When you think of the worst version of Windows ever,
you might think of Vista, which performed sluggishly out of the box,
or 98, which was so ridden with bugs that Microsoft was forced to release a second edition,
or even Windows 8, in which Microsoft axed the much-beloved start menu
and instead tried to shove a mosaic of gimmicky live tiles down our throats,
who's very uncomfortable. But aside from these greatest hits,
one Windows version stands head and shoulders above the rest as a monument to failure.
Windows Millennium Edition, better known as Windows Me, or Windows ME,
for those who refuse to buy into the cheesy marketing. But why was it so bad?
Microsoft had plenty of time to learn from common gripes people had with Windows 95 and 98,
the biggest one being how often the OS would blue screen or straight up crash.
To be fair to Microsoft, they did have a pretty good solution to this,
move home users onto a version of Windows built on the much more stable NT kernel,
which of course they eventually did with Windows XP in 2001.
However, Microsoft originally wanted an NT edition of Windows for home users
before the end of 2000. But due to how much development time was required,
Windows ME was released instead in June of that year.
It was the third major Windows release in the 9x series,
and while it was designed to be easier for home users, it was somehow worse than its predecessors
due to how unstable it was. But with Windows 9x already having
a bad reputation for stability, how was it possible for Microsoft
to allow Windows ME to be even more frustrating?
The biggest problem with Windows ME was probably that it didn't really know who it was.
Although it was firmly part of the Windows 9x family, Microsoft tried to drag Windows Millennium Edition
into the new millennium by stripping away some
of the MS-DOS components older versions of Windows relied on, but not all of them.
The idea was to improve boot times, but many applications that relied on DOS just stopped working.
Even if you weren't running any DOS-based programs though, there was a very good chance you'd have hardware
that would start acting up. Although Windows ME had higher minimum requirements
than its predecessor, Windows 98, they weren't that much higher,
meaning that many users thought they wouldn't have too many issues installing ME
without upgrading their hardware. Unfortunately though, enough had changed under the hood
with Windows ME, including a restructured registry, to give thousands of users massive headaches
when their old Windows 95 and 98 drivers simply would not work with the new operating system.
What was really infuriating is that Microsoft faced similar issues when its customer upgraded
to Windows 98 from 95, yet again,
they didn't adequately ensure enough driver support when ME hit store shelves.
Complicating matters further was the fact that ME attempted to handle two different driver standards,
one from the Windows 95 era and one from the Windows 98 era,
and these drivers had a tendency to conflict.
They don't like each other. And while it was possible in some cases
for tech-savvy users to find workarounds, the problem was that Windows ME was specifically marketed
as being Microsoft's first ever entirely home-oriented operating system,
meaning that it was supposed to be simple and reliable
for the average Joe or Jane at home. And I'm pretty sure booting up
and having multiple pieces of hardware and software simply refuse to work is the opposite of simple.
Now, let's be fair, Windows ME wasn't all bad.
It introduced some important features that have held on to this day, including system restore, automatic Windows updates,
and generic drivers that enabled the OS to recognize any USB flash drive as soon as you plugged it in.
But considering the fact that Windows ME was an overall nightmare for home users,
it wasn't a surprise that Microsoft finally pulled the plug on the old Windows 9X ecosystem in 2001.
And now, it's time for us to pull the plug on this video.
I've got NT kernels in the microwave. Mm, can't wait.
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