Top 10 Best Operating Systems of All Time

What are the best personal computer operating systems ever released? Join me as I count down my personal top ten operating systems of all time! WARNING: You WILL disagree!

Sources used in this video (under fair use):

Pirates of Silicon Valley QDOS scene

#retrocomputing #operatingsystems #computing

[jochenstacker]

Did you know that "Ubuntu" is an ancient African word that translates as "I can't configure Debian".

[kdaddy]

I'm just surprised OS/2 Warp didn't even place.

[JesuszillaS]

That AmigaOS file type concept is just mind blowing to me. Absolute black magic how any program can open a new file type just by registering it.

[ScrapKing]

PC/GEOS was the most impressive OS technical achievement, IMO. It was a pre-emptive multithreaded multitasking OS that ran on 8088 interrupt codes! It ran OK on an 8088, ran well on an 8086, and was blazing fast on a 286. Nothing else has got anything close to that much oomph out of silicon that inexpensive.

[marksterling]

Good list but os/2 I think deserves a place. OS/2 warp was great

[JeremyBolanos]

My first home pc was an Amiga 500 I bought at the Post Exchange when I was in the Army way back in 1988. I still remember going to shareware parties with a stack of 3.5" disks. I miss it.

[tobiasstamenkovic]

You forgot about OS/2... Literally everyone hosting a mailbox ran it, due to multitasking done right.
...heck, you could even play Mahjong while its still being installed. It was pretty amazing.
Also, "DR/Novell DOS". *cough* If MS-DOS 5 makes the list, DR definitely deserves a spot too.

[ItsMichaelReyes]

I personally loved Windows 7. It was fast and simple to learn.

[davidmclachlan]

Absolutely spot on with Linux at number 1. Just imagine where we would be if Linux never was. It's played a massive part in the evoloution of the IT world.

[catriona_drummond]

My all time favourite was Windows 7. It was a proper Desktop OS, looked incredibly pretty, was absolutely stable and rock solid. Win 7 was the only OS that I installed when it came out in 2009 and never had to reinstall once in over 7 years of usage, including exchanging hardware. I then switched to Win 10 which has it's upsides but is a horrible flat and ugly half-mobile mess that likes killing the whole system with an update.
Loved Windows 7, it was the best user experience out of all the ones I ever had to work with.

[bradleyp]

I have been in the computer field as a hobbyist since I started as a teenager in 1977 (I did three years college SC course in the mid 1990s and computer electronics courses in 2000-2001) . This is by far one of the best 10 ten lists of best OSs I have ever seen. You're on point with what each one has contributed to the industry we know today.
Now I have fun learning Blender and 3D modeling and animation and video editing with DaVinci Resolve, along with some simple Linux script writing.

[Zyx]

2:05 GEOS
3:27 CP/M
5:20 Windows 2000
7:01 BeOS
9:32 MS-DOS
11:10 Windows 95
12:55 OS X Tiger
14:41 Amiga OS
17:01 NeXTSTEP
21:01 Linux

[thelovertunisia]

I find it increadible how they were able to make a GUI run on the C64. That is real developers. Now with resource opulence, they can created bloated ineffcicient code and get away with it!

[AlanW]

I worked at Be for a spell, nice coverage of it. Those office shots brought some nostalgia!

[wildhawk]

One of my favorite things about BeOS was install time. I was doing deskside support at the time, having to do a lot of Windows installs, which always took forever and required a lot of babysitting. BeOS was up and fully functional in 15 minutes every time, even if I was installing a multi boot system. Just so much better on the same hardware.

[dewiz]

I loved the Windows 2000 OS. It brought back “Append” which had been ditched by Windows 95 and 98. I remember Windows 95 breaking my Sort Program, written using the Compact Memory Model in Borland Turbo C. I had to rewrite it using the small memory model, which required a lot more temporary files. I think Microsoft peaked with MSDOS 6.22

[MARC]

Wonderful video Dan, and actually pretty close to the mark.
OS/2 was actually a really great OS that was so far ahead of MS DOS and Windows 2.x and 3.x. it took advantage of the 286 chip and 386 chip, where DOS just kind of tacked on lame support for it.
It is also amazing still to see Mac OS X, Windows 95 and Be OS finally catch up to what we were doing on out Amiga's 10 years earlier...

[michelegambierazzi]

For me, if I would do a "top X" operating systems I would do two lists, one for operating systems which have historical value and made things that moved the industry forward and one list for the operating systems that I actually like (to use today or have used earlier). It feels very strange to compile a list where the different systems are based on different values.

[HeartlandTuber]

I have a soft spot in my heart for CP/M. I started my programming career in early 80's writing insurance policy calculation programs for independent insurance agencies using CP/M in BASIC on early PCs such as Xerox, TRS80, and the IBM PC. I still have a hardback book from that era with dust cover, a classic which apparently is fetching a nice price on the collectibles market, I recently did a search as we were downsizing our library of thousands of books by more than 60%. I decided to keep it for now. Fond memories of my entrance into a career in programming and IT.

[jnb]

Finally Linux getting the love it deserves - I agree fully with it being number 1. I have been using it as my main OS since 1996 (back before it was easy to use) and only Windows 2000 challenged it for reliability. The only OS I see missing is Solaris. That short lived OS was a game changer for graphic design and for $10000 you would get the OS and then a free Solaris box, But it never really made it into the personal operating space until the end so I guess I can understand its absence. Good list.