So long, Windows XP – it stuck with us through the good times and the bad, but now its time has come.

In tribute to our bubbly, colourful fallen friend, we thought today would be a good day to take a trip down memory lane with Windows, from the slick modern tiles to the beautifully primitive Minesweeper.

Prepare for emotion…

Windows 8 is Microsoft’s newest OS, mobile-friendly, flat and all the things you’d expect from your computing companion. Pretty snazzy, we admit. You’ve come a long way, baby…

Still the most widely used version, Windows 7 took its visual cues from XP, and got Microsoft back on track after Vista failed to meet the hype.

Vista was not Microsoft’s most popular or best version of Windows, nor its cheapest, its safest, its most efficient or... well, you get the idea.

Fare thee well, old friend! (It’s Sonoma County, California if you’re wondering.)

Ah, the old grey and navy colour scheme. Simpler times... simpler times...

It’s Clippy the Office Assistant, who bothered users from 1997 until his dismissal in 2003, when his unwanted appearances and condescending tone could be tolerated no more. In fact, he even rubbed up his Microsoft paymasters so much that they featured his tomb in a later promotional video…

Now this takes us back. It’s Paintbrush on Windows 3.0, which allowed a generation of kids to carry out their spraypainting activities in a safe, law-abiding fashion.

Of course, Paintbrush wasn’t the only program to deal a devastating blow to workplace productivity on Windows 3.0 - Solitaire and Minesweeper also debuted on that release.

Check out these wicked apps on Windows 2. Addition, subtraction, multiplication – this calculator’s got it all! And a clock, and paint AND even cursor blink settings! Oh be still our hearts…

And so we return the primordial ooze from which it all began – the unrecognisable, though pleasantly colourful version 1.01.

So what odds of Microsoft releasing a ‘retro’ package, allowing us to revel in the slick colours, the fashionably flat designs and – of course – the memories?

Well, there’s always hope…