The old Internet Explorer web browser is outdated and useless in 2022. The Microsoft Cloud services such as Office 365 are no longer supporting this browser, now you must use either Firefox or Edge to use these cloud services. But it has had a long life. The first version, dubbed Microsoft Internet Explorer, was installed as part of the Internet Jumpstart Kit in the Microsoft Plus! pack for Windows 95. Then for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0. There were such features as the Active Desktop that allowed Internet content right on the desktop. Pretty revolutionary for the time I think. Nowadays we have the Windows 10 operating system with Internet content and ads right in the start menu. That would be unheard of in the time when Windows 95 was out. But there were countless security flaws with the ActiveX add-ons for the web browser. A number of security flaws affecting IE originated not in the browser itself but in ActiveX-based add-ons used by it. Because the add-ons have the same privilege as IE, the flaws can be as critical as browser flaws. No one uses ActiveX anymore, but it was pretty big in the past. So many viruses and malware spread that way.
Using Windows XP was a fun experience, it was not very secure and reliable at all. Windows Server 2008 R2 was much better, and Windows Server 2012. Windows Server 2012 can be turned into Windows 8 as well, you can install add-ons to it to convert it into a desktop operating system. But I do not see the point. Why not just install Windows 8.1 and use that instead? Even though it reached EOL in 2018. Windows 11 does have a very good version of Windows Services for Linux, you can install a full Linux distribution inside Windows and run graphical applications easily. There was also Windows Subsystem for Linux that you could install on Windows Server 2008 R2. This offered a simple Linux environment, but is not as good as modern WSl2. It did not have a native X server and required a third-party app to allow graphical programs