6 ms·

> The last good OS MS released was Windows XP. I'm reminded of how much people hated it when it came out. Post Vista it was widely liked. A lot of people are a

> The last good OS MS released was Windows XP. I'm reminded of how much people hated it when it came out. Post Vista it was widely liked. A lot of people are also nostalgic of 7 now. I wonder if we'll have a batch of people nostalgic for 10 or 11 in a decade in the same vein. I doubt it, but who knows. The old rule was "every other release is loved/hated", which held until at least 10 (8 was hated, 10 was somewhat accepted). I also remember that 10 was supposed to be "the last version of Windows".

codezero 2y ago
Yeah a lot of people stayed on 98 SE2 until the XP service packs were out and XP was solid.
isk517 2y ago
Don't think I've ever encounter someone that didn't become nostalgic for 10 after having to switch to 11. So many pointless UI changes, and just like with 8 none of them are necessary to force the user to use beyond some incessant need to dictate how users do things on the part of Microsoft.
dowager_dan99 2y ago
I really have not seen anything material since windows 7 that would meet the bar of major improvement. Windows 7 with bug & security fixes, adding support for new hardware standards and SW developments, and feature evolution would be superior to what we have today IMO. Prior to win7 all the revolutionary "coming next" things either became impractical or were dropped. I have a desktop that still runs all tripe-A games and is my main development machine running win10 that MS says is a boat anchor come the fall; this will be my last windows machine. Microsoft has been pretty good to me as a developer (despite some of the technologies intentionally designed to do nothing but distract and consume attention) but the consumer side is a pathological shit-show and appears to really hate people (or at least love money more). MS looks a lot like the White House these days.
bombcar 2y ago
Windows XP was a downer for many when it came out because it wasn't Windows 98SE++ (and Windows ME was a flop) - it was Windows 2000 with a "fisher price" skin. For those in the know, that was great. Windows XP + classic theme + drivers (even if you had to find the W2k drivers) was incredibly stable and performant. But it took a few years for games to catch up and get the updates, and so for the "tech oriented" crowd (which were often gamers), it took a bit to catch on. But its longevity is a tribute to how "good it was" and how hard it was to improve from it. Vista introduced more stability at the expense of requiring new drivers, so they re-released Vista a few years later as 7 (there's really no major differences between Vista and 7 except a few years of upgrades to drivers and hardware). The five years between XP and Vista certainly didn't help matters, either. If you wait that long, you better be willing to support it for decades. Windows XP's last update was 18 years after it was shipped.
- bitwize 2y ago
  Windows XP was the beginning of the downhill slide for me because it was the first "phone home" version of Windows. I'm not gonna gainsay anyone who says it was good, I'm sure they have lots of legitimate fond memories of Space Cadet Pinball, Half-Life 2, etc. But the Windows XP era was the first one where "what's happening with Windows" just passed me by. I was through with Microsoft's shenanigans starting around then.
  - bombcar 2y ago
    Hehe even today I still remember FCKGW and using it on completely legitimate copies just to avoid having to find whatever the actual one was.
    - bitwize 2y ago
      Yeah I missed out on using what I call the "FuCKinG Windows" code. I was able to commit to Linux full time, even find work in it.
- cogman10 2y ago
  Vista suffered from being stuck in PM hell. MS was working on so many new features for longhorn that were never fully finished and later scrapped. The only real significant (and important) change was the HAL.
epoxy_sauce 2y ago
I still use 7 on my offline pcs. Its still such a fantastic operating system and I don't see us getting another like it from ms. I'm one of those nostalgia folks who can't move on. People are certainly feeling the same way 10 to 11. That rule can always be gamed too, heh. I felt it went 8 bad, 8.1 good, 10 bad. Then 11 broke the pattern.
- estebank 2y ago
  Consider trying out Linux+KDE, if the reason to use 7 isn't specific software on older hardware. It feels like a continuation of Windows 7 as a desktop for the most part.
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    It really depends how you configure it. It has an amazing wealth of configuration settings and that's before diving into the whole addon rabbit hole. This is really what I love about KDE. Everyone else is now going for the apple opinionated design "Just use it like we meant it to be used" philosophy. Even other Linux desktops like gnome (in fact gnome is one of the worst offenders) With KDE you can simply align it with your own opinions.
mnky9800n 2y ago
I knew someone who hated it and would instead install windows 2000 on everything. And he would do so claiming defiance of Microsoft for ruining the most perfect operating system only for money. Then when 7 came out he proclaimed he would never use a new windows again and remain on 2000 forever. I never really got why he was so upset. For me I didn’t like the interface that was in vista or in windows 8. But it wasn’t ever the end of the world. And this was all in the context of playing games! He didn’t develop software or anything. He also hated steam.
jmward01 2y ago
Windows XP was the last good OS, but Windows 2k was the last one that really added a lot of user centered features and usability.

