Chain of Fools : Upgrading through every version of windows (HQ)

Adding onto your point, I’m reminded of the video “Chain of Fools”, where a machine is upgraded from Windows 1.0 all the way through to Windows 8. Once he reaches XP, the theme he configured back in one of the first Windows versions just disappears and gets overridden with XP’s defaults. Then it happens again and again for every version since then, despite the guy changing the theme back to his custom one before each upgrade. ▶ this video So the phenomenon really started with Microsoft themselves. Sure, the more muted dialog backgrounds and vibrant foreground elements introduced since XP look far better than the Win95-esque greys, but I’m sure people who created their own themes (probably due to disability like color blindness) like their colors better than Microsoft’s.

No, it really doesn't. Windows has had backwards compatibility as a huge priority for a long time, often to their detriment. You can literally update a machine from Windows 3.1 to windows 10, and programs written for Windows 3.1 will still work.[1] [1]: ▶ this video EDIT: TO be clear, this is a video of upgrading to Windows 7, and there is a direct upgrade path to 10 from 7. Also, as per another user's reply, this doesn't hold true for 64-bit. However, that doesn't change the fact that Wine doesn't and really can't run win32 better than win32 does.

They neglected to mention just how hard it is to "upgrade" from XP. If you want to install Windows 7 or 8 then it will only do a clean install. You have to figure out all the apps you have installed, install media, receipts/keys/vendor site logins, do the "upgrade", and then play system administrator for a long time. Approximately no one has backups, so all that needs to be sorted out too, as well as doing a restoration. Then new UI has to be learned. Nothing is where it was. Various apps probably had to be upgraded too, and they'll have new UI to learn too. Then they have to figure out system administration - how do you do updates, make the funky printer work, deal with anti-virus. I didn't even mention figuring out that whole 32 versus 64 bits thing either. The time, effort and money involved, especially for small businesses/organisations and individuals is daunting, not to mention a distraction from what their actual business is. By far the easiest thing for them is to do nothing. Microsoft really screwed up by not making a good upgrade process. They know how to do it, and did it in the past. ▶ this video

I don't know about you, but I have much, much better luck running executables under Windows than say Linux or OS X. Microsoft puts a ton of work into keeping backwards compatibility. You can watch the YouTube Video[0] of someone upgrading through every Windows version (well, most?). OS X users have to figure out if they need that Intel or PPC binary, or maybe just the larger universal one and call it a day. Then there's not being able to run any of their older PPC-only apps once Apple removed Rosetta from OS X. [0] ▶ this video

> I often think about how incredibly inefficient modern software is given that we've had roughly the same level of productivity software ability (with varying levels of usability) for a few decades now. I distinctly remember my NT4 system of the late 90's, and how it was roughly as productive as my current machine, and I wonder just how much cruft is inside modern operating systems and applications. As a fellow young person (probably even younger than you), I remember watching this video ▶ this video two years ago when it came out and I remember gaining quite an appreciation for all the work put in over time in Windows and the complexity that it probably brings.