Looking back,
- Horizontal emphasis to take the time to read pages instead of the vertical infinite scroll to death.
- Discrete notification system to not overwhelm.
- Words instead of icons so you don’t have to constantly decipher. If you can read, you can use.
- No JS per default, blocking all web tracking out of the box.
- No telemetry, no mandatory updates messing up everything.
- Stable, solid, ultra-fast-to-restart-if-they-crash apps.
- All the goodness of having access to most of all the software in the world from 1984 and on.
- Absolutely all software business allowed: shareware, freeware, open source, stores, email lists and keys. Whatever.
- Excellent performance, the best of any Windows I’ve used. Very consistent as well.
It just needed a bit more time and a few additional options like make the start menu a dock on big monitors, or allow the option to go vertical on scrolls instead of enforcing the horizontal one. For when it makes sense.
Today’s operating systems cannot shut the fuck up. A shame.