This still is one of the best ux. This and Windows 2000. Straight to the point and fast.
By the way, what I find weird is NO Linux modification (DE/WM theme or whatever) marketed as a Windows XP (or Windows 98) clone ever actually looked close to the original - every single one looked a rough parody. I wish there were some really good...
Even today the default Raspbian LXDE could look less ugly if they could make taskbar-based launcher and tray icons slightly smaller (kind of like in Windows 95-XP) rather than 100% taskbar height, but they won't.
If you like the Win10 look, dash to panel [1] for Gnome can be almost indistinguishable if you change a few settings.