Which Windows OS to install on New Workstation

Windows 7 is supported until 2020 - which is another 5 years.

So if your expectation of the machine goes beyond 2020 then you probably will have to go Windows 10 if you really want to run Windows.

what about windows 8/8.1 ?

its been more than 3 years, i did fresh install of windows xp on my system.
so i guess 5 years is doable., will see what poll results say.

2018/2023 is the end of mainstream support for Windows 8 / 8.1

If you are afraid of learning much new, then skip Windows 8 or 8.1, it's an entirely different thought behind those. The start menu is gone, for the most part. There are ways and fixes to bring it back, but do you really want or need all of that?

Windows 7, is the world's most commonly used OS, still. I read some numbers of over 60% of all computers run Win7. Very stable, very reliable and with the "old" windows functions and the looks you're used to from XP.
What troubles me is that there has ever only been one single service pack for Win7 and hundreds of small updates. A fresh install of Win7 today, requires, besides the SP1, over 200 updates. Reasonably, there would have been both a SP2 and a SP3 along the way, but why those have never emerged from MS is a mystery. They keep sending out small fixes but refuse to do big ones, for just Win7. Windows 8 have for example three Service Packs already and is a much younger version. A part of me feels that Win7 is not getting the treatment it deserves.

If you are going to learn something new and go through all the hassles anyways, why not just bite the sour apple and go with Win10? Not tested at all but it is the new flagship and will be supported for long time to come. Since you need to do clean install from the ground anyways, why not just go with the newest version, take the pain now and then make it last almost as long as you have been able to do with your XP machine?

I personally still use one of my XP machines, it still runs great. An IBM laptop, X31, from 2003, before they sold out to Lenovo. Excellent quality and the machine still works flawlessly. But I will be doing the upgrade there myself too in the next year. And then, for myself, I'm choosing Win10.

Another idea: look at your analytics and make a point of it to use the OS and browser(s) that your users use most. You need to keep your finger on the pulse of your community.

If you're going with Windows, you've already doomed yourself to hell, so why not choose something that keeps you in touch?

Considering that you are too late for the free upgrade to Windows 10 now (so if you go for 7 today, you will need to buy two OS licenses).....if you could, i would postpone the decision for a few months and then take windows 10 after the first fixes come out.

If not...i would probably take the risk and get windows 10. It's anachronistic to get a new computer on windows 7 today...and windows 8 doesn't really look like a good option (it was a failure similar to vista in my opinion, for many reasons)

Thanks for your input.,

i really liked your thinking about windows 10, i am thinking on jumping on windows 10 ,as sooner or later windows 7 is gonna be outdated , while windows 10 just realeased , so i am up for learn new things.

i really appreciate it.,

ummm., i am not sure i get your point about using windows and getting doomed to hell,

i use browsershots to see how website looks/feels on which i am working on. so there s no point in installing what surfers are using.,

anyways thanks for your input.

i do get your point., i am gonna go with windows 10

Thanks for your input.,

your not to late for the free upgrade, load win 7 on a machine, install the updates and when the little reserve your copy of win 10 comes up, click it..then you have a year to install it before you have to pay for it.