I played around in Windows 2000 for the first time in 20 years. I know nostalgia can be blinding, but I would go back to that UI in a heartbeat. The uncluttered taskbar, the simple start menu that isn't full of useless recommendations and ads—such a joy!
I don't remotely want to use Windows 2000 again, but it is interesting to see a version of Windows where the UI was consistent. Currently it is a mishmash of four generations of GUI toolkits, some UI is in one style, some UI is another, etc, etc
I've found Windows 11 to actually look quite consistent/good -- nearly as good as macOS.
Related:
"Windows 2000 Server named peak Microsoft. Readers say it's all been downhill since Clippy"
https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/11/windows_2000_best_mic...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43653421
I tried to install Visual Basic 6 on it but couldn't get past SSL errors in the installed Firefox version to even download the ISO. Sad.
The reason I've been on Xfce since at least 2010, it still works the same.
I feel like open-source inherently has alignment with users and blockers to enshitification
It helps but is no panacea: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/09/ubunt...