I think that for most of us this was our first long-lasting OS. I remember the flat Windows 3, the boring Win95 and Win98, the minimalist NT4 and Win2000. And

I think that for most of us this was our first long-lasting OS. I remember the flat Windows 3, the boring Win95 and Win98, the minimalist NT4 and Win2000. And then !!!BOOM!!! WinXP with that beautiful desktopn and colorful icons, and I think the overall experience makes us think fondly of that OS. Also the fact that XP was around for quite a few years, and we 'grew' up with it makes us remember it better. I will exclude Longhorn/Vista, because although the graphics were improved, the OS made for a horrible UX. Edit/Addition: nowadays nomatter what Win version I am using, I am stripping it down to a Win2000 look, no aero-crap, no fancy icons, no grouping of icons, etc. Oh and of course I stay away from Win10 :)