Most beautiful Operating System?

Hi guys,
i was just browsing around looking for a new wallpaper for my old vista PC and i noticed that Vista has a beauty that windows 10 just doesn't have. I felt comforted when i loaded the OS and opened the desktop..so it got me thinking..what operating system (vanilla, no fancy mods) would you guys consider to be the most aesthetically beautiful out of the box? <can choose from windows, OSx, linux, etc etc.
(i know this is a subjective topic, but i would like to hear what you guys think)

 

OS X: While there are some odd bits that don't always look amazing, on the whole it's a very nice looking OS. Slightly more controversially, I think the Yosemite image update has made it even more aesthetically pleasing.

Windows 7 with Aero transparency and other visual effects makes for a beautiful desktop, although the Windows Logo lurking in the corner does look slightly 'Fisher Price'.

Gnome 2/MATE desktop environment for *Nix is nice in its simplicity and is my choice for FreeBSD. With this said, it doesn't have the same flair that Windows or OS X does. There's something beautiful in minimal desktops such as Fluxbox - with very little else getting in the way but obviously this also means that there is very little to look at.

OS X would be my vote - out of the box, at any rate.

 

Assuming we are talking just the visuals I would have to say Windows 7 for me closely followed by KDE in Linux Mint 17.1 and above. This for me relates to the transparencies but this too is at 1080P. For the scaling issues Linux may be better at 4K etc..

Nice thing too about Linux is that it is very easy to switch between GUI's unlike M$ where the GUI is tied to the OS. Somewhat unrelated but since this newest mistake by M$ I may need to fully switch to the other OS from W7. Aesthetically I have seen where the other GUI's are more than acceptable now I need to just get a few functions to be on an acceptable level as well, most already easily can be.

 

Windows 7 is the most beautiful to me because it has Aero. Change that start button, taskbar icons, rainmeter skins or whatever.

 

W7 has my vote for the same reason.

 

Windows 10, because it looks the most modern and it does not have any parts of the horrible Aero design left.

 

My favorite (based solely on looks) was Vista.

 

There are some, just not all, transparencies in the desktop. Nice thing about W7, you can turn Aero off if you do not like it.

 

Second for this. Regarding the apperance, Vista looked very good in some parts of it.

 

Yes, but your options are limited to going back to the Windows 95 design (which some people may want, but I don´t), or disable it to get a "downgraded" Aero without the Transparency, which isn´t exactly a good option either.

Windows 10 has some transparency options, but they are completely optional as well. In Windows 8.1 for example, you could not turn of the taskbar tranparency. Windows 8.1 in general had several leftovers from Windows 7, which collided visually with the modern design elements. Thankfully, Windows 10 has a more unified design.

 

TBH, I do not think it is a more unified design but this is subjective. If you turn off all aero in W7 to me it is more of a windows XP throwback, not 95.

 

Another vote for Vista in this respect.

 

Agree the transparency was a fundamental change that users liked this feature.

Unfortunately your in the minority if you just look around various forum discussions you will see the acceptance of Win10 is about the same as Win8. They left out designs people wanted in Win7 and expected people to swallow it-something Win8 tried and didn't work. Old as Win7 is more people are looking for it when coming from Vista and XP as compared to Win10. So the Old is the New now-just cause it is new doesn't mean that is the go to.

 

For windows; Win7 Aero.
For linux; PCLinuxOS KDE, with Mint 17.2 cinnamon as a runner up.

 

My vote goes to any recent Ubuntu version. (Unity) Although I am somewhat ambivalent towards the launcher, you can clearly tell that the developers put plenty of effort into most design elements. After that I'd choose OS X. It's more refined than Unity, but I prefer the simpler approach of the latter. I also liked Windows 2000 because of its consistency, which creates a certain kind of harmony that is hard to describe. I get a similar feeling with Unity and to some extent OS X.

 

XP Luna anyone? (Not me, btw)

 

I'm gonna vote for iOS - it's like OS X except with completely unified styling, even within 3rd party apps.

 

Vista, a work of art. But due to 'things', using it for 3 days :O) before going back to xp, while waiting for Vista MK2 (w7).

 

What part of Windows 10 makes it look more modern?? The fact that the use of transparencies, and 3D icons are non existent. People have a strange way of viewing "modern". If I want my windows 7 install to look like 10, I would just use the 256 color setting. The utter lack of imagination in aesthetics on windows 10, and complete lack of privacy, are only two of many reasons to stay away from windows 10. Windows 7 with transparency, nice rounded corners make it far more pleasing on the eyes than windows 10.

 

DOS. Black and White...

 

Not green on black?

 

XFCE, window manager though, not an operating system

 

That too, lol. That's how I grew up.

 

Probably Windows Vista, followed closely by Windows 7 both with the AeroGlass effects. I also liked Mac OS before 10.10, but OS X was useless for my purposes, Vista was too bloated, so W7 it is. We won't talk about that abortion that is W8/W10.

 

MS-DOS, because beauty is completely subjective.

 

Holy Smoke I remember those days... lol....now that is so cool...

 

This thread has the most love for Vista that I've seen since... probably when it was still called Longhorn around 2003?

My favorite has been PC Linux OS's MiniMe 2009 edition, with KDE 3.5. They had some really great wallpaper, and KDE 3.5's transparency was more more aesthetically pleasing to me than Aero. I kept using that Linux VM well past the time that KDE 3.5 was a convenient desktop in part because I already had what I needed set up, but also because it was a very nice looking one.

Haven't tried all the Longhorn builds but among Windows versions, I'd likely go that route. Among final-release ones, I actually kind of like Windows 8.1's look with the Start screen and all.

 

Honestly, Vista did look pretty nice. The only issue with that OS was the lack of drivers in its early life, which unfortunately tainted it for the rest of its life. Personally, I've never had an issue with the OS (we bought a Vista desktop about a year or two after it was released, and all the drivers were there).