Windows 3.1 = "Windows halfed assed" (what my dad liked to call it)
Win95 a bit better than 3.1
Win98 a few improovments, like USB support, but the comming of the IE age
Win98SE The best home version of windows, though it should have been just a services pack, and not costed extra
WinME hell on virtual earth
Win2k Pro best Windows OS
WinXP = Win2k with a fancier GUI that takes up more resources, as well as a bit better 9x software support.
Never used NT untill 5.0 so can't really comment on them.
All in all, I'm happy with Mandrake Linux (for desktop), and I'll be on it most of the time once a game that I like to play is finnaly ported to C++ and compiled for Linux (should be soon).
[ April 29, 2003: Message edited by: Brad ]