My personal pet peeve is that what people think an OS does ends up being an endless grab-bag of “features” many of dubious worth. Stickies notes being an OS function? That type of thinking is the *problem* not the solution.
The best thing any OS can do is to do what it does best (schedule processes, manage memory, manage devices, run some background processes, provide a file system) and then GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY.
Decouple the OS from the UI, the applications, the services and leave that out of kernel space. Erect a firewall between OS and applications so that a problem in an application doesn’t bring down the whole box.
Certainly in the microsoft world, the trend has been the exact opposite. Exhibit A, the integration of the browser with the OS.
This is exactly the wrong approach, IMHO.
I agree... especially where neat and useful thinks like sticky notes are concerned. On the Mac, Sticky Notes is not part of the OS... it is an application, nothing more. It is just included as a freebie from Apple.