Brings back the memories.

w7 was one of the best imo. win11 is the most l. you can't move it to various sides of the screen. Fuck microsoft

gotta be honest, 10 is the only one that isn't garbage after 95/98

Windows 7 is the best one 👍🏽

deepsilence30.blogspot.com?m=0

At this point I think I'll just stick to my KDE Plasma. Windows UI was never *that* pretty, and the amount of flexibility you have on Linux is just hard to beat.

But let's be honest. The taskbar of any linux distro is not better or so. And in most cases less configurable. I simply like very clean taskbars instead of crap being pushed onto me.

In what universe is anything on a Linux kernel based system "less configurable" than anything else lol My xmobarrc is like 150+ lines of code LOL

Waybar is pretty configurable for me

It's much easier to configure Plasma rather than Windows imo. If you wanted to be really pedantic though I'm positive there is a way to revert just about any UI change to whatever generation you want if you spend the time to figure it out.

People says windows is not configurable but if you know what you are doing it pretty mush is. I colapsed the search bar into icon, removed the multiple desktop thing, set it to right and used Atlas to remove a bunch of preinstalled crap inc. copilot. And im using a prog. to get the W8 start "menu".

While true (and very important if you're stuck on Windows part time like me), it's not more configurable than a Linux system because you can literally transform your UI into any system out there. Like... you want two task bars? Or a Mac style top menu? Handheld touch buttons? It's insane, lol

I tried linux multiple times but i can stay on it because fl studio is not on it and i don't want to instal 10+ libraries every times i install a program on it. Also for the task bar you used to be able to put it everywhere in win8 like at top screen.(idk if you can do that with older windows).

We peaked with 7

Fr.... 😔

you can pinpoint where the corporate sucks the soul out of the gui design

More than once

Windows 9x/NT/2000 task bar is missing the IE integrated variant, which had QuickLaunch. That kinda was a game changer which later turned into pinning apps.

Windows 7 was optional... That is why the last looks alike.

all are pretty!!

We should have stopped at 98 😭

"I Here Ya Christian...😭"

Christina, but close enough 😂

Windows 2000 in my opinion. Rock solid performance, minimal bloat.

only ever used that to play solitaire with my grandmother, so cannot judge 😅

To a degree I get that they definitely downgraded over time but this also makes me realise that we really have never had good looking taskbar designs.

Where’s 98?

Same interface as 95 I believe

Mmm, not as I remember…

ya I think 98 introduced the mini icons next to start if I recall 👴

The logo is finally just a damn window. Guess they got rid of the graphic design team.

All garbage.

Man, can they just bring back skins already? I miss the aesthetics of win 7..... 😭

the icons looked so shiny on windows 7, like there was a funny little guy polishing my desktop when i turned the computer off

Windows 12 will just be a copilot icon.

I plan to skip 12. I'm planning to go back to Linux (Mint) very soon.

God the progression of useless clutter is so stark. We used to be a society.

5 was the best. I hate how it’s much less design-able now

2025 😏

Windows 98 was peak, and it's not even shown.

UI evolution tells the story of human psychology better than any book.

Nice clickbait. Just remove all the crap from task bar in windows 11 and it's as clean as you want.

all of the old heads rushing to the replies to talk about how the one they're nostalgic for is actually the best one

they got better and better, then windows 8 happened and it got worse and worse

8 was terrible. My cousin had it and I tried to use his computer a few times. I never could get used to it.

We used to be a real Operating System.

XP and 7. ❤️

This is my Cracker Barrel

look at how they massacred my boy ;-;

Bei DOS gibt es das nicht.

My first laptop came with Windows Vista. Back then Windows 7 was already a thing, but I couldn't bring myself to move away from the Vista GUI style (although they didn’t differ too much).

I'm not impressed that my favoured start menu layout out of all of these screenshots is Windows Vista. 🙄

Vista?? Bold choice 😂 Guess nostalgia does strange things to us… though I’ll admit, it did have that shiny glass look going for it."

Vista got better near the end. A lot of the problems were fixed with Service Packs and patches. In the end it was a pretty good OS.

Same with Win8, the 8.1 implemanted a lot of fixes and compared to 10 it still have a fully working control panel as well as the useless settings app. ALso to flex on Win10 et 11 users, the file explorer almost never crashed on me under 8 (and other older windows)

crazy how bad the windows 11 logo is

If they keep going in the same direction with simplicity, what are we going to have in the future? No windows Icon just a blank space and your just supposed to assume that is where you click for the start menu.? Maybe a single blue transparent square like a glass pane window.

Shit good shit good shit good shit

New level of improvements 💯

XP best windows.

Win XP was the peak

Imo we peaked with 7 the smaller icon just speaks more to me but that's also the os I grew up with which probably is why

Incorrect. Windows 98 is the superior platform. XP was a hellscape of bubble icons.

