Comments on: The Best and Worst Windows Versions of All Time

By: Edsel Takahashi

Edsel Takahashi — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:49:07 +0000

I personally think that Windows 98 SE is the greatest windows. In fact, I love 98 SE so much that I have it on my laptop, and plan on installing it on my desktop.

ME is the worst, though.

By: Buying PC questions

Buying PC questions — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:02:56 +0000

[...] GeForce 8600M GT 512MB Dedicated Graphic Card 256MB Shared Memory Also, acorrding to this link http://technologizer.com/2008/11/10/…s-of-all-time/ and various surveys, the best Windows OS is XP SP2 and the worst is ME, Vista after that. Is that [...]

By: Gateway2K

Gateway2K — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 05:17:01 +0000

Let us not forget Windows 95. Without it, you would still be using….Program Manager.

By: Niddeh

Niddeh — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:46:28 +0000

Hmm… I’ve been using windows since v 1.0 and I must say that the best OS MS evere released for desktop use is NT4SP6a. XPSP2 is the absolute runner-up. NT4’s dilemma was lack of support for gaming but as pure OS it is outstanding. Windows XP is far better than Vista, and all talking about Vista is the more secure of them, is absolute rubbish! In Windows XP SP2 the “Software Restriction” policy built in with the basic function of disallowing an application to run. But a thing that a minority knows about is the fact that this module was developed by the same guy who made it for Vista. Another thing not so well known is that you actually are able to get the same functions from Windows XP SRP module but you’ll have to tweak the OS a little to get the functions. So you are actually able to run e.g. IE, Outlook or any other application process you feel for as anordinary user when you in fact are logged on as an administrator. However, I must say that shannonclark is absolutely right about the extreamly annoying explorer interface that MS made for Vista, don’t know what they were smoking on that dev. meeting. As you might understand I’m working as an Windows Engineer with several certifications regarding OS. I also been involved in testing programs (TAP) during different OS development, and the problem when MS developed Vista was the extreme focus on security and the total loss of focus on the UI.

By: thehumanyawn

thehumanyawn — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:16:12 +0000

Windows XP SP2 was version 3.0, after the original and SP2? I think you meant to say that SP2 was version 3.0, after the original and SP1.

By: Ron H

Ron H — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 03:02:34 +0000

I suppose that the reason XP SP2 is so popular is that it does what most of us want from an OS, and allows us to get on with our work with minimal interference.

Vistas problems were, and continue to be manifold for the average user. Its still slow and clunky, getting in the way and flashing its bits and pieces at us, when all we want to do is get on with it. Perhaps someone will eventually learn that the best OS will be virtually invisible to the user, like the plumbing or electrical systems in a building, only visible where and when essential, otherwise, out of the way.

There will always be those who want flashy colourful interfaces etc, but let them be an optional extra, like fluffy dice hanging from a car mirror.

By: air phloo

air phloo — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:55:38 +0000

I loved Windows 2000 but XP drove me to Mac OS X Tiger (I had a bad case of spyware). I am on Leopard now at home but still use XP at work. I don’t mind it so much now – the service packs helped – but I have to change the theme from the default blue to silver in order to not feel like I am on a toy computer.

By: pond

pond — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:35:27 +0000

I’m surprised, actually; WinME worse than Windows 1.0? I suppose not enough folks actually used those early versions to say.

But Harry as far as ‘getting things right the third go-round,’ XP was version 1, XP SP1 was version 2, and XP SP2 was, in fact, version 3. So the rule holds, without any weaseling.

And yet I’d say (from my vague recollections) that XP, the original release, was pretty darn good. MSFT did a good job all around with the XP release, considering they were migrating the Win9x code base with Win2K.

And Win2K remains for me the best version of Windows ever, since I give XP extra demerits for introducing the horrible practice of activation.

By: shannonclark

shannonclark — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:36:16 +0000

I think Windows Vista is the worst (though Windows ME was horrible, at least fewer people had to suffer it).

My reasons:

- Microsoft has ZERO excuses for some of many flaws to Vista. My personal pet peeves are how truly horrible Vista is on laptops – especially around power management (well more specifically the ability to BLUE SCREEN & run down the battery while in “sleep” mode.

- the MINUTES it takes to boot up OR to “wake” from sleep are also utterly unforgivable. A modern OS has to be able to boot quickly – a real, good OS, would also have power management modes that switch states smoothly (see OS X, heck see many flavors of Linux)

- the by about 5 too many versions, especially the 32bit vs 64bit stupidity (a modern OS that can only handle 3GB of memory???) Versions that seemingly noone, not even MSFT can really explain (just what is so “Ultimate” about that version?) and the nuances of difference between “business” edition and others are baffling.

- a UI that REMOVES functionality from truly basic areas – the new file manager/explore is nearly utterly useless – and it insists on worthless views for most my folders (views which seem to think I want to view ID3 tag data of my files – when I really just want to sort by date, size, see what’s changed, find a project I need to look at etc)

- a behind the scenes OS that does really stupid things but then doesn’t let you adjust the behavior – just lets you do all or nothing. The “shadow” file functionality that might be useful for my documents folder – but is just stupid for a rapidly changing folder such as my podcast subscriptions (and which you can’t actually truly get rid of or adjust – just all or nothing and even the “all” is only “all but the most recent” which isn’t the same and has very real privacy/security issues if, for example, you wanted to insure that all copies of key file were gone)

I have used computers since the TRS-80 and Vista is, by far, the biggest step backwards in my day-to-day productivity I’ve every encountered. If I could get a Mac with a usable mouse device (a trackpoint which is the only good laptop mouse device IMHO) I’d get rid of my Vista laptop in a heartbeat. As it is I dread having to wake my laptop from sleep – it has, occasionally, taken me as long as 30+ minutes to get to a usable state and 5-10 minutes is pretty regular.

Shannon