Re: They say history repeats itself.
XP had teething problems but things stabilized after the first service pack. Then XP SP2 became the 'gold standard', and for a long time was the ubiquitous compatibility standard. So much so that later Windows versions had built-in 'XP mode' for compatibility with legacy programs.
XP to Vista was the problematic phase, mainly due to drivers and the hardware manufacturers couldn't release Vista-compatible drivers in time.
Win 7 (in my opinion is Vista SP3 + minor improvements + snazzy new taskbar) was fairly decent.
Win 8 was Sinofsky's pet project and Win 10 was SatNad's pet project. These two need no elaboration. You know what they are.