XP, I had bad experiences with ME, worst OS for me... I would never try it again. Well, XP 2k3 and 2k are pretty good.
Linux (kernel 2.4) is pretty stable though the gui sometimes crashes DOS is pretty damn stable as is Mac OS9. OS X is unix without the stability Of windows I would say either 2k or XP. ME is really bad, worst of the windows series, though i really hate NT as well. 98 is better than 95 simply for the greater program and hardware support, it never was that much more stable, also an old build can take a long time to load.
That's quite a tricky question as you it's difficult to say "which OS is the most stable" because you rarely (or I rarely) use an OS without 2nd party software. I used MacOS 9 for a long long time and I don't want to say that Apple did a bad job with it but I'm sure most of the software companies did a bad job programming their software for it. I always heard "Mac's are the most stable computers" and stuff like that and actually was (am) happy about my Mac carrier but when I got my current computer with Windows XP it was a whole new dimension. I don't really like Microsoft but they DID a good job with Windows XP. There still are lacks in the security, perhaps, but still it runs great for me, I rarely have problems to bring the uptime to 5 days with gaming / surfing / IRCing / chatting and so on the whole day. [x] Windows XP [edit] Just a list of Operating systems I used for longer than a year so you can think about my opinion a bit better perhaps Windows XP Windows 98 (+SE) Windows 95 Windows ME Mac OS 9 Mac OS X [/edit]
I have Windows XP Pro i and im happy with my uptimes.Im running mirc bots,im downloading,running ftp,playing games,hear music and all the daily stuff anyone can do without having to reboot for days.I usually reboot when im updating something that needs reboot or testing some new software. On the other hand my previous experience with winME was bad,this OS is total crap,its unstable,it refuses to shut down and it needs the reset button in order to restart and many other bugs that im bored to mention.
I've never had Windows XP, so I can only say 2000 Pro for now. Still, I've heard great things about XP from my family and friends.
Imho,...XP ,the Pro version. It is a lot more user freindly than 2k was previously. I remember when 2k,your equipment,if it didnt pass the qualifier test,would not function correctly or at all. Then,XP came along,right out of the box it worked,Man was i suprised. My first Os, windows 2.0 on floppies. Nitro
windows2000pro is the one for me lovely and stable, was an xp user and now i do everything on 2000 pro.
base on my expirience on 98,98se,me,2000,xp, and 2003 the most stable windows that i use is win2k3 server less bug and great on gaming and i never expirience choppiness unlike xp that u will slow down everytime u will open ur PC so win2k3 is my pic unless u had the money co'z it cost 650$ damn its too expensive
dude trip mo endless lab hahaha for windows xp is the most stable. i tried win2000pro ntfs, then when the pc wasnt shutdown properly, it reported an error and i cant boot to 2kpro so i have to reformat again and convert the ntfs back to fat32. pretty disappointing cuz i downloaded the sp2 for more than an hour and only took seconds to corrupt.
Used 95,98SE, ME and XP. XP is by far the best IMO. ME was terrible. Went back to 98 for a bit, till I got my hands on XP!
Redhat 8.2 was probably the most 'stable' operating system I've used. Win XP runs, but you'll get various driver related issues after using so many different hardware combinations over the years. You could sum it all down to driver quality really for the most stable OS.
Win XP runs well. It takes a lot to break it: congrats to zone alarm who succeeded, bastards. ME was horrific