From my understanding there are several operating systems that run on the Linux platform. Which is the best one?

(I know a lot about computers but Linux is not my area of expertise. I am planning on a getting a new computer and possibly dual booting if I get some info about Linux.)

here is the list of four operating systems but i am not sure what open source or close source mean
can anyone define it for me kindly ?
thanks
Windows vista – closed source
Mac OS X – closed source
Ubuntu Linux – Open source
FreeBSD – Open source

What are some operating systems that are not a version or distro of Mac, Unix, Windows, Linux OS
Also excluding any os’es that reverse engineer mac, unix, windows, linux

I need a free partitioning software to partition a part of my hard drive in FAT32 while the other part is NTFS. Any ideas? How do I switch between two different operating systems?

Preferably no "light/lite" versions. Fully-functional Operating Systems that would be good to take over as a computer’s main os?

The Debian Linux install (5) is telling me that my computer is "capable of running modern, 64-bit operating systems". It recommends that I download a 64-bit version of Debian. However, I know my processor is x86 based. Should I just use the installer I’m using now, or should I download the amd64 version of Debian?

I just received my new external hard-drive from Dell, and I just partitioned it so that I could put an emergency backup operating system on it to retrieve files from my computer that I haven’t backed up yet.

Can an external hard-drive boot operating systems such as Linux, Solaris, or LynxOS RTOS?

Just curious…

By the way, where can I get a copy of the OpenDarwin OS?

Can desktop linux operating systems like GNOME run microsoft software easily? Is it a hassle to do so? I’m getting a Dell computer for university this fall and I dont wanna use Vista but I still wanna use microsoft office among other things.

Microsoft has 95% of the desktop market, but many versions of Linux are capable and competitive operating systems. Yet, Linux hasn’t caught on with most desktop users. So, with that in mind, why hasn’t Linux caught on, and what can be done to help make Linux more widely accepted among ordinary desktop users?

Is it possible to install suse Linux 10.1 while i have windows and keep both operating systems on my PC? or the Linux will delete windows?
Is there an installation options in Linux 10.1 to keep both?

I am looking to know if anyone has ever, in the past 20 years or so, written an operating system designed to be used in the home market, and tried to compete with apple and microsoft. I am not talking about linux, i am looking at operating systems desigend to produce profit.
Thanks

Microsoft has 95% of the desktop market, but many versions of Linux are capable and competitive operating systems. Yet, Linux hasn't caught on with most desktop users. So, with that in mind, why hasn't Linux caught on, and what can be done to help make Linux more widely accepted among ordinary desktop users?

I want to learn how operating systems are developed. I have tried open source linux, but I don't like it. Please tell me where to get a small os that is easy and small so that I can understand it. Thank you very much!

It doesn't need to have a lot of functions, I need it in C/C++.

An answer that works gets the 10 points.