Microsoft’s DOS 1/2/3/4/5/6/ Win95/98/ME was never as good as either of Microsoft’s Alternative operating systems.
Microsoft Xenix never really went anywhere (it was the least popular of the three operating systems an IBM PC could run) but Microsoft OS/2v1/ WinNT3.1/WinNT4/Win2000/XP/Vista/7/8 has been a reasonably good operating system in its odd versions (while going backwards every time with the even versions)
I don’t think that’s true.
There is a significant difference in user interface between XP and 7 and double that between 7 and 8 (think Metro).
I hear what you’re saying about the upgrade to 8.1 though.
I tried to upgrade a latop recently. It all went smoothly until it wanted a microsoft email address to continue. I then clicked “Stop installation” and the thing crashed.
Recovery was possible, but I had to zap the current user profile and reset all of my preferences.
Oh, man. I remember that. I have zero interest in signing up for a Microsoft account, so I had looked around for some kind of button to “Skip” or “Proceed without”. But nada. I’m not even through the installation yet and I already had to google to find out how to get past this screen. Turns out we have to click “Create an account”, then on the next screen click “Use existing account”, which I’m told means it uses the local computer’s account.
In case anyone missed that fun little detail, let me repeat: In order to not create an account, you have to click Create an Account.
Windows 8 “intuitiveness”, ladies and gentlemen.
Aaaand this is reason #6542 why Windows 8 is so vehemently disliked.
Not the only one, of course. I’m fine with W7. Hating W8 with every bit of my soul.
8.1 made things better but still…
I’m actually glad that M$ messed up Win 8 so badly.
It gave me the push I needed to give Linux another try and here I’ve been ever since.
I remember helping an older friend with her new Windows XP computer. The grandchildren had given her a “crash course” when she got it, but she’d forgotten most of it. I remember her cry of despair: “Well, no wonder I couldn’t work out how to turn it off. Why would I go to “start” to close down?” Good question. 
We subsequently set up a second-hand box for a much older friend - and I installed Xubuntu. 
I’d say that with today’s programs, and computer specs, windows 7 is the best. XP was the best (without SP3), for weaker PC’s, but newer programs don`t support anymore windows xp (productivity programs) and they benefit of more RAM’s than XP can use(more than 3GB - with a hack, 32bit i mean and 4Gb 64 bit).
The latest versions of Windows are really great and user friendly. Apart from Windows, Linux is also gaining a lot of popularity for being easy and user-friendly.
Every year I try the latest n’ greatest distro of Ubuntu, and while it improves every time, I always encounter show-stopping issues that I sink a few hours into trying to resolve, but eventually give up on. IMHO, it’s not ready for prime-time general use. Or maybe my mistake is going with Ubuntu instead of Mint or something.
The 64-bit edition of XP was an incomplete experiment which was only meant as a proof-of-concept product. In a live environment, it doesn’t tend to fare too well since the driver support just isn’t there.
I’d love to hear which issues you run into. I’ve run into my fair share from time to time, but it is usually something very odd that I’m attempting to do. I gave up on Ubuntu and its variants a long time ago (and now stick to Debian, which Ubuntu is based on, but it cuts all the “fanciness” they throw on top of the darn thing).
You’ll also typically run into problems if you are running the latest and greatest hardware. Linux is typically 6 months to a year behind (or at least, that is the safe time frame if you ask me).
One of the times I tried it, it simply would not support a mid-range ATi video card I had installed. It kept defaulting to a very low resolution.
I can’t quite remember what the issue was with the most recent time I tried it–it was about 6-8 months ago at this point.
You’ll also typically run into problems if you are running the latest and greatest hardware. Linux is typically 6 months to a year behind (or at least, that is the safe time frame if you ask me).
Typically, I try to either run it on hardware that is a few years old, or play around with it in a VM.
Ah yes, video cards, almost always a struggle 
It has become a LOT better over the past 2 years, but it still falls way behind most of the time.
windows 8 I am using right now and it is best.
Why?
I think window XP and 7 are more flexible and user friendly operating systems!!!
Really? Why?
That was the same for me.
One of the main things that was stopping me using Linux full-time was its apparent inability to support three monitors, whereas Windows could do this out of the box.
However, I recently upgraded my PC, tried out Linux Mint and the three monitors worked out of the box, too!!
It seems that AMD and Nvidia are ramping up Linux driver support after Valve’s SteamOS announcement.
Since switching, the only reason I have to boot back into Windows is SkyRim.
Yeah, I’m very hopeful about things getting better for general users with Valve’s big push with linux support. Maybe then I can use a flavor of linux without having to resort to touching the console.
The best operating system is the one that doesn’t spy on me
Good operating systems should be seen and not heard. They should know their place. They should do as you say without answering back