I avoid Microsoft whenever possible, but I can say that they did a lot of things well with Windows 95. I remember the pre-release hype of codename "Chicago", a

I avoid Microsoft whenever possible, but I can say that they did a lot of things well with Windows 95. I remember the pre-release hype of codename "Chicago", and even bought a book about their UI design, even though I was developing primarily for Unix workstations then. Also, the Win95 widgets look would still be more effective than most desktop looks/skins/themes today. Just modernize with some aesthetic tweaks that don't throw out the baby that works. Worst legacy of Windows 95, though: the extra keyboard keys where just Ctrl and Alt should be. New keys was a bold move, and made sense for their UI. But crowding my laptop keyboard with keys I don't want has cost me a lot of time for decades after, and made typing less fun.