Even I was in no hurry to switch to XP when it came out. Windows 98 was doing the job well, aside from the occasional Blue Screen of Death. I wasn't as into technology then, though, and hadn't used OS/2 enough to appreciate the possibility of a more stable system.
Then I actually started using XP in 2003. It ran CivIII like a dream, and ran almost everything else that I'd run on Windows 98. And crashes were very rare. Meanwhile, the Macs I used occasionally at school were a disaster. So I was very much in the Microsoft fan base.
So I decided to go with Vista on a new computer in 2007, despite the lukewarm reviews. It ran CivIII like a nightmare, so much so that I played it on the slow old Pentium 4 Northwood instead of the shiny new Core 2 Duo with Vista. And there were additional compatibility problems, more than the 98 --> XP transition. I got XP back a few days after Christmas, and everything worked again.
Granted, it probably would make sense to switch to Windows 7 now. But saving $100 and becoming really familiar with Linux in a few months seems like just as good of a move (while keeping Windows for games). And I like that there are mainstream Linux distros such as Mint that are very much desktop-centric.
I have mixed feelings on the new Start Menu. On the one hand, it's a big plus for desktop users moving to Windows 8 who aren't familiar with third-party start menus. On the other hand, I'm not sure it's any better than the Windows 7 start menu or any of the third party ones. It does show that Microsoft isn't totally letting the desktop stagnate, though, which is important.
What I'd like to see in Windows 9:
- Ability to easily turn off all the protected folder/virtual store stuff. Windows 7 allows this by turning off UAC, but it doesn't appear to be possible in Windows 8.
- If I were to use UAC at all, ability to suspend it for awhile. I.E. I'm about to do 10 things that will cause UAC prompts, let me sudo them so I only have to elevate once. I can do this by making a shell script and running that from an elevated command prompt, but that's a bit of a pain on a GUI-oriented OS.
- Significant desktop improvements. The Task Manager in 8 is rather nifty, but I can't think of any other noteworthy improvements.
- Ability to play Minesweeper without setting up a Microsoft Account and going through Metro. Not really killer, especially since I made a clone of Minesweeper in high school, but would be nice on principle.
- Ability to run non-IE browsers in Metro and have it not be a headache for browser developers. Not that I plan to actually use Metro much, but it's a principle thing, for competitiveness. And because I really don't want an IE-only future. We've been very close to that path before.
- Ability to keep Microsoft Account/Metro purchases separate from login, similar to how Steam works currently. I don't want my OS login tied to the Internet, and currently, if that means not using Metro, so be it. But it would be nice to be able to use Metro (including installing new programs) and still have a local login.
- Of course, better than the above would be getting rid of the walled garden for Metro and making it easy to install any Metro application you want from the Web, a CD, or however else you got it. Part of the reason I'm a Windows fan is that there are no walls on the garden (at least pre-Windows 8).
- Making it so you can either live in Metro, or live in the desktop, and don't have to jump between them to do certain tasks if you don't want to. On a tablet, I'd probably want to stay in Metro most of the time. But on a desktop, I'd rather just stay in the... desktop.
- A useful, slice-and-dice, local search feature. I'm not sure if Windows 8.1 offers a truly local search, or if its Bing integration is similar to Ubuntu's integrated search (a bad thing). But even so, I still haven't seen a built-in Windows search feature that works as well in a GUI and is as reliable as what XP comes with. 7's search may be faster, but I've had it miss files that contain what I'm searching for too often, and the search-bar interface isn't as convenient as the sidebar-based search in XP. Maybe Vista had an awesome sidebar search widget that I didn't know about, with Vista's sidebar focus and all, but even if it did that's rather moot point now given the sidebar's retirement.
And last but not least, some awesome killer features like those that were planned for Longhorn. WinFS if it will make a real difference in organizing files (perhaps making Libraries really awesome without excessive overhead). A truly extensible, info-providing Explorer that I'll want to use as more than a glorified command prompt with cd and pwd commands. A re-imagined desktop, not just the fancy-appearance-but-essentially-the-same-as-Windows-98 Aero or the focused-on-touch Metro. Something that focuses on the core experience, not just tacking on online services. Something that will get people lining up to buy Windows 9.
Not that I really expect it to happen, but it would be really nice to see major improvements in something more exciting than security again. Otherwise, I might just have to root for Apple to keep gaining market share so as to increase competition.
. My dad is the owner of the Insurance Agency.
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