I don’t use Microsoft products. No. Really. The last time I used Windows to any degree was around mid-to-late 2000, and after that, not at all. Since then, Linux has met all my needs, and with alot less hassle.
As a result, I have no idea what’s going on with Microsoft’s development cycle, and I really don’t care to. The last time I even booted into Windows was when I got my laptop a few months ago, and that was just to make sure everything was up and running before repartioning and erasing it.
Somehow Windows XP was even more heinous, resource-intensive and just plain awful from a UI standpoint than its ancestors. I couldn’t do anything without six unrelated dialog boxes popping up (“I know my wireless adapter’s connected! You’re trying to download “updates” right now!”), and it was just plain ugly, and from what I could tell, the user-interface is completely uncustomizable. Continued...