This is really emblematic of how I think Windows (and Microsoft) lost its way. Maybe the registry wasn't ultimately the best implementation, but I don't dislike

This is really emblematic of how I think Windows (and Microsoft) lost its way. Maybe the registry wasn't ultimately the best implementation, but I don't dislike the idea behind it-- a centralized repository of information and configuration for programs. Flawed as it may be, it was an attempt at something more sophisticated than storing things in files. I feel like this is the case for a lot of legacy MS technologies-- they attempted to really innovate, and maybe they fell short but at least they were trying. OLE, COM, .NET, JET engine, WinFS, Longhorn, all attempts at making an advancement in the OS space. Seems like recently though that they've just succumbed to the "Unix philosophy" of doing everything in a simple yet primitive/crude way. It greatly disappoints me that now NOBODY is trying to make an operating system for the future, not based on the local maximum of Unix, except maybe Google and Fuchsia. Shoving JSON into the registry is like a caveman using a hoverboard as a club or something. Sad!