Took me years to like Windows XP. Hated the new start menu. I always kept installing Windows 2000 (or ME, probably because it could use Windows 98 drivers but look like Windows 2000).

I eventually got used to it and ended up liking it.

I always ran it with the 2000 style theme. That said XP offered me nothing over 2000 so 2000 is what I ran on my main machine since it used less ram but did all the same things, often a bit faster.

For awhile I ran XP 64-bit though, that did do one thing 2000 couldn't do.

IIRC correctly, XP’s stability greatly increased after Service Pack 2 was published.

It was at this moment I realized that people are talking about liking the non-classic-look XP. I always immediately put things in classic look, no grouped windows, etc.