success. Visual Basic 6 and .Net? are ideal tools to build applications.

They have weaknesses but compared to coding in Linux they are really easy and productive.

Above all I am pragmatic. I like the idea of Linux beating the "evil monopolist Microsoft" but I know it is not as good at the end of the day and people will still be using Windows in 10 years time because it does what they want. I also know there is nothing I can do on Linux windows cannot do. Sure it has some nifty tools but Windows has the ones I use most of the time.

When it comes to Windows I would definitely recommend the Windows NT tree of windows (Windows 2k, XP etc) over the 9x tree as it works much better. I am currently using Windows XP at home and Windows 2K at work. I would have trouble saying which is better because they are so similar I cannot really identify any functional differences. Windows Xp does look prettier but I don't think that is important really.