???? – 2015retired
12-inch MacBook
“No fan, one port, all nerve — it flew off on butterfly wings.”
“It brought back the Start menu, and for that we forgave everything else.”
Windows 10 arrived in 2015 as a free upgrade for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users, and people loved it for undoing the tablet-focused experiment of Windows 8.1. The Start menu came home, the desktop returned to first principles, and along the way it offered Cortana, virtual desktops, Windows Hello, Xbox Live integration, and DirectX 12. It even retired Internet Explorer in favor of the newly introduced Microsoft Edge.
It lived on through free feature updates and long-term support channels for enterprises, with an ARM version arriving in 2018. In October 2021, Windows 11 succeeded it, closing the chapter on what many considered Microsoft's most mature desktop OS. It goes out as it lived: quietly, reliably, with everything where you left it.
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“No fan, one port, all nerve — it flew off on butterfly wings.”
“Traded coins for tote bags and playing cards; the happiest checkout receipt of gaming.”
“First 64-bit phone, last with Jobs in its bones, and the button that knew your finger.”