Apple is for me. I use others at work and have found that Apple is the most stable, fast, secure and easy to use. Virtually no viruses and no spyware; I've never had a virus since the old mac in the box (80's). I've always used them at home. The old 'hard to find software for' problem has pretty much gone away.

I just recently terminated a 3-month stint of running only Linux (Opensuse). I had managed to achieve virtually everything I was used to doing in Windows, up until I did a kernel update. Suddenly my drivers stopped working, and I was left with a real mess. I am now back on Windows, but if there was more support for drivers, that came from the actual hardware manufacturers, I would go back to Linux in a heartbeat. The layout is much more secure and there are a lot more built-in administrator tools. I have never really used OS X though, and seeing as Apple uses Unix as the foundation for their operating systems, it may be exactly what I'm looking for.

Linux. (1) It doesn't come from Microsoft but rather from people who understand what "reliable software" means. It includes mods and enhancements from the real world of people who actually use it in real situations. (2) You can reasonably expect it to work consistently, as opposed to Windows where you never what will not work when you do something that already you've done before. (3) Linux is written to a standard that is closer to the responsible mainframe standards of quality - Linux runs on mainframes - rather than the incredible lack of standards of quality that Windows (Microsoft) has made the expected norm.

Apple is the best IMO. OS X is built on a free BSD kernel, so it has all the stability and security of Unix. It's engineered by Apple so it has a gorgeous interface. Some of the arguments against Mac OS X: lack of software = not true. The number of titles avail does not equal quality. For the Mac there are plenty of good quality and functional software titles available. Compared to the sheer number of titles avail for MS, there is no comparison, but even though the number for Windows is huge, most of the software sucks. Apple is proprietary=ummm, so is MS. At least Apple adheres to and supports standards. No, it's not totally open source, but MS tries to break every standard out there. For anyone who hasn't used a Mac in years or ever, give it an honest try and you would switch. I used to be a Linux geek back before Redhat became a public company. I got tired of too many things not working with Linux, and got tired of having to reinstall Windows all the time. Been using Mac's since around 2001 and haven't looked back. One last reason I advocate the Mac: I'm also a (very small) stockholder. ;)

I’ve got to go with Mac OS X on this one. I’ve only had minimal experience with Linux, but it mostly involved cryptic error messages like “process XX73Y0D has been murdered mysteriously.” It didn’t take me long to just give up on that one. As for Ms Windows, I used to be the IT guy for a then–all–Windows-based small business, and the investment in support hours alone was ridiculous. Perfect example: we got a new computer running Windows XP and tried to get it to see the Windows 2000–based servers. No dice. I spent two weeks repeatedly making phone calls to the manufacturer before finally being told it wouldn’t work with Win2K Server, that we had to downgrade to Win2K client. After another week in transit and installation, the newly downgraded machine could finally connect. A few months later we got a Power Mac G5. I turned it on for the first time and received a message to the effect of: “A network has been discovered. Would you like to connect to the internet through this network?” I clicked (OK) and was on both the intra- and Internet. Just like that. That’s just how Macs tend to be: Ms Windows was completely incapable of connecting to Ms Windows, but Mac OS connected to Ms Windows in 20 seconds. What’s wrong with this picture? When people say “they just work,” they really do mean it. (As an aside, the company president approved the G5, in the first place, because it was $2,200 less than a comparable Ms Windows–based PC. Not that that’s particularly pertinent to the question at hand, but it is a nice bonus.)

I take the free-ness, secureness and speediness of Linux anytime.

Apple is the best Operating System..

they all sound good