Windows XP or 7 for Steam/Doujins?

[ZellSF]

I installed Windows 8.1 today. I have to say that this is an absolutely horrible OS. The UI is dumbed down and awkward to use (touchscreen feel with a mouse!?), and makes it difficult to get to the important things (system settings, explorer, etc). Both OSX and Linux (!) offer a much better experience.

Just install Classic Shell and your UI can be exactly like whatever Windows version you want.

I would still take stock Windows 8 over Mac OSX

Linux is much better than either of them by a pretty huge amount. Linux lets you set up your desktop the way you want it.

[Bonus!]

It's not just the desktop I have a problem with. Windows tries to hide vital information from you. Today, for whatever reason, I couldn't launch BWR+ at first, and what does Windows do to assist me? Display window with the fabulous message "collecting information; we'll let you know about any results" (or something like that), and you can't view any logs, nothing at all. Or look at all those absurd "wizards". Just give me access to a config file!

I can understand why someone who does not know about OS internals might prefer one OS over the other based on the UI, but --- this is not a value judgement at all --- if you are used to peeking under the hood and are not afraid of writing your own scripts if needed, then using Windows is pretty much a slap in the face. Wait, it's more like getting medicated and put in a straitjacket.

[ZellSF]

It's not just the desktop I have a problem with. Windows tries to hide vital information from you. Today, for whatever reason, I couldn't launch BWR+ at first, and what does Windows do to assist me? Display window with the fabulous message "collecting information; we'll let you know about any results" (or something like that), and you can't view any logs, nothing at all. Or look at all those absurd "wizards". Just give me access to a config file!

I can understand why someone who does not know about OS internals might prefer one OS over the other based on the UI, but --- this is not a value judgement at all --- if you are used to peeking under the hood and are not afraid of writing your own scripts if needed, then using Windows is pretty much a slap in the face. Wait, it's more like getting medicated and put in a straitjacket.

Sorry, I confused you with the people who were switching to 8 from XP or 7 and were complaining about trivial stuff. Didn't remember you were switching from a good OS.

XP and 7 are equally terrible. Checking program output and logs really isn't a common thing on Windows. Neither is writing scripts as most programs don't really like being interacted with outside of their own GUIs.

If you truly have never used Windows before I look forward to you going insane the first time Windows Update fails, especially if you can't fix it and start looking into how to recover Windows installations. Or when you realize how Windows stores its "config files" and the primitive application you have to use to modify them.

I'm sort of glad I grew up with Windows, I sure as hell couldn't have dealt with it otherwise.

I recommend asking questions if there's something you can't figure out. While learning on your own will get you far, there's lots of really obscure shit in Windows.

[Bonus!]

If you truly have never used Windows before I look forward to you going insane the first time Windows Update fails, especially if you can't fix it and start looking into how to recover Windows installations. Or when you realize how Windows stores its "config files" and the primitive application you have to use to modify them.

I hope to minimize my interaction with the OS, and don't intend to do anything else in Win8.1 than Steam and playing doujins. Windows is on a separate hard drive, and I don't even intend to go online (until the next STG I'm interested in gets released on Steam). This approach hopefully minimizes the pain of working with Windows. I'm familiar with obscure error messages from many years back, and I know what a pain in the neck fixing Windows problems can be.