◄ part 1 (http://www.windows11newsinfo.com/smf/index.php?topic=39682.msg46578#msg46578)
THE TOP 5
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5. Windows 2000 (2000)
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THE SUPER STABLE BUSINESS OS SAVVY PC OWNERS JUMPED ON
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• We all played: Baldur's Gate 2, The Sims
• How we installed it: 1 CD-ROM
• Best screensaver: It's still 3D Pipes
• Space required: 1GB
There are a lot of versions of Windows excluded from this list because it doesn't make a lot of sense to rank, say, Windows Server 2003 along with all the versions that normal people actually used. But Windows 2000 is the exception because it's the one workstation-oriented version of Windows that ended up making its way into common usage. It also marks an important inflection point in Windows history.
In 2000, Microsoft released both Windows Me (built on the 95/98 codebase) and Windows 2000, built on Windows NT. You could bury yourself in technical details trying to learn the differences between the two, but the most telling detail is that when XP rolled around in late 2001, it was using the Windows NT kernel, marking the end of Windows built on top of MS-DOS. Windows 2000 looked a lot like Windows 95 and 98, but under the surface was a far more stable operating system packed with features that would keep it relevant and usable for years.
Windows 2000 could hibernate. Windows 2000 supported a vast array of USB devices (and Firewire!) with easy plug-and-play. It started with DirectX 7 support and was updated to 9.0c, which kept it relevant for gaming until 2010. Windows 2000 added the Event Viewer, a system log tool that you've hopefully never had to use, but probably love if you've ever had to diagnose a really nasty issue. It supported encryption and had a logical disk manager, a key for an era when putting hard drives in RAID was the primary way to speed up storage. Oh, and it introduced some longstanding accessibility features, including the on-screen keyboard and narrator. If it weren't for the bland aesthetic, Windows 2000 may have gotten all of XP's love a full year before.
Wes: Honestly, I didn't get the love for XP when it came out, because it just looked like a candy-colored version of the professional Windows we'd been using at home for a good while. XP won out in the long run, of course, but was initially a bit buggy. I'm not sure I ever saw Windows 2000 crash.
Evan: Did your dad wear suspenders and/or work as an engineer? He may have owned Windows NT or 2000.
4. Windows 10 (2015)
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FIXED WHAT WAS BROKE, DIDN'T BREAK MUCH ELSE
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• We all played: The Witcher 3, Stardew Valley
• How we installed it: 8GB+ USB drive
• Best screensaver: RIP screensavers :(
• Space required: 20GB
It's been a good run, Windows 10. You've certainly made a few blunders over the years. Remember how all your privacy settings were opt-out at launch, which made people really mad? That wasn't cool. Remember how you tried to force voice assistant Cortana into the operating system and install process, even though it sure seemed like nobody wanted it? Yeah, that was annoying. And you know, you still have some menus that haven't changed since, like, 2005. You're definitely not as consistent as you could be. But for the most part, it's been a pleasure working with you.
That's large because you just work well. You're fast, and your interface is mostly pretty clean, and you have a Start menu. We all appreciate that. The way we can tint your window coloring and apply it consistently across the whole UI is a really nice touch. Those lock screen photographs are actually a treat when we log in every day. And you've done a good job of adapting to the high-resolution display era, with scaling that mostly works without too much fuss. You tried some things that didn't work here and there—and your Microsoft Store is still total crap—but you managed not to screw up the most important things. Thank you for that.
Chris: As with every version of Windows I have just about reached the point where it seems pretty much okay and nothing seems confusing. So naturally, we're about to get yanked into Windows 11 where once again I will fail to understand what changed and why and how to make it stop doing the thing that annoys me the most. Salut!
Morgan: I really like Windows 10. With that out of the way, holy crap why are there three different versions of every settings menu? Do you wanna mess with sound? Well, you can't just go to the clean, Windows 8-lookin' panel menu. You have to crack into the proper Sounds screen that looks straight out of XP. Is it called "10" because there are 10 other Windows versions still operating underneath it all?
Rich: Windows 10 is the best Windows ever, as long as you can google "How to turn off unnecessary Windows 10 features."
3. Windows 3.1 (1992)
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CANYON.MID
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• We all played: MINESWEEPER AND SOLITAIRE, BABY
• How we installed it: Six 3.5" floppy disks or seven 5.25" floppy disks
• Best screensaver: Starfield simulation
• Space required: 8MB
Windows 3.0 was the first version of Microsoft's OS to find breakout success and was a big improvement over its predecessors. Today an update like Windows 3.1 would just be a seasonal patch for Windows 10 rather than a noteworthy standalone release, but in the early '90s, it got its own box of floppy disks and established itself as the definitive version of Windows until 1995. I'm not sure I've ever heard someone say "Windows 3.0" out loud, but everyone who grew up using PCs in the '90s put their hands on Windows 3.1 at some point. Windows 3.0 was a success, but 3.1 solidified Windows' place as the operating system for IBM PCs. 3.1 sold more than 3 million copies in just six weeks.
Macintosh was still the prestigious competition, but during the Windows 3.1 era, IBM PCs quickly got much cheaper, making them affordable enough for the family computer to become commonplace. 3.1 was a nice refinement to 3.0's interface, but it included a few key new features, like TrueType font support, enabling desktop publishing, and multimedia support so you could play midi and other music files without special software. It's the most important evolutionary step in Windows history. Also, it had a color scheme called Hot Dog Stand.
