My least favorite Mac OSes were the ones before 3.
It is odd that the Macintosh chose to use MFS, especially since Apple had been using HFS-type filing systems since the Apple III in 1980, as well as the Lisa. Even more perplexing when one considers that it actually takes more RAM and CPU time for the Finder to "fake" single-leveled psuedo-HFS in a machine that was starved for both.
However, the Mac was conceived as a simple-to-use, user-friendly appliance and in that regard MFS served it well. Its flat filing system is refreshing, even on a large volume. It is much easier to find a file that way than on intermediate HFS systems. Even OS X with its advanced search engine still taxes one with an interminable list of results that must be further sifted through. It is no wonder OS X is my favorite, since for the first time since System 3, I have a shot of quickly finding things on my disk. But I say that as a matter of productivity. Like equill, I use OS X, like I used the latest OS Apple produced that would run on my earlier Macs – it is a tool.
My appreciation for Pre-System 3 and MFS most likely comes from a nostalgia for a time when the Mac was intended to empower the average user, to inspire them to be creative through it's friendly hardware and System interface. It was simple, intuitive and fun, unless you tried to use it for business productivity. So for those reasons and many others, give me System 1.0 through 2.1 any day. I tend to draw the line at System 3.2, the last that will run on the 128K. But, it really ends with System 3.0 when the trash-can reversed its lines. In the true Mac, trash-can lines should always face left. :beige: