[antiRepublicrat]

As someone who liked the taskbar, 95 and descendants was light years ahead of Mac.

I still don't like the taskbar much, and Apple copying it (although vastly improving it) for OS X as the Dock is one of the major usability problems with OS X. It may be pretty, but usability experts suggest ditching it for something more functional.

The Windows UI blows it on a much more fundamental level, with things such as the menu bar locations changing between apps, it not being in an optimal place to click, bad guidelines for dialog boxes, etc., and the ultra-rediculous "Why to I click Start to shut down?"

Apple did a better job tying the interface to the OS than Microsoft did (which really didn't happen until 95)

You just stated it: Windows 95 = Mac 88.

[sittnick]

As someone who liked the taskbar, 95 and descendants was light years ahead of Mac.

I still don't like the taskbar much, and Apple copying it (although vastly improving it) for OS X as the Dock is one of the major usability problems with OS X.

And of course, Steve Jobs own NeXT computer running on MACH had a dock before either.