Most of my occasional problems are usually the result of a poorly written third party driver, not necessarily the operating system itself, although the driver clearly must interact with the operating system.
Updating the driver (when available) often fixes the problem.
Not saying Windows is perfect, but generally works pretty well (I'm running both Windows 7 and Windows 10). As I understand it, the MS developer community is pretty in tune with changes over time and what's coming down the pike that they should be able to keep up with MS is offering.
My experience with Windows over the years has been:
Windows 1: not great, but got Windows going; ran on top of MS-DOS. I didn't get a chance to use Windows 1, but...
Windows 2: this was my first version and I was paid to support it on an AT&T StarGroup (IBM LAN Manager based) local area network
Windows 2.1: started to get confusing, because it was released in multiple versions, depending upon the processor your machine had; ran on top of MS-DOS
Windows 3.0: pretty flaky through 3.1, but got pretty stable with Windows for Workgroups at version 3.11; still ran on top of MS-DOS
Windows 95: still retained MS-DOS roots, but allowed for 16-bit and 32-bit applications to run; basically got fully stable with Windows 98 Second Edition (SE)
Windows NT: really designed for server use, but a number of folks used it for desktop also; 8.3 representations of long filenames resulted in different names between NT and Window 98, which present backwards compatibility issues. Really didn't reach full stability until WinNT 4.0, and then Windows 2000 (when Microsoft dropped the NT designation).
Windows ME: Millennial Edition was just a disaster; let's leave it at that.
Windows XP: Initially buggy, but due to longevity and service packs, is probably once of the most stable Windows ever released.
Windows Vista: A lot of problems on release, but eventually got somewhat stable, but by then we had Windows 7.
Windows 7: I like Windows 7 a lot; I think it is the new Windows XP, and it really wouldn't surprise me if they do extend it past 2020 because so many people still do use it. But it's also been around since 2009.
Windows 8: To me, this was a disaster. The dual phone-like interface with the separate desktop interface. Metro apps could only be run one-at-a time (are we back in the DOS days?). I don't know what they were thinking, other than maybe they thought PC's would die out in favor of phones and tablets.
Windows 8.1: Better than Windows 8, but shortly after Windows 10 became available less than a year later as a free upgrade for anyone with Windows 7, 8, or 8.1.
Windows 10: Re-introduced a decent start menu, which I still don't like. I use Stardock's Start10 interface to give me a Windows 7 style Start Menu (although I can still easily get back to the Windows 10 menu). It's been pretty rock solid, other than the afore mentioned third party driver issues.
Oh, and let's not forget
Microsoft Bob.
Microsoft Bob was a Microsoft software product that was released on March 11, 1995 and discontinued in early 1996. The program was intended to provide a more user-friendly interface for the Windows 3.1x, Windows 95 and Windows NT operating systems, supplanting the Windows Program Manager. Microsoft Bob presented screens showing a "house", with "rooms" that the user could go to containing familiar objects corresponding to computer applications—for instance, a desk with pen and paper, a checkbook, and other items. In this case, clicking on the pen and paper would open the word processor.
A cartoon dog named Rover and other cartoon characters provided guidance using speech balloons. Rover and a few others managed to later make their way back in Windows XP as "Search Companions".
Microsoft Bob was greatly criticized in the press, did not gain wide acceptance with users, and was neither a successful nor long-lived product.
See Microsoft Bob screen shots below
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