NT 3.5 was the last good version. Fight me.

You’re absolutely right about this. 7 is basically a Vista service pack that got rebranded.

All of the “good stuff” people credit 7 with came in Vista.

8 wasn’t nearly as bad as people think, and there were big improvements to the kernel that make it a definite improvement over 7.

The problem for most people was the Start screen, which if you could get past, left you with what was a really good OS.

Less ads and telemetry than 10, too.

Anyone have that gif of Rupert Murdoch with a plate of cookies?

Found it…

Oh, if only that were true.

But what about that one guy who writes absolutely brilliant VB?

Lynx

I suspect getting shot had something to do with it.

But us, rallies aren’t his narcissistic supply any more. Now they’re a source of fear and dread.

Oil is fungible, lesbianism is not.

Not sure what my point is, there.

These drove like crap off the lot, but in their defense they’d keep driving like crap a million miles later.

The Hondamatic five-speed transmission really tanked this van’s desirability. It made Chrysler look good by comparison

It’s a great vehicle otherwise, but there was a period around the turn of the millennium where any V6+5AT Honda or Acura product was a serious dice-roll.

The Toyota Previa is still cooler.

Ah the GM U-Body. It’s good looking trash, but it’s still trash.

Based on the then-problematic W-Body, it didn’t drive well, lacked a fourth door, had front suspension that got misaligned if you went over a speedbump and ate head gaskets for breakfast, which was a challenge because almost every issue with the powertrain or accessory belt stuff, and there were lots, was an engine-out repair job.

It made the Astro look good, which was not easy. Only the Toyota Van (the HiAce and Previa) were more challenging, and at least they were reliable.

The Caravan, exploding transmission and all, was a better car.

Interestingly, this same chassis got a lot less sexy as the years went on. GM butched it up for the SUV craze with the Montana/Uplander, and the shorty version was the basis for the Aztek.

The Olympics weren’t always about peak skill, at least in the athletic sense. Prior to (I think) 1948, they used to give out medals for artistic competition, like painting, sculpture or poetry.

Personally, I think they could bring those back; I wouldn’t mind seeing an Olympic art competition. Heck, they could modernize it: Olympic rap battles/battles of the band, or Olympic Iron Chef.

Goddamn, that’s brilliant. Well done.

“Beaver Fever” is the occasional Canadianism I’ve heard, although its specifically for giardiasis.

I’m going to say Win8 & 8.1.

Say what you will about the UI, they did great work on the underlying kernel, file system and APIs. If they’d continued to refine it, it’d be damn near perfect.

They really started to lose the plot with 10; it kept a lot of what made 8 good (and steals a lot of goodwill from 8) but you can see the adware and telemetry start to creep in.

The next best I’d have to give to Vista, which also did some much needed revitalization, only to see 7 get the glory because Microsoft flubbed the hardware requirements and vendors were sloppy with drivers.

My favourite is NT3.5: full microkernel, no GDI in kernel space, no printer drivers in the kernel, less registry issues. We’d have skipped a lot of pain from the 90s and 2000s had Microsoft not went backwards with 9x and NT4.

NT 3.5 was the last version I’d consider “good” without reservation.

I mean, you could also have clothing that’s a) not made from plastic and b) lasts longer.

But you know, capitalism.

Pirate an old, pre-CC version.

That’s what I do. Admittedly it’s Photoshop 3.0 on a Mac Quadra.