When was the last time you used Windows?

Which Windows version sounds most familiar to you? Take our poll.
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1711 votes tallied
Windows 10
60% (1020 votes)
Windows 7
16% (268 votes)
Windows XP
11% (194 votes)
Windows 95
2% (32 votes)
Windows 1.0
1% (18 votes)
I was a Mac user
0% (7 votes)
I primarily use Mac
2% (34 votes)
I rolled down the windows in my car this morning. Is that what you're asking?
8% (138 votes)

When was the last time you used Windows?

Are friends and family constantly asking you to troubleshoot issues with their Windows or Mac device? Being the resident support technician in your home is an important job. Like any responsible technology steward, you are going to try your best to help out. However, it might be quite a challenge if it has been a while since you last used such an operating system.

How long has it been since you last used Windows? Before using Linux, were you primarily a Mac user? Or, are you using Windows or Mac now either at home or work?

Take our poll by selecting the Windows version you last remember using. If the term, "windows" only reminds you of those glass panels that let sunlight inside, you are probably a long-time Linux user.

Leave us a comment and share your story about how you started using Linux. 

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Lauren Pritchett
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Lauren is the managing editor for Opensource.com. When she's not organizing the editorial calendar or digging into the data, she can be found going on adventures with her family and German shepherd rescue dog, Quailford. She is passionate about spreading awareness of how open source technology and principles can be applied to areas outside the tech industry such as education and government.
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24 Comments

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libertypo | September 22, 2019
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Being a sysadmin I have, unfortunately, to use windows too besides Linux and BSD

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Etc Etera | September 22, 2019
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I have to use Windows 10 on my day job as a programmer (the projects I work on, though, are Java applications which will finally be deployed on Linux machines). At home and for my sideline business, I use Linux exclusively – with the exception of three or four Windows applications I still need, which either run on Wine or in a Windows 7 VM.

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Robert McConnell | September 22, 2019
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Before I retired from my job as a senior software engineer(*), six years ago, I had to use MS-Windows at the office, but there was an IT department responsible for keeping all of those computers up and running. I don't remember what version I was actually using, as most of our target systems were running CentOS, so I did most of my work in virtual macines. I also had a FreeBSD instance running that I used to develop test emulations.

At home, I have been using Slackware Linux since 1993, after I switched over from the defunct Soft Landing Systems distribution. Five of the six boxen are running 14.2, with the sixth on -current. The firewall is FreeBSD with a m0n0wall fork, and I recently added Raspian on a Raspberry Pi 3B+. My wife has had a succession of laptops with MS-Windows, but our youngest son does all of her maintenance work.

(*) I still think both 'Software Engineer' and 'Computer Science' are oxymorons. Both fields are more art than science, and neither has a defined degree path that the professional societies can agree on.

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DannyK | September 22, 2019
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I've been using Linux for more than ten years. I believe Ubuntu was at Ibex when I first gave it a try. I got fed up with Windows when I installed XP Service Pack 3 and it broke all my customizations. These days I run a small business with MX Linux, a couple Chromebooks, and a few Android devices.

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Ivo Fomin | September 22, 2019
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I thought there would be a story to go with the poll:)

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Bero | September 22, 2019
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I started using Linux as my main OS in 1994, initially keeping a Windows installation around for a few things that were hard to do in Linux at that time. Windows 95 is the last one I used before getting rid of it and going 100% Linux around 1996.

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Kevin K | September 22, 2019
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I guess Windows Vista was so awful they didn't even bother putting it as an option. But that's what made me switch to linux...

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crb3 | September 22, 2019
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One Win98SE box still running here, strictly for two apps: NoteWorthy Composer and srb2. I don't allow win32-or-higher directly on my network.

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William B Peckham | September 22, 2019
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I last used Windows on the job two years ago. I have been a regular Linux user since 1997, used Linux exclusively at home since 2004, and not used Windows at all since one time late in 2016. There is absolutely nothing that Windows can do that I need, that Linux does not do better and faster.

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Luewenc | September 22, 2019
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yeah, I use mac and linux for work. And god bless steam, gog and proton for I could delete the windows partition even for gaming.

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Don Watkins | September 22, 2019
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There are no Windows computers in our home. But, I do tech support for some folks who still use Windows and that most frequently is Windows 10. I do not recommend it. I regularly recommend Linux for most people.

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Harry Bottinga | September 23, 2019
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I started with OS 9 from radio shack in 1985 some time, till they pulled it of the market, used windows 3, 3.1 untill I discovered OS2 from IBM used that till I discovered SuSE 6.1? and never looked back. openSUSE TW all the way. Had some problems with USB WIFI adaptors, stll have 2 that no matter what I try refuse to work, even with the recommended drivers installed. Every thing else works like a dream. Never like NVIDIA though .

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archuser | September 23, 2019
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I use Arch Linux with gnome desktop , Arch Linux is simple to setup and maintain than Fedora or Ubuntu, I like Arch Linux for its minimalist approach, super fast response and updates.

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Hans Bezemer | September 23, 2019
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This poll is completely flawed. First, most people need to work. Most shops have Windows. So, According to this, I've always used Windows. Second, most Linux users have SOME kind of Windows running - as a VM, as a laptop, etc. Third, was means "using Windows"? Trying a x-compilant? Checking Explorer compatibility? Playing a game? Browsing? Downloading your email? Writing a document? These are very different "uses" of Windows. Some are born out of necessity, some imply a choice for the Windows ecosystem. Hence, this is futile - I won't participate.

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MartyMonroe | September 23, 2019
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At work I use Windows 10 and Mac, both dictated by the job. My desktop W10 box looks a lot like Windows 7 (proper start menu, etc). I also have an Android tablet. At home I run Linux, Fedora 29 on the main box and Fedora 20 on the netbook. I'm not especially a Fedora fan (hate systemd) but I wanted an RPM based distro and Fedora was the only one that I tried that would work with my RAID. I can't remember why the netbook runs Fedora, it was too long ago and I don't use it much.

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Wayne | September 23, 2019
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Not enough options! I was an MS-DOS 2.X user up to MS-DOS 6.X and Windows 3.11. I migrated to OS/2 Warp 3 then Warp 4 and switched to Linux when IBM dropped support. I also remember having a copy of DR-DOS and BeOS.

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Jason B | September 23, 2019
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After starting on 3.1, XP was my last Windows, but 98SE was the last one that I truly loved.

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Nonya | September 23, 2019
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I started using Linux in Feb 2007, but had a dual boot setup on at least one computer until four years ago. Four years ago, I found a Linux alternative to the last Windows program that I needed. That program was used to program a handheld Ham radio, and it wouldn't run under WINE. For several years before that, Windows was only used for a couple of games and that radio programming program. I have been happily Windows free and have never looked back!

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harvey friedentag | September 23, 2019
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I am considering switching to linux.

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Pavel Zubaty | September 25, 2019
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I have Windows 8 (or was that 8.1?) on my 2014 gaming desktop and sometimes I am called to fix issues on Windows 10 machines my relatives have. I know there are reasons people would use this Gaming OS for work (eg. latest version of some expensive software) and many people are simply more comfortable with it, but every time I need to fix something on Windows machine, I feel like pulling my hair. Ribbons, wrong Setting layouts, nasty Ads on the main tab... and that's just GUI.

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there is no name | September 27, 2019
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Windows 8 is missing from the list. Windows 8.1 was the last version I've used regularly alongside Ubuntu until I decided that installation has become too flawed. So I re-evaluated the necessity of running Windows and came to the conclusion that it was not given anymore. Hence, I removed it in favour of Ubuntu.

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Paul Anderson | October 6, 2019
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Like many of us elder geeks, I've used every Windows upgrade version from 95 through Win-10, on personal PC/laptops. But just after the W-10 release with the free upgrade from W-7 offer, I gave up Windows there & then. The W-10 upgrade was exhausting and so I moved to Linux (Mint); I only used W-10 for a month or so. These days I only use it when I'm at the Public Library computer stations, thankfully. Now, all my PC/laptops are a Linux distro (of one flavor or another), as is my Librem 5 phone. Microsoft who? Apple what?

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tracyanne | October 15, 2019
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I now administer 6 machines running Linux, a file Server, two laptops (one my partners), running Linux Mint Cinnamon, a Recording Studio Machine running Ubuntu Studio, and an old netbook also running Ubuntu Studio that use as the controller for my Synth keyboard. There is also the machine I use to control my Photo Printer.

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tracyanne | October 15, 2019
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The last time I used Windows, I was still working at the time ... I'm retired. I was contracting to a company that used Windows for Software development using Visual Studio, I was developing a Website for one of their clients, using C#

I was already a Linux User, had been since 2000, and, in fact, had installed WinXP on a Virtual Machine, on top of my Linux OS, which was, at that time Mandriva with the KDE desktop.

I now administer 6 machines running Linux, a file Server, two laptops (one my partners), running Linux Mint Cinnamon, a Recording Studio Machine running Ubuntu Studio, and an old netbook also running Ubuntu Studio that use as the controller for my Synth keyboard. There is also the machine I use to control my Photo Printer.

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