Naw, bruv. 2000 was perfect.

The more they clutter your UI, the worse it is. This is an Operating system, not a platform to deliver us insecure applications that are forced on us.

Precisely. Give me what i need to run what i want, and get out the way. It’s been a steady decline since 2001.

Windows 2000 was my OS of choice back in the day. Even with people upgrading to XP I stuck with 2000. All my games and apps just worked and the OS was rock solid. Truly the peak of the Windows OS, at least for me.

POV programmer I liked win95.

They could never make me hate you, Windows Vista 😔

I like win8.1!

👍 fantastic post

Vista was the best taskbar for sure.

1. Bill Gates, Microsoft, Apple, Steve Jobs got rich via intellectual property theft from Xerox which invented personal computers. Federal Government engaged in CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES when it forced Xerox to license patents to Japanese companies, etc. www.promarket.org/2023/09/28/h...

2 I discussed Bayh-Dole Act when I ran for US Senate in 2002. Federal Government has spent a great deal of money on federal government research and the patents of lot companies are based on the research. March in Rights of Bayh Dole Act allows www.thegreenpapers.com/Vox/?2002072...

3 Federal government to license patents of drugs, high tech, etc. based on federal government research spending to other companies when the prices are high. I do not think Bayh-Dole Act has ever been enforced dealing with prescription drugs. 2002 www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opin...

When did they call DOGE ?

Aero still looks best.

Boycott the US, switch to GNU/Linux. 😀

it peaked at 7

From top to bottom: 95 XP Vista 7 8 10 11

I still like Win 10 .. the inability of Win 11 to dock the taskbar on the SIDE of the screen is the main point keeping me away. I may be the exception with that but it's the most economic place to be imho

It makes sense cuz we as a society have decided to have increasingly wider/shorter screens for some reason

returning to 1d displays where we belong

Ok, I’m going to make the game Snake on a 1D display. I guess that puts me on the same level of creativity as the creator of the Japanese flag. I like minimalism tho

As a developer I was really annoyed when the "Full-HD" trend got started and comuters tried to follow consoles in terms of output formats. It became really hard to find non-wide-screen devices back then - easier today tho.

Experienced 5 out of 7 of these. The first is the most nostalgic, and I'm looking forward to try the most recent one.

Linux task bar $

Windows 95 got it right

Windows 7 was modern and eye candy. Why did they settle for the flat ass style for windows 8 and up?

the newest one is truly awful

You can get the same thing on a modern computer with the program “retrobar” btw

I wouldn't mind a mix of Vista and 10 for a task bar design...

Proof that the current version sucks

We had a nice run, windows, but linux is my friend now

I'm headed that way. Any distro suggestions? I'm thinking about trying Mint.

Try Kubuntu, its a windows like UI but it uses the easier Debian commands.

I use mint myself.

For a hardware system usually defined by the size and power of its graphics card, those sure are some awful looking graphics. Why do they all look like they’re stored on VHS tape lol.

After Windows 7

its still just a bad just more bells and whistles

Give me C:\Windows

it peaked with windows 8.1 tbh

It's kind of sad that windows just lost its personality over time

The worse is that you cannot add drop down folder links anymore to the taskbar…

Wait. Where ME? Oh yeah.. Recycle B8n.

The Windows logo is progressively growing more rigid and rotating toward the camera. Soon, it will be a straight vertical line from our perspective.

Win 8.0 had no start button when it launched

7 was the best of all

Ignoring server efitions, NT, 2000, 98 and ME🤮 are missing. Genreally ordered best-worst.

ME was interesting. I remember installing it to test it out. I blue screened on the first boot and wouldn't do anything else. I found it to be very "buggy".

I want win 7 back...

Removing “start” was so confusing to a whole generation of people.

True, but clicking "Start" to stop your computer confused a lot of people too when Windows first implemented it.

Yet that is exactly how I turn off my car's engine. By pushing the start button.

Does your ignition button just say 'Start" on it? I can't speak for yours ofc but mine has 'ENGINE START STOP' so is somewhat more descriptive.

My 2014 car also says "Start/Stop" on the ignition button.

Mine does, too. But remember, a few years back, when there was a bunch of "throttle stuck wide open" claims? Part of the problem--supposedly--was the start button only said "start." Carmakers had failed to heed the lessons of software developers years earlier.

It wasn't in 1995.

That's the point. Too confusing for an OS, but Ok for a car in a few decades.

Yeah...and I guess that's thanks to the Start menu in 1995. Heh. I wonder what a better word would have been for the Start menu? Just Menu? I don't know. Start kinda makes sense in the "Start Here" sense.

However, you choose to interpret it, still way better than the current design.

Start to turn it off 🤣