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In my opinion, Windows 2000 was the best Windows GUI. Clean, elegant and to the point with no useless crap. http://toastytech.com/guis/w2k.html http://toastyte

In my opinion, Windows 2000 was the best Windows GUI. Clean, elegant and to the point with no useless crap. http://toastytech.com/guis/w2k.html http://toastytech.com/guis/w2k.html

FpUser 4y ago
Think it is the best GUI in general, not just MS. Not perfect of course and many useful features invented later are missing but still ...
- illiarian 4y ago
  MacOS 10.5 was good, too: http://toastytech.com/guis/osx15.html http://toastytech.com/guis/osx15.html In both, just look at interface elements that are actually visible, and can be distinguished from one another. Buttons that look like buttons. Window chrome that looked like window chrome...
  - kitsunesoba 4y ago
    Leopard/Snow Leopard were pretty good, but I have one gripe with them: the gray used for "metal" (titlebars, toolbars, bottom bars, etc) was oddly dark (only visible in the last of the linked screenshots, due to them being taken while windows were inactive). To me it was reminiscent of the gloomy grays of Windows 95/98 (which themselves were replaced by lighter shades in Win2K), and back when those OS versions were current I had a theme installed that replaced all the dark metal with the lighter white-gray gradients found in titlebars and "unified" toolbars in 10.4 Tiger. The most refined iteration of Aqua overall IMO is that of Mavericks, aside from its scrollbars. It still had plenty of dimension, color, shading, etc while also feeling a touch more sharp and professional than earlier versions.
- bitwize 4y ago
  Windows 2K was pretty good from a UI standpoint but the best GUI is old-school Mac OS. Apple got it right, the first time. AmigaOS and NEXTSTEP are also leagues ahead of anything Microsoft did.
keyle 4y ago
I have this theory that everyone will just pick a GUI from "their era" as the best; not because the UX was the best, but because it reminds them of the "good times". In that regards, I'd say Windows NT 4.0 and macOS Snow Leopard would be mine!
- userbinator 4y ago
  There's far less difference between the NT4 and 2K GUIs than there is between Windows 10 and 11.
- badsectoracula 4y ago
  My "era" would be Win3.1, largely because i had a dinky 386 until the late 90s and yet i still find Win95 to be the superior UI. Aside from nostalgia i can't think of a good thing for the Win3.1 UX despite using it for years.

In my opinion, Windows 2000 was the best Windows GUI. Clean, elegant and to the point with no useless crap. http://toastytech.com/guis/w2k.html http://toastytech.com/guis/w2k.html

FpUser 4y ago

Think it is the best GUI in general, not just MS. Not perfect of course and many useful features invented later are missing but still ...

illiarian 4y ago
MacOS 10.5 was good, too: http://toastytech.com/guis/osx15.html http://toastytech.com/guis/osx15.html In both, just look at interface elements that are actually visible, and can be distinguished from one another. Buttons that look like buttons. Window chrome that looked like window chrome...
- kitsunesoba 4y ago
  Leopard/Snow Leopard were pretty good, but I have one gripe with them: the gray used for "metal" (titlebars, toolbars, bottom bars, etc) was oddly dark (only visible in the last of the linked screenshots, due to them being taken while windows were inactive). To me it was reminiscent of the gloomy grays of Windows 95/98 (which themselves were replaced by lighter shades in Win2K), and back when those OS versions were current I had a theme installed that replaced all the dark metal with the lighter white-gray gradients found in titlebars and "unified" toolbars in 10.4 Tiger. The most refined iteration of Aqua overall IMO is that of Mavericks, aside from its scrollbars. It still had plenty of dimension, color, shading, etc while also feeling a touch more sharp and professional than earlier versions.
bitwize 4y ago
Windows 2K was pretty good from a UI standpoint but the best GUI is old-school Mac OS. Apple got it right, the first time. AmigaOS and NEXTSTEP are also leagues ahead of anything Microsoft did.

keyle 4y ago

I have this theory that everyone will just pick a GUI from "their era" as the best; not because the UX was the best, but because it reminds them of the "good times". In that regards, I'd say Windows NT 4.0 and macOS Snow Leopard would be mine!

userbinator 4y ago
There's far less difference between the NT4 and 2K GUIs than there is between Windows 10 and 11.
badsectoracula 4y ago
My "era" would be Win3.1, largely because i had a dinky 386 until the late 90s and yet i still find Win95 to be the superior UI. Aside from nostalgia i can't think of a good thing for the Win3.1 UX despite using it for years.