It's interesting how different people have different experiences. I really liked XP and found it very stable. Could be that coming from Windows 98, it was a big step forwards stability wise (on most hardware). I certainly had no problems sticking with it during the mess of Vista, and I do still run it on an old Mac Mini that turns its nose up at Windows 7. In all honesty, I cannot remember the last time it crashed on me.
I do find it interesting when they talk about Windows 10 and go on about major new features like Cortana (which 99% of PC users will probably never use), and Edge (I have a perfectly good browser already thanks).
I know they're still trying with the mobile side of things, but if you don't use Windows on a mobile device like a phone or tablet and have no interest in doing so, then most of these features are of little use. I just want a version of Windows which looks good, and is designed to be as good as possible on a proper PC. Unfortunately, Windows 7 is the last time they developed an OS with such a clear mindset. Windows 10 is definitely better than 8/8.1, but you can still see the compromises, and there's still too many messy and unfinished areas as a result.
and Edge (I have a perfectly good browser already thanks).
I think you missed the point of Edge. Edge is Internet Explorer with a new engine (free of all the legacy cruft from IE11) and new branding. It's like what Firefox is to The Mozilla Suite.
I wasn't too thrilled with 7 either, but it was better than XP.
8.1 I like, except for the what they did with the start menu and the annoying hover thing.
I liked when Start was down in the lower left. You clicked it if you wanted something on it, but otherwise, it just sat there all nice and inconspicuous.
This business of having it spread out all over the place, and full of a bunch of a junk I don't even use, is really annoying, then they just had to throw in that hover crap and add insult to injury.
Give me good functionality to do what I want to do without a bunch of muck I'll never use, and I'm happy. There are just some things they should never try to make too fancy. Some of are more basic and to the point about such things.
I mean seriously. A pig in a dress is still a pig. :P
Like I said above, I preferred when the Start menu was a button in the lower left, and if you wanted something you just clicked on it. There was no hover menu. Start wasn't spread out all over the place. It was simple, clean, and clear.
In my book, I think they need to take a few steps back in some areas.
As I said, a pig in a dress is still a pig.
With some of the changes they've made over the last couple versions, I think they need to put something different in the trough. Simple and functional works best. :)
I don't like 8.1's layout, or all the extra junk it comes packed with, but it's working better for me than it's predecessors for my uses.
XP was a nightmare. My comp spent more time in the shop than at home. Felt like I had my old Windows 95 or 98 back. They spent more time getting fixed than not too.
It's not really a new engine though. It's a fork of Trident. Or, to put it another way, a continuation of Trident.
Which is all fine, nothing inherently wrong with Trident. But it's definitely neither new nor free of legacy cruft (unlike Mozilla's Servo - genuinely new, built from scratch in Rust and looking pretty cool (though early days)).
I thought 8.1 brought back the Start button. But I spent so long waiting for 8.1 in place of the abomination that was 8, and it all seemed too little too late so I bailed ages ago.
And yes, while Edge is not completely new, it is stripped of all legacy cruft - that was kinda the point of them doing it. IE11 is still there in Windows 10 if you want to use it, and it still uses the old Trident engine too.
Indeed, but it is at the end of the day an alternative browser. I can't help but feel that the number of people who run out and upgrade to Windows 10 just because "I want to use Edge" is maybe a bit limited...
I wouldn't have even thought there was something like this, or to look for it. I just thought I was more or less stuck with whatever they threw at me. :)
Well, I think the point was more a rebrand to distance themselves from the damaged IE brand. Which was explicitly stated as the point in that leaked memo I can no longer find.
There's definitely some old windows code still kicking around in there. I just manually installed my printer driver, when I clicked Have Disk it /still/ Fucking defaults to A:/
bastard by name