Wes: One of my most vivid memories of Windows 3.1 was using the Arches wallpaper because it reminded me of Prince of Persia, which I played over and over. It's funny how much our tastes in user interfaces have changed since then. At the time everyone I knew would leave tons of windows open on their desktop, displaying every icon they needed to access all at once. Eventually, we shifted to the start menu and minimal taskbar icons to keep the desktop pristine. Looking back, I really love how playful the icon design was.
Chris: I didn't own a PC at the time and I didn't use one at work but during my lunch, I'd sit at a co-worker's desk and try out different Windows themes and change her mouse cursor and things like that. I realize now that must have been amazingly annoying for her. Sorry, Sherrie.
2. Windows XP (2001)
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BLISS
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• We all played: Warcraft 3, Half-Life 2
• How we installed it: 1 CD-ROM
• Best screensaver: Custom The Matrix screensaver, obvs
• Space required: 1.5GB
There's probably no version of Windows that evokes more warm, fuzzy feelings than XP. Everybody used it—it sold something like 500 million copies by the time Microsoft stopped supporting it in 2014. It made Windows feel personal, with individual user-profiles and that bold blue and green theme that you could reskin if you wanted to. For millions of people, XP was also likely the gateway to the internet in a blossoming online era. AIM, MSN Messenger, Limewire, Winamp, and Myspace are all key pieces of the XP era, even though most of them weren't actually tied to the OS.
Antitrust lawsuits meant Microsoft had to carve out some of its software instead of including it in XP, but XP still had a wealth of packed-in software that enabled the average computer user to do whatever they wanted. Windows Movie Maker and Windows Media Player were great for the time. You could burn CDs and DVDs straight from the file explorer. Service Packs introduced the idea of meaty downloadable updates for Windows that made the OS even better, fixing bugs and adding new features like USB 2.0 support and wi-fi security modes. This extended Windows XP's life for years and years (probably far longer than Microsoft really wanted), making it almost certainly the version of Windows most people used for the longest span of time. XP was stable. XP was cozy. It was the best version of Windows ever made… until 2009.
Morgan: XP is 20 years old, and I was still using it at an old job as recently as 2019. If you're around my age, it's probably what you see in your head when you think "computer."
Rich: I prefer Windows 10 but Windows XP is something I used from late high school for decades. It was just 'there' more than any Windows before or since, it almost felt like this was how computers would always be and, maybe I'm just delusional and old, but it genuinely felt fast. I don't think Windows 10 has the zippiness or purity of XP, even though 10's now the standard.
Tyler: My early 2000s Windows XP Task Manager would've included some combination of AIM, ICQ, Winamp, a MUD client, Internet Explorer (open to a forum full of bad anime drawings), someone else's copy of Photoshop 5.5, and malware. Good times.
Wes: Shout-out to anyone who learned by watching TechTV circa 2004 that you could actually customize the Windows XP boot screen. Riveting television.
1. Windows 7 (2009)
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MICROSOFT GETS EVERYTHING RIGHT
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• We all played: Skyrim, Minecraft, Portal 2
• How we installed it: 4+GB USB drive (or 1 DVD)
• Best screensaver: Black screen (we got boring)
• Space required: 20 gigabytes
The Once and Future King of Windows—the one that rescued us from Vista's obnoxious user account controls and let us live freely in a shiny glass paradise. It was fast. It was stable. It did everything Windows needed to do and made the OS prettier and easier to use without messing with years of built-up experience. Aero still looks slick a decade later, even if the contemporary design has moved to modern shading, and themes let you apply a consistent look to the whole OS based on your desktop.
So many little tweaks enhanced old Windows features. Pinning items to the taskbar gave you nice, easily clickable icons; stacking browser and file explorer windows into a single icon helped keep things organized. Jumplists provided quick access to features within those programs. Thumbnail previews let you mouse over to see a window without even clicking. Libraries made it easier to group files together in Windows Explorer so you weren't as beholden to the old "My Documents" folder setup. And snapping windows to the sides of screens? Maybe the best productivity change Microsoft's made in the last 20 years.
Some of what made Windows 7 great was kind of already there in Vista, but Microsoft cleared out to crud so it could shine through. Just pressing the Windows key and typing made launching any program a breeze, and added keyboard shortcuts for features like window snapping made it even more efficient. If Windows 10 (or Windows 11) had simply been Windows 7, unchanged except for under-the-hood performance improvements and updates for modern hardware, would anyone have really minded? Give us a version of this OS tweaked for modern hardware and security and so on, and we could use it forever.
Morgan: Ahhh, 7. Now that's a lucky little number I can get behind.
Wes: It feels a bit silly to feel nostalgic for Windows, but here I am feeling it. I have all sorts of childhood and teenage memories attached to Windows XP and Windows 3.1, but my nostalgia for Windows 7 is different. It's for a time when Windows felt truly modern and had everything figured out, but Microsoft hadn't gotten overeager stuffing it with whatever's trendy in the tech world (lookin' at you, Cortana). Windows 7 had great tools like window snapping, keyboard shortcuts, a clean UI, regular online updates, with none of the bullshit we expect these days. There was no Microsoft store. There weren't invasive, integrated ad tracking profiles to turn off.
These were just happy years of me using my computer and not having much to complain about. And god, I played so much League of Legends.
source (http://www.pcgamer.com/best-windows-versions/)(http://i.postimg.cc/3xTZFWyf/360-F-292367633-Twz-HFo2-XLSSbcihgx-ESm2s-Kc-Q0-Nlwr-IG.jpg)