If you want to see internal changes in Windows, look at the server versions, not the desktop ones. Over that time frame where you said nothing happened, Hyper-

If you want to see internal changes in Windows, look at the server versions, not the desktop ones. Over that time frame where you said nothing happened, Hyper-V has gone from a research project to a central part of the Windows server space. Powershell has gone from a tech preview to the recommended way to manage servers. Windows Server 2012 introduced ReFS and Storage Spaces. I'm sure Server 2016 will have a bunch of cool stuff too. The server-side Windows experience is radically different than it was when Windows 7 came out. Why aren't you hearing about these features? Lots of reasons. Windows is closed-source, so the internal changes you hear about are the ones Microsoft wants you to hear about. Most of the shiny new toys are to support server features that you won't notice unless you're a Windows sysadmin. Most desktop users don't care about internal changes unless they break things, and Windows hasn't broken much on the internal side since Vista. Microsoft's own messaging about major changes has been targeted almost exclusively at Windows server admins. Edit: That's not even getting into the new app development platform that shipped with 8/10, DirectX 12 adding Mantle-like APIs, first-class support for touch input, hybrid boot, booting from VHDs, etc. Microsoft has been busy over the past few years.