What is the best operating system for Science?

Answer 1

That really depends upon the application. It seems that biologists tend to prefer the Windows operating system. People are familiar with it, and some of the genome projects make use of databases that execute in windows. Linux is a fast, robust operating system many people are familiar with that is probably more at home in physics laboratories, where heavy modelling is done. Some simulations are still performed on big mainframe computers that run proprietary operating systems, such as might be used in simulating a supernova or the motion of arms in a radial galaxy, or a nuclear explosion, or weather patterns. I am a big fan of Linux. It is lightning fast, and there are very few viruses tailored to exploit it.