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> That would be the case with every y.0 vs x.8. There was something else going on during that time period though. Consumer operating systems in the 1990s were

> That would be the case with every y.0 vs x.8. There was something else going on during that time period though. Consumer operating systems in the 1990s were pretty bad. Windows 9x and MacOS Classic didn't even have protected memory. They crashed a lot. Microsoft fixed this with Windows NT (delivered to consumers as Windows XP), Apple with BSD/NeXT (delivered as OS X). It was the point when ordinary people first got computer operating systems that were fully baked. But the earliest versions (Windows NT/2000 or NeXTSTEP/OS X pre-Snow Leopard) still had the problems that come with new code, so the later releases were better. Hence, the best version of MacOS was Snow Leopard and the best version of Windows was XP (or, depending on who you ask, 7). Because that's when they finally made a decent release. Once we had operating systems that do essentially what operating systems are supposed to do, since then it has felt like nothing but lateral moves and deterioration because there wasn't much left on the table for newer versions to win but every update is another chance to break or lose something we used to have.

reisse 2mo ago
The impression of XP being the best version of Windows came after at least two service packs (patch bundles / minor releases, for those unfamiliar) and the Vista shitshow. First Windows release that was good from the very beginning was 7.
- mebizzle 2mo ago
  I was young, but I remember people disliking XP until SP2
hotdogandchips 2mo ago
Without protected memory, if an application crashed you’d have to hard restart. I lost so much work in the 90s/2000s. Great times!
speed_spread 2mo ago
Ahem, the best version of Windows was 2000 / 2003 x64 server. It had all the improvements from real world experience gained by NT 3.5 and 4.0 and none of the consumer crap pushed in XP by the abandonment of the Win95 line.
- AnthonyMouse 2mo ago
  That indeed was the best business edition of Windows. Consumers weren't supposed to have that though. The then-consumer edition was Windows ME, which... wasn't as good.
manxiemanx 2mo ago
It's rewriting history to say that OS X didn't have a decent release before Snow Leopard. Panther and Tiger were both excellent releases and Panther was widely considered the first truly usable OS X release. That's when it got decent.

reisse 2mo ago

The impression of XP being the best version of Windows came after at least two service packs (patch bundles / minor releases, for those unfamiliar) and the Vista shitshow. First Windows release that was good from the very beginning was 7.

mebizzle 2mo ago
I was young, but I remember people disliking XP until SP2

hotdogandchips 2mo ago

Without protected memory, if an application crashed you’d have to hard restart. I lost so much work in the 90s/2000s. Great times!

speed_spread 2mo ago

Ahem, the best version of Windows was 2000 / 2003 x64 server. It had all the improvements from real world experience gained by NT 3.5 and 4.0 and none of the consumer crap pushed in XP by the abandonment of the Win95 line.

AnthonyMouse 2mo ago
That indeed was the best business edition of Windows. Consumers weren't supposed to have that though. The then-consumer edition was Windows ME, which... wasn't as good.

manxiemanx 2mo ago

It's rewriting history to say that OS X didn't have a decent release before Snow Leopard. Panther and Tiger were both excellent releases and Panther was widely considered the first truly usable OS X release. That's when it got decent.