[UIZealot]

> If Microsoft had "stopped" at Windows 2000 (like it has ostensibly "stopped" at Windows 10), and had focused on refining that piece of near-perfection

I for one, wished for the same thing.

Alas, once Apple came out with its shiny Aqua UI (which I must say was beautify in a totally different way), Microsoft was too insecure not to try and match that. They failed miserably in Windows XP, which felt rushed, forced, and contrived. But it certainly looked more colorful.

[yellowapple]

> Alas, once Apple came out with its shiny Aqua UI

Which is another thing that I can't stand: "Apple did something, so now we have to do it, too". Apple changed some UI element? Guess what everyone's gonna copy. Apple ditched the headphone jack? Guess what everyone's gonna copy.

You'd think that more companies would figure out that product differentiation is what makes them, you know, actually relevant amidst competition.

[UIZealot]

I can't stand it either. But I think I'm beginning to understand it.

It seems that's the way it works for competition in the consumer market. Consumers respond to the coolness factor in a major way. Microsoft probably felt that they had to try to keep up.

As near perfect as Windows 2000 was, compared to Aqua it was also perfectly ...boring.

Come to think of it, XP wasn't even a bad start given the less than two years it had in development. The real tragedy is that Microsoft couldn't do any better for the next two decades. Windows 7 was worse, 8 even worse, 10? hopeless.

Maybe it's time Microsoft throw in the towel, admit that they have no taste[0], and go back to the Windows 2000 look. They lucked into it somehow, and it still holds up better than anything else they have tried.

One can always hope.

[0] https://www.cnet.com/news/steve-jobs-our-favourite-quotes/