The Right Operating System for You

Once, you were either a Mac person or a Windows user. Or maybe you were a Unix geek. Whichever your poison, you likely had only one operating system in your life. Thanks to the ubiquity of the Intel processor and the hard work of untold legions of software developers, however, those days are over. Now, Apple's machines can run Windows XP. Windows Vista is available on brand-new computers, but you can also boot the same PC with an Ubuntu Linux disc that you downloaded and burned for free. And if you like Ubuntu, you can install it alongside Windows in a few clicks.

Drastic improvements in virtualization software, along with hardware advancements and standardization on x86 CPUs, allow any operating system to play host to virtual versions of other OSs.

Every machine still needs a primary operating system, but mixing and matching them is now much easier. My home office contains a mix of Macs running OS X and PCs running Windows XP, Windows Vista, Ubuntu, and OpenSuSE Linux. And my next system will likely be a Mac with three or more of those OSs installed--maybe even running--at the same time. If you can afford Apple's hardware, that's the choice I'd recommend. Why? Check out our operating systems comparison chart below (click the icon) for a breakdown of the major contenders' strengths and weaknesses, and read on for a look at the state of each OS.