codezero 2y ago

Yeah a lot of people stayed on 98 SE2 until the XP service packs were out and XP was solid.

isk517 2y ago

Don't think I've ever encounter someone that didn't become nostalgic for 10 after having to switch to 11. So many pointless UI changes, and just like with 8 none of them are necessary to force the user to use beyond some incessant need to dictate how users do things on the part of Microsoft.

dowager_dan99 2y ago

I really have not seen anything material since windows 7 that would meet the bar of major improvement. Windows 7 with bug & security fixes, adding support for new hardware standards and SW developments, and feature evolution would be superior to what we have today IMO. Prior to win7 all the revolutionary "coming next" things either became impractical or were dropped. I have a desktop that still runs all tripe-A games and is my main development machine running win10 that MS says is a boat anchor come the fall; this will be my last windows machine. Microsoft has been pretty good to me as a developer (despite some of the technologies intentionally designed to do nothing but distract and consume attention) but the consumer side is a pathological shit-show and appears to really hate people (or at least love money more). MS looks a lot like the White House these days.

bombcar 2y ago

Windows XP was a downer for many when it came out because it wasn't Windows 98SE++ (and Windows ME was a flop) - it was Windows 2000 with a "fisher price" skin. For those in the know, that was great. Windows XP + classic theme + drivers (even if you had to find the W2k drivers) was incredibly stable and performant. But it took a few years for games to catch up and get the updates, and so for the "tech oriented" crowd (which were often gamers), it took a bit to catch on. But its longevity is a tribute to how "good it was" and how hard it was to improve from it. Vista introduced more stability at the expense of requiring new drivers, so they re-released Vista a few years later as 7 (there's really no major differences between Vista and 7 except a few years of upgrades to drivers and hardware). The five years between XP and Vista certainly didn't help matters, either. If you wait that long, you better be willing to support it for decades. Windows XP's last update was 18 years after it was shipped.

bitwize 2y ago
Windows XP was the beginning of the downhill slide for me because it was the first "phone home" version of Windows. I'm not gonna gainsay anyone who says it was good, I'm sure they have lots of legitimate fond memories of Space Cadet Pinball, Half-Life 2, etc. But the Windows XP era was the first one where "what's happening with Windows" just passed me by. I was through with Microsoft's shenanigans starting around then.
- bombcar 2y ago
  Hehe even today I still remember FCKGW and using it on completely legitimate copies just to avoid having to find whatever the actual one was.
  - bitwize 2y ago
    Yeah I missed out on using what I call the "FuCKinG Windows" code. I was able to commit to Linux full time, even find work in it.
cogman10 2y ago
Vista suffered from being stuck in PM hell. MS was working on so many new features for longhorn that were never fully finished and later scrapped. The only real significant (and important) change was the HAL.

epoxy_sauce 2y ago

I still use 7 on my offline pcs. Its still such a fantastic operating system and I don't see us getting another like it from ms. I'm one of those nostalgia folks who can't move on. People are certainly feeling the same way 10 to 11. That rule can always be gamed too, heh. I felt it went 8 bad, 8.1 good, 10 bad. Then 11 broke the pattern.

estebank 2y ago
Consider trying out Linux+KDE, if the reason to use 7 isn't specific software on older hardware. It feels like a continuation of Windows 7 as a desktop for the most part.
- wkat4242 2y ago
  It really depends how you configure it. It has an amazing wealth of configuration settings and that's before diving into the whole addon rabbit hole. This is really what I love about KDE. Everyone else is now going for the apple opinionated design "Just use it like we meant it to be used" philosophy. Even other Linux desktops like gnome (in fact gnome is one of the worst offenders) With KDE you can simply align it with your own opinions.

mnky9800n 2y ago

I knew someone who hated it and would instead install windows 2000 on everything. And he would do so claiming defiance of Microsoft for ruining the most perfect operating system only for money. Then when 7 came out he proclaimed he would never use a new windows again and remain on 2000 forever. I never really got why he was so upset. For me I didn’t like the interface that was in vista or in windows 8. But it wasn’t ever the end of the world. And this was all in the context of playing games! He didn’t develop software or anything. He also hated steam.

jmward01 2y ago

Windows XP was the last good OS, but Windows 2k was the last one that really added a lot of user centered features and usability.