It may be a brave opinion but I predict that Ubuntu Linux and Windows Vista are going to be the two operating systems that will take over the largest chunk of the desktop OS market during the next couple of years

Hot on the heals of the final release of the Karmic Koala, we've put together a video montage of 64-bit versions of Microsoft's Vista and Windows 7 operating systems booting alongside Canonical's Ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10. Watch all four at once and see which one wins!

For my money, the best desktop operating system is Linux -- MEPIS and OpenSUSE at the top with Ubuntu closing in fast, to be exact. But everyone has their own opinion, and over at PC Magazine some old friends and coworkers of mine decided to compare all the most popular desktop operating systems: Windows XP and Vista, Mac OS X 10.5.1 (Leopard), and Ubuntu 7.10.

People don't just like Windows 7, it's the anti-Vista: loved for as many often spurious reasons as Vista was hated. But has Window 7 seen off any threat from open source operating systems? In other words, has Windows 7 killed Linux on the desktop?

In a couple of weeks I’ll be switching my main computer back to Ubuntu from Windows 7. But the reason isn’t exasperation with Windows 7, and it’s not one that should give Mac fans hoping that the new Microsoft OS will be a failure any kind of comfort.

Mac OSX Leopard 10.5.2 and Windows Vista Service Pack One were both released in February of 2008. Linux Ubuntu released the latest version of its operating system, nicknamed Hardy Heron, in April. I tried out each of these three operating systems to see how they compared.

For the last couple years, life has been good. Every time I’ve shown you to a friend or family member, they’ve compared you to what they’re familiar with – Windows XP or Vista, mostly – and by comparison you’ve looked brilliant. But recently, things have changed.

For the past couple of weeks I have been having some fun testing out the latest version of Ubuntu the increasingly popular Linux. The advantage it has over many other OS's out there is it's lightweight footprint.

I have been a big supporter of Ubuntu over the last few years and I have been using Ubuntu for many, many releases. I turned several friends onto Linux using Ubuntu and one of them has been quite excited about the operating system. Over the past year or so the Linux fan boys have been pushing eye candy on Ubuntu touting it as ahead of both Microsoft and Apple's desktop operating systems.