Wikipedia (what's not to like for OS's released way back in 1995/1998)...:
[begin of quote(s) (yeah I don't want a forum quote box on this occasion... it somehow hurts my eyes]
Win95
Windows 95 introduced numerous functions and features that were featured in later Windows versions, such as the taskbar, notification area, and the "Start" button.
...
Prior to Windows 95's official release, users in the United States and United Kingdom had an opportunity to participate in the Windows 95 Preview Program.[9] For US$19.95/£19.95, users would receive several 3.5-inch floppy disks that would be used to install Windows 95
...
Win 98
Web integration and shell enhancements
The first release of Windows 98 included Internet Explorer 4.01. This was updated to 5.0 in the Second Edition. Besides Internet Explorer, many other Internet companion applications are included such as Outlook Express,[19] Windows Address Book, FrontPage Express,[20] Microsoft Chat, Personal Web Server and a Web Publishing Wizard, and NetShow.[21] NetMeeting allows multiple users to hold conference calls and work with each other on a document.[22]
The Windows 98 shell is web-integrated;[23] it contains deskbands, Active Desktop, Channels,[24] ability to minimize foreground windows by clicking their button on the taskbar,[25] single-click launching, Back and Forward navigation buttons,[26] favorites, and address bar in Windows Explorer, image thumbnails,[27] folder infotips and Web view in folders, and folder customization through HTML-based templates. The taskbar supports customizable toolbars designed to speed up access to the Web or the user's desktop; these toolbars include an Address Bar and Quick Launch. With the Address Bar, the user accesses the Web by typing in a URL, and Quick Launch contains shortcuts or buttons that perform system functions such as switching between windows and the desktop with the Show Desktop button.[28] Another feature of this new shell is that dialog boxes[clarification needed] show up in the Alt-Tab sequence.
...
Support for WDM audio enables digital mixing, routing and processing of simultaneous audio streams and kernel streaming with high quality sample rate conversion on Windows 98.
...
Win XP
Upon its release, Windows XP received critical acclaim, with critics noting increased performance and stability (especially in comparison to Windows Me), a more intuitive user interface, improved hardware support, and expanded multimedia capabilities. However, some industry reviewers were concerned by the new licensing model and product activation system.
[end of quotes]
==========================================
First Puppy distros releases around 2005 I think (?) - not multi-user capable, but fun to use for sure, and being usually between 50MB and 100MB download size at the time, possible to download even via dialup connection (overnight at least...!).
So here we are in 2021 and only now has Puppy accepted using the likes of pulseaudio!... and some seem to imagine that a 300MB install size remains important (and some remain concerned it is no longer 'under 100MB', a good example of "how to hold back Puppy Linux development for meaningless reasons").
Would be nice to see Puppy continuing as a viable distro of choice for some in the future (since greater freedom of choice is indeed a good thing for the community I feel), but creativity requires an open mind, willingness to change, and willingness to accept and encourage alternative forum-member creative distro designs; alas that some old-timer attitudes do not bode well for that Puppy future in terms of a narrow-minded development perspective:
Despite being open-source, an attitude of guarded jealousy, protectionism, fear of perceived competition, legacy development control mechanisms (despite a pretense that anyone can readily and freely contribute via woof-CE), self-assumed rights and nepotism involving their perceived 'old-timer friends', including no control over old gtkdialog apps pushed into woof-CE github by longtime old-timer woof-CE Puppy stewards, but reluctance to push/commit the newer work of others (who don't have the authority to do so themselves); and particularly:
A general lack of willingness to collaborate and acknowledge other creative distros discussed on the forum, but a no-conscience tendency to cherry-pick copy ideas without acknowledgment (whilst happiness to take credit and praise for the ideas of others). To me that is what Puppy Linux itself, in community terms, has really become (shame on some of its developers). But that's just how I personally find it, and I don't need it anyway. Why complain about Microsoft, when it can't keep it's own house and ethics in order?
Of course not all Puppy users are like that, but not all Puppy users have much say in practice about how Puppy developers act and relate (inevitably since not everyone has sufficient Linux expertise to even recognise what goes on) and a particularly nasty few users (who are not developers) don't care and encourage everything Puppy regardless of ethics and community spirit. Such individuals need weeded out and thrown out of the community to allow it to grow in harmony, which would always be a good thing in the end. Of course it is up to the community as a whole to notice and agree such steps, and particularly rockedge since it is ultimately his forum to harmonise via just control.
Certainly, I believe in the importance of 'freedom of speech' but that is a very twisted term as modern political situation has well demonstrated. The kind of 'control' I am talking about is not control to take away freedom, but simply stopping those who purposively try to silence the existence of others (and in particular other non-Puppy distros that forum members develop). Such individuals purposively create hurt and ill-feelings and strive for the opposite of community harmony. If my statement makes me that individual then have me banned, but I do not myself oppose collaboration whatsoever and I applaud all creative works and am guarding nothing against anyone else's activities.
Before anything is sold, my feeling is therefore that it is important to consult respectfully with its core developers and to never forget to acknowledge the effort they have put into their contributions. So 'freedom' starts here - in the way the forum operates itself as a community - and the respect they give or do not give to each other. Not sure about Puppy for Sale, but maybe Puppy, as a forum community, is being sold out by the non-collaborative and non-respectful behavior of some of Puppy Linux distro 'team' and proponents. Decide for yourselves, but 'anti-non-PuppyOS' discourse has negative consequencies in terms of actual contributions to the community and forum harmony on the whole.
