All an OS is for is to interface hardware and software and make it easy to launch software. If a new release makes this better, easier, it is a success. If it puts hurdles in peoples way increases complexity or is confusing, it is not.
Dos 5 ran from a command prompt and was generally a pain to launch anything. Then Dosshell came along and it was easier to move around directory and file structures so it was an improvement. Windows 3.0 was the first proper microsoft windows OS (1 and 2 were crap) but took two revisions to make it good 3.1 and 3.11.
95 and NT were different branches basically FAT and NTFS.
98 and 2000 similarly. So a typically 3 year cycle.
XP ran for a long time because it took the good bits of both streams and worked very well for both gaming and business.
Vista was OK and 7 a good update but Vista failed in my opinion because it was not supported well by PC manufacturers and drivers initially and when 7 was released, most of the hardware had either a Vista or 7 driver that worked.
Of 8 and 8.1 I have limited and largely unbiased experience, but I feel it is not really an improvement and was a bit of a gimmick by MS to address tablets etc. without improving the desktop experience.
On top of all this we have an increase in take up of resources by about 1000x since 3.11, storage, Ram and processor cycles etc.
What I want is multiple virtual desktops a la linux.
Dos 5 ran from a command prompt and was generally a pain to launch anything. Then Dosshell came along and it was easier to move around directory and file structures so it was an improvement. Windows 3.0 was the first proper microsoft windows OS (1 and 2 were crap) but took two revisions to make it good 3.1 and 3.11.
95 and NT were different branches basically FAT and NTFS.
98 and 2000 similarly. So a typically 3 year cycle.
XP ran for a long time because it took the good bits of both streams and worked very well for both gaming and business.
Vista was OK and 7 a good update but Vista failed in my opinion because it was not supported well by PC manufacturers and drivers initially and when 7 was released, most of the hardware had either a Vista or 7 driver that worked.
Of 8 and 8.1 I have limited and largely unbiased experience, but I feel it is not really an improvement and was a bit of a gimmick by MS to address tablets etc. without improving the desktop experience.
On top of all this we have an increase in take up of resources by about 1000x since 3.11, storage, Ram and processor cycles etc.
What I want is multiple virtual desktops a la linux.
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