Windows 7, hands down. It's faster, lighter, more stable than any previous Windows OS, and is easier to use, and more flexible than Windows 8/RT.
XP is old, but the stand by. However 7 is new (Like a year or so) and feels like a nature, stable version of the Windows we have come to understand. 8 seems weird to me, and a stupid idea to have a laptop use the same OS as a phone.
I just got a new laptop with Windows 8. I'm getting the hang of it, but I like it. I upgraded from Vista. I never had Windows XP or Windows 7, the versions that everyone seems to like the best.
I've been a Mac man for more than 20 years, but I'm having loads of fun with my new HP Pavilion running Windows 7. It's still a bit clunky compared to Mac OSX, but way smoother and more intuitive than earlier Windows versions.
Up until a few months ago I would have said XP, but recently I finally switched to a PC with Windows 7 and I absolutely love it. It's very light and stable, I like it a lot. I don't expect to switch to Windows 8 any time soon.
Windows 7 came out in the middle of 2009! And it is the best supported version. Windows 8, from a desktop standpoint, is just awful.
I've never used Vista or Windows 8, but after switching from XP (which I liked too) to 7 I was very impressed, and have liked it ever since.
I haven't had a chance to play with Windows 8 properly yet, but I'm impressed with the visual concept behind it. It looks really fabulous and seems very intuitive to use. I love the idea of the same look across desktop, laptop, tablet & smartphone. It's a great branding decision, and they seem to have implemented it well from what I've seen so far. I do think that the way they're supporting ARM with a cut-down version of 8 is potentially very confusing for customers. I can totally understand the desire to support ARM, but in that case, they should be managing customer expectations better by being much clearer at the point-of-sale & in the naming of the software that it's a more limited version of 8, but offers better battery life in return. But overall, I think 8 has the potential to be transformative to Microsoft's business in the medium. They certainly have a lot riding on it and with their deep pockets, I don't think they're going to let it disappoint. Currently, I'm still on 7 as I tend only to upgrade infrequently myself and just bought a new laptop last year. I might get a Win8 phone though; the Lumia 920 seems beautiful, but I want to compare it to the HTC 8X.
A year ago, I would have told you XP Professional, hands down. But, I upgraded to a new HP laptop with Windows 7 in January, and I have not looked back. I love the seamless changing between open programs and the "Snap" feature that allows you to have two open windows side by side. Getting under the hood, so to speak, is more difficult with Windows 7 but, I really don't have to do anything that requires it either. It's all automatic. Multitasking is extremely easy, as is gaming, but these may be because of the processor and not the OS.
Depends on what machine you have... Besides lightweight Linuxes I can only run XP on my old P-4 2Ghz machine, same goes for my Socket A Sempron, if you have more modern machines 7 is the way to go, 8 is decent, if you don't want to use/see that idiotic Metro stuff you always can use Classic Shell. http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/ Which can make 8 behave like Win7, XP and even like Windows 2000.
I used Windows Xp right up until last year as it worked with no major issues, then moved to Windows 7 64 bit when i upgraded my CPU......and it's been very very very reliable....love it.
I'd say XP. Like 7 ok enough, but have had 3 crashes with it -_-. Never had as much of a problem with XP.
XP was good but Windows 7 was great. Am currently trying to get my head around Windows 8, which is fairly easy. Why they'd remove the Start Menu is beyond me. Was there ever an official reason, other than to replace it with Metro?
Exactly. That is the official reason. Microsoft wants the same interface throughout all of its products (desktop and laptop Windows, Surface, Windows Phone, Xbox).
So far, 8 has worked great for me in every respect (in conjunction with MS Office 15 aka MS Office 365/2013). Have been evaluating it since July, performing both softcore Gaming and work related tasks.