vista was garbage when it launched, but after the service packs and when computers reasonable to run vista became somewhat popular it turned out great. in fact I'm typing this on a computer that's dualbooting win10 and vista.
Vista. I love it so much. It gets to much hate, but it really made windows what it is today. Windows XP -> Vista was the biggest jump in Windows since 3.1 -> 95. I love the look, it is still the best looking windows imho.
I grew up with Windows XP, but it's not really practical to use today anymore. Vista was meh, but 7 was really good. I still use it for playing older games that won't run on 10 such as 10+ year old NFS titles. I think I like 7 and 10 equally. Windows 8... ew
Windows 8.1 Has the looks from 10, but techically and (sometimes) UI wise still is a hybrid with 7. Also, Microsoft doesnt spy on you. Im talking about 8.1, not 8 (which was terrible)