At least DOS would start up. The worst operating systems are, in order by release year: Windows 98 - first edition Windows ME Windows XP - first release, pre service pack 2 Windows Vista - all versions
Because almost every new computer comes with it pre-installed, and alot of people don't know how, or don't want to install something else. Not to mention, you would probably lose alot of the apps that came pre-installed, as alot of cheaper computers these days don't seem to come with backup disks.
LOL! So if people can't install/don't know how to install other OS, how do you think they will handle Linux? No, Windows is so widely used because it's easy to use (for average people), easy to develop for (for developers) and secure (even if you don't agree with this, let me tell you that I don't have any AV installed and other FW than Windows' default, and still I don't have any security/viruses problems).
I installed a Vista box a few months back. It was installed properly but It did not allow to install softwares such as .NET and some other softwares and there had been always problem with Internet connections, so left using Vista and started using XP service pack 2. I'm not happy with Vista. I'll stick with XP as long as I can...
Well, I have tried most Windows OS'es and the only thing I can say is that they are... Well... Not suited for people who know computers. Dos -when you look at it - was incredibly basic but you wouldn't catch a home user using it. 98 Begins to get a little more user friendly. (Geeks grumble a little). ME Comes along and the geeks know that it was going to be the base of all MS OS's to come. The Geeks back off a little. XP Comes along - the first public moan about the OS. 2 Years later, they practically are kissing it's feet. Vista Comes along with the average home user in mind and the geeks feel left out because they are scared to try something which "More often than not is the worst Microsoft OS ever". But OS's are what you make them, I personally have a tonne of Computer-speeding up programs because that is what I have always used. Doesn't mean vista is crap. But, how many of you who just say "Vista is the worst OS ever, MAC pwns" have ever tried Vista or Mac?
Stay away from windows if you're planning to host a big website. I've gotten myself into a deep hole by starting off a site using windows server, active server pages and MS 2000 database. Now my website has gotten too big and the Microsoft junks couldn't handle the traffic load. What a joke!
Vista still struggles after all this time: The site is a tech type site, so the visitors are pretty tech savvy and 1/4 million visitors for the month so it's a reasonable sample. I should of included the browsers too, because FireFox and IE and pretty even.
I hate vista, but don't recommend a mac or a linux-based OS. Simply because I haven't tried the latter. But for me (with a good, high powered laptop), vista runs really slowly (despite my 3 gig RAM and dual-core processor). I had to reformat my laptop recently because I had corrupted hard drive files (caused by the fact that Vista used to completely freeze for me - I couldn't do anything - hence had to shut it off). After a while it stopped working, as Vista froze up completely more and more. Now I've reformatted things are better, much better in fact. However Vista killed my computer last time, so I'm no expecting much this time.
Well, the good news is Windows 7 is supposedly coming out this fall and its supposed to be very good and actually reliable. I'll stick with xp for a while!