Win7 overall ran better, but Win2K had a better UI because it was simpler and more customizable. Any toolbar could be added & removed from Windows Explorer, as well as adding/removing any icon from any toolbar. Win7 you could already see the beginnings of M$'s UI-lockdown and bad UI design as Win7's Windows Explorer had toolbars that I never used but could never get rid of. They were always in the way to me. Also Win2k still retained the traditional, simple, fly-out Start menu that opened up sub-levels just by mousing over the parent. Just move the mouse and whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop and you're 4 levels deep in a few seconds. Opened the wrong Folder my mistake? Close it by simply moving the mouse back to the parent. All of the programs could be seen at once. In Win7 the quick flyout menu was replaced by the little All Programs list that required clicks to open any program, you had to annoyingly scroll through and jumped around when you opened any folder. One more thing: Having to click "Switch User" to put Win7 to sleep when the screen is locked made no sense and was anything but obvious. Now none of these Win7 annoyances I listed were show-stoppers, but they did make me wonder who came up with these designs and why weren't they tossed out early in development for decreased UX? Looking back it shows when UI design at MS (and other software companies) started to be controlled by so called artsy-fartsy UX "experts" instead of developers.