Microsoft Windows is far and away the world's most popular desktop operating system, managing over a billion machines daily. You can argue which version is the best, though there's very little debate over which is worst (here's looking at you Windows ME). But regardless of its ups and downs, there's no denying the impact Windows has had since its inception in 1985. In the time since, we've seen the platform enjoy a brief stint on mobile, power a new wave of handheld gaming PCs, and even pull a no-show by skipping Windows 9 entirely.
In 2008, however, we almost saw Microsoft do the unthinkable. The company had begun working on an all-new operating system built from the ground up to replace Windows entirely: "Midori."
