We will consider how these well-understood OSs differ in 2019. We're not telling you what to do, we're just discussing some factors you might want to keep in mind when making a choice. We'll touch lightly on some of the fundamental features that drive these affinities, but we're not preaching. We are well aware of the nearly religious affinities for each of these platforms. Choosing a server, IoT, or infrastructure operating system is a very different beast, something we don't have room to discuss in this article.Īlso: Small business servers: Why and how you can say 'no' to the cloud We're looking at desktop and laptop use only. Before we get started, let's establish a few ground rules and recognize a few realities. In this article, we're going to take a comprehensive look at the differences between these platforms for desktop use. If you're choosing an operating system for your desktop or laptop computer, there are three main choices: Windows, MacOS, and Linux. But, if you're upgrading from an old machine, you might want to re-evaluate your options. By mid-2019, most people are fully entrenched with their favorite operating system choice.