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Microsoft is dead as an OS manufacturer.  They have not released a reasonably usable OS since XP. 

They failed in the small devices market.

Windows 10 with it's unstoppable automatic updates is unsuitable for tasks like long renders, compiles, encodings etc because it will start updating in the middle and either make it take way longer or it will foul up and trash the render.

So what is another OS that is good for fractal art?

Not useless at all if you use a dedicated rig and keep it off line when rendering.

It still sucks, but it's far from dead and useless.

You use whatever OS works for you.  Many swear by MAC, but I think they are horrible.  Others love linux, but many are put off by all the command line only stuff.

There is never a need to use the newest stuff unless you have software that requires it - in which case you have no choice.

Based on your post, I'd say you should stick with XP since it's the one you like.  The only drawback is you are limited in some software, but user satisfaction is more important than anything else!

I use win 7 & 8 and have updates turned off.  I expect a 5 to 10 year life of regular use from these two systems and will not be getting w10 for at least that long.  My win 7 is totally offline and never has been online in it's entire life, so an offline system is the way to beat auto updates.  Yes, that means 2 computers, but for rendering Art, Animation, and Fractals there is no beating a 100% dedicated and totally offline rig.

That's my coupla pennies worth anyhow...

I am aware of the offline option and so is Microsoft.  Expect Windows 10 to stop functioning and refuse to do anything until it is put online and allowed to update.  They will eventually put that feature in.

Problem with staying with same system is that you are stuck with everything taking a long time.  While new hardware would make it much faster.  But you cannot upgrade to new hardware without getting the new OS.

SuSE Linux, no cmd line stuff unless you want it, fully integrated GUI Desktop, browsers, email etc etc etc., very stable and a number of development environments, of course there are some quirks but I find it much much better than MSWin (any version although if I absolutely had to use MS and had the option, XP would be my choice)

just MHO ;)

micros~1 is ushering in the long fabled year of the linux desktop with their big brother spyware antics  :evil1:

OpenSUSE is a good linux OS
I use it as by default OS ( i also run ScintificLinux 6.7 ( clone of RHEL 6 )

suse is also a good choice for the New To Linux people , it is very GUI centric ( point and click ) and easy to use
( but you NEED TO READ THE USER MANUAL!!! just like you had to do with MS Windows !!!)

the only "spy ware" is a opt in for program crashes to send data to the developers
but you HAVE TO TURN IT ON  -- it is OFF by default

pardon me, OpenSuSE of course, and if you want security look at http://www.pcbsd.org/ very similar to linux but more unix knowledge will be required.  :beer:

I seriously doubt they will ever cripple your computer until it is put online.  That could well lead to lawsuits!

After all, "security updates" and other updates are mostly to keep you safe online.  If never online, they are never needed and if anybody has any evidence that they have plans to force you online I would like to see it.  I can't ever see that happening.  Nag screens, sure.  But crippling the OS - I doubt it.

I know they are going subscription based  (which I will never buy into) but I have seen press releases that said they would only require the updates be paid and never turn your computer into a paperweight over subscription stuff.

Of course they could be just saying that, it is microsoft after all...

But you can still get Win XP 64 Bit Pro and put it on new hardware, so that option is not as impossible as you think.

All that said, if Open SUSE Linux runs WINE then I think there are no worries.  I ran a lot of Win Software on my mac using that and never had a problem except for a few programs that relied heavily on Direct X.

The big problem is there are not enough decent programs that run on Linux natively.  Most of the software I need for work is mac and windows only, so until they port those programs to linux I don't see where I personally have much choice - except a 3rd computer!   :stickingouttongue:

What about disabling auto updates.
Or if it fails... unplug the phone cable and the updates won't bother you lol
My latest updates almost killed my pc btw... it was just impossible to launch ANY PROGRAM and to open ANY FILE! :( I was in a black rage but able to fix it somewhat.

openSUSE Build Service hosts 39,615 projects, with 315,002 packages, in 55,297 repositories and is used by 42,598 confirmed developers.

the cool thing is that all of the sourcecode is available for scrutiny  :tease:

That's not enough!!   :clown:

I guess it's just a hang over from when I searched in the past.

While it is obviously no longer true that there are only a few programs for Linux, it is still true that many of the programs I need will not run properly on Linux of any flavor.  Particularly a few tool I need for work stuff like ChemLab and a lot ofmy favorite Art programs  (I know there may be other Art software for Linux, but as with any genre of software - finding a program you like and can work with easily can take a long time and once you find one it becomes a chore to work with other software which can cause headaches and waste a lot of time on learning curves).

For example I can not use gimp at all
:troll:
Really

win 10 busted Gimp 2.8.14 ? ? ? ? ? ?

-- very ODD
h t t p : / / download.gimp.org/pub/gimp/v2.8/windows/gimp-2.8.14-setup-1.exe
has a 32 and 64 bit version

or the 32 and 64 bit Gimp 2.8 stable nightly build  from one of the win dev's
http://nightly.darkrefraction.com/gimp/stable/

That is the main point of my question.  The software.  It seems I always have something that cannot be done on other systems.  Back when I was doing amateur game level design.   The tools for making the levels came out first on windows.  If you where lucky a set for the mac would come out a few to several months later and would not be as good.

Now all the fractal art software and audio software I use is windows.  It takes a long time to figure out some of these programs.

I think MS will try to come up with a way to make you subscribe and stay subscribed.  However I think they are starting to loose their OS business.

Some of the things I just discovered while working on a friends PC are a bit disturbing.

Microsoft has put influence on the hardware manufacturers to change the BIOS to something else.  As a result no more booting up into repair mode.   This feature which is necessary for booting up a system that will not boot is now only available from a booted up system.  Rendering it and the computer in question useless.

Everything I have read indicates a possible problem with windows registry hive files.  I should just be able to boot into repair mode and reset from the hidden OS image file.  But that cannot be done without first booting up into windows 😠

I am guessing that it was probably a windows update that went bad that did this.  And now they want to make updates mandatory?

I think microsoft is heading in a bad direction and over time they will start loosing the market share.

I do not think they can compete in a real competitive environment without cheating.  And, I think their days of cheating are coming to a close.

I wonder what would happen if google came out with a full fledged android OS for desktop and laptops?

@Sockratease I agree, it's hard to find something that feels good and does what you want and even harder to change once you've found it.
@Karmic Beats the balance will tip toward the one that fits your needs and requirements, imho, linux is the most versatile.
@JohnVV I think DarkBeam was referring to using the program not actually installing it, the interface may be completely alien compared to what he currently uses.

The programs like Gimp, OpenOffice and others are, functionally,  as good as anything on Win/Mac and FREE! if you can't find the program you need then all of the tools necessary to create the program you need are also included FREE! for me this makes linux the only OS worth investing my time in, optionally I can make $ donations to support OS devs or program authors but I am never obliged to do so.  :beer:

Just for the record: using Windows 10 and being happy with it, currently rendering fractals for a calendar-project (rendering overnight for several nights, print resolution), having had no problem with it at all (yet).

unless one is using the royally f-ed up one window "GimpShop" then turn that off
a few mouse clicks in the menu will turn off "gimpshop"

that was a bad idea back on `06 and still is

the UI is and has been the same for linux, mac ,and windows for the last 15+ years
-- they are moving to GEGL but the basic gimp menus and look has not really changed in 18 years

( except for the very bad idea of using "gimpshop" one window )

Actually Google has made it clear what their vision of the OS market would be, look up Chromium/Chrome OS (recently canceled since it overlaps with Chrome and Android). In short it would be a 100% web OS (cannot function without internet connection) were as much as possible is done server-side (in the cloud since that's the hip buzzword) and they constantly collect and store user data (non-privileged & prilvliaged). As far as I'm concerned Google should be greatly feared, their violation of privacy is without limits and everyone loves them for it.

I've talked to tons of people (mostly triggered by Win8 Metro theme but also the release of Win10) that are in the same boat as us, and I think MS knows it. I could blather on for ages but I will simply say Win7 was the last "decent" Win OS, and It's clear MS is changing their approach to remain profitable into the future despite high levels of criticism from long time users. I started exclusively using MS OS in the Win3.1/DOS environment days and (unless they do a full steam 180, unlikely) my MS OS days end at Win10. I will keep a Win7/XP dual boot machine, but I will be switching my main machine to OpenSUSE and/or LinuxMINT exclusively in the next couple years.

I think this may be a world of new opportunity for linux and unix distros; but I have a couple coding/networking friends in the tech world who disagree (largely because after win10 they feel there no longer exists any OS that meets their needs/wants).

If we look back to the origins of Wind-ohs and Mac OSs it is understandable how it has come to this, the "Pirates of Silicon Valley" (movie), I think illustrates clearly the mentality embedded at the beginning that carries on through out these two corporate structures and now with Google cornering the AI/Cloud realm we are in for some seriously invasive exploits, the implosion will be spectacular.
The only good thing about google is the open source aspect that allows everyone to see what's going on under the hood, although, if you are not a corporate giant with buckets of time and money to throw at it, comprehending everything that's going on under the hood would be virtually impossible.
aside: I began using linux when you had to compile a kernel and build boot floppies ;)