Comment by 72deluxe

Yes, even the Windows 98 Explorer with IE integration (let's load a JPG of clouds to the left of the file detail pane) was better than modern equivalents. In Windows 10 (or was it 7?) they introduced a stupid column view in detail view that became focused with tab, so you couldn't just tab between the 3 places of directory list, file pane, address bar.

They also added stupid "quick launch" areas with places nobody went, like "3D Objects", and reduced the menu area to a "grope and find a button" ribbon.

The older Explorers were usable like File Manager on Windows 3.11 was: address bars that were usable from the keyboard and mouse (no subdivision buttons for parts of the path), acceptable launch speed, and no extra "features" that were unnecessary (like it ignoring "use same view for all folders" when your directory happens to have MP3s in it - it'll switch to showing rating / bitrate etc.)

I believe all developers should use older versions of the software to see how usable they were in comparison to the modern "improvement".