trying to compare any of these softwares is unfair ,each one has had different hardwares to work with ,earlier versions did not have multi processors etc . windows xp is the longest running OS from a microsift support point of view ,it was pretty awful when it was launched ,it was a few years old and SP2 before it could be concidered to be a decent OS . by that time microsoft was working on newer OSs and there were newer hardwares and processors to contend with . I have been through all of them and win 7 is easily the most complete and stable (at launch) of any of the others. XP was loved so much because its been around so long ,anyone who bought a pc during that period woud have got it and we all like to stick with what we are used too . now we have multi core processors, SSDs etc that were not around when XP was launched. pretty soon ,very little of any new hardware will work on XP , as I said above win 7 is pretty darn good concidering it is so young .when its been around a while longer and had the chance to be tweaked and fixed ,then we will have a better chance to judge it . although it is looking likely it wont be around as long ,as microsoft looks to be grasping this basic format for win 8 and a lunch of that OS looks to be not far away. no OS is perfect at lauch , they all will need fixes and tweeks ,update drivers etc ,during their lifetime . they are all different ,they have to be as the market is constantly changing , so dont judge an OS by how much you liked it ,because you simply got used to it .and in most cases cannot be bothered to put the time in and learn any newer OS .
I like Windows XP and Windows 7 most, with Windows Vista post-SP2 at second place. The problem is that Microsoft has a pattern, and I'll start from Windows 98 (not including enterprise-based OSs): Windows 98 - great (at the time) Windows ME - definitely NOT great Windows XP - arguably the best OS, still in wide use after almost 10 years Windows Vista - not so great at the time, hogged resources which many computers (that ran XP) could not handle Windows 7 - a great OS in my opinion, and the true successor to Windows XP If Windows 8 will follow that pattern, well.. I wouldn't be in a rush to upgrade
i have to respectfully disagree here: XP is loved and used so much because it works almost flawlessly--virus/maleware/bad hardware free that is--allows the user to completely tweak its settings, styles, and how it handles input, full control if you will without jumping through needless, useless hoops to do so, and just all around dependable, even working with all the newest hardware that's out in my experience. Windows 7 has been out two full years in October, so it has been out way long enough to be fairly judged with the rest of the OSs that are out, and definitely long enough to be thoroughly tweaked and M$ tactics to prevent such have remained in place and done a very good job because even with all the tweaks available it still can't be completely set to most's likings, and @ the least not mine --and 8 cannot be judged at all or fall into this category @ all (don't even know why some have praised it here in this thread) because the early so called "leaked builds" are not windows 8 @ all, and 8 is not scheduled to come out until mid to late 2012 with still no definite launch date set in stone...
i have to agree with you on all these points, and add to your vista point, almost all machines that came with Vista embedded out of the box couldn't even run Vista properly as they didn't even have enough processing power or RAM for the minimum requirements of that OS which was a terrible tactic by M$ design and OEM manufacturers. I love Windows 98 back in the day, as well as 2000 with it still being one of my favorite but it was not designed to stand the test of time @ all
Back in the day I thought windows 98 SE was the best since I rarely ever had issues with it but that was being not online. Now I would say definately either Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2 since the hardware demands newer OS then it did back in the late 90s early 2000s lol.