I’ve been a Windows user for literally my entire life, unfortunately, so I wanted to take a moment to rank them all. I won’t be ranking 1 and 2 because those versions came out before I was born, but the long and short of it is that the mouse wasn’t as common when Windows 1 first came out, and Apple actually tried to sue Microsoft because Windows 2 had an overlapping interface.
Windows 11
This version of Windows is... umm... I don’t know, guys. Do you guys like the centred Start Menu? Or the centred everything? Because outside of that, there’s nothing really special or too different with Windows 11, outside of making everything as eye-strainingly blue as humanly possible.
What really places this version at the bottom was it came out just before our current era of Vibe Coding and Generative AI, which is ruining everybody’s lives and gives using Windows 11 a lot of distrust and uncertainty.
Windows 2000/ME
I feel like Millennium Edition is one of those versions that we hear about a lot and we were told that it’s shit, but nobody actually used it, like it was all a bad dream. It simply was way too unstable, and perhaps fittingly, it introduced the System Restore which creates backup copies of your system files.
Windows 8
I feel that there’s a problem a lot of people have where their instincts tell them that they’re getting something substandard just because something is “too old”, but Windows 8 is a strong argument against such a notion.
Oh hey, let’s remove the Start Menu and replace it with the Start Screen filled with all these tiles that showed things like the weather and a calendar. And oh sure, this might be good for tablets, but since anyone over a year old uses a fucking laptop, as they should, of course it felt completely awkward.
Windows Vista
Vista was the first version of Windows that I personally owned because it came out just as I was becoming an adult, so now I could finally have my own personal computer. I can look at pornography!
It introduced Aero which had a transparent interface, as well as 3D animations for switching between windows. This gave Windows a more aesthetic look, beloved by Zoomers to this very day. It’s also here where Windows added a new security feature called the User Account Control to make it easier to prevent Malware.
What was the problem? This was the first version of Windows that, in my opinion, was unconcerned with consuming way too much of your resources, so it made your computer extremely laggy. I also remember the UAC appearing super often, constantly asking for permission before making changes.
Windows 10
I still remember back when Microsoft announced that 10 would be the last version of Windows and that it'll just keep getting continuous updates. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, but we can’t have nice things now can we?
The way I would describe Windows 10 is that it felt like a weird hybrid of 7 and 8, bringing back the normal Start Menu but keeping some of that modern tile design. I for one, hated the tiles, which is why I made sure to install Classic Shell, which is much better.
It's got some annoying problems, like forcing your computer to restart at random times and doing random updates, and it would often get stuck while your screen stayed blue. This makes the Windows Update Blocker a necessity.
The only thing I’ll give Windows 10 is that at least it wasn’t unacceptably bad, like everything I have a problem with could just be debloated or modded out.
Windows 3.1
Yes, you heard that right.
This was the first version that really made Windows popular. It introduced a full-colour graphical interface that looked much cleaner and better than the previous versions. It’s also here where computers could now run heavier programs like CorelDRAW, as well as being able to open up more than one program at the same time.
Windows 3.1 was released, and I don’t know if this is a hot take, but speaking as someone who used a machine with Windows 3.1 on it to make stickers in Graphics Arts class, I believe that it remains in the Top 5 versions of Windows to this very day.
It introduced the drag and drop feature, instead of having to copy or transferring a file the hard way. This feature alone made computers much easier to operate, so not only were offices and companies using Windows, but now even regular people started getting their own personal computers.
Windows 95
This was my first version of Windows and is considered the first with modern features. This is more-or-less how we know of Windows today, it introduced the Start Menu and the Taskbar where you could access all of your programs in one place. You could also plug in a device like a printer and your computer could automatically recognize it without manually installing a specific driver.
Windows 95 also came packaged with Internet Explorer, and although it introduced a lot of people to the internet, even at the time it was considered unstable and often crashed, so a lot of people didn’t really use it.
Windows 98
There’s not much to say because Windows 98 was more-or-less just an upgrade to Windows 95. This was where computers introduced full USB support, so devices like the mouse and keyboard could now use one standard connector.
It also came with dual monitor support, allegedly making it useful for professionals, but it was mostly used by Everquest no-lifers because they needed more screen space.
Windows 7
Oh boy, Top 3!
The way I would describe Windows 7 is that it took the good parts of Vista but without the lag and performance issues. Essentially, it was a modern version of Windows but with the least amount of bullshit added to it, and with no major issues, that alone allowed it to become the most used Operating System at that time, finally beating out Windows XP. It just works.
Windows XP
This is close to the best version of Windows and I will hear no push-back on that. Other than it simply looking more modern and cool than previous versions, as well as future versions, it used the NT system, while older versions were still using the still using the same classic MS-DOS system.
It had a faster startup time and better hardware detection, so when you plug in something it has fewer crashes and errors than in Windows 95 or 98. My personal favourite is that it introduced CD Burning, which made bootlegs and piracy a lot more convenient. Yay, piracy!
AtlasOS
And now we've come full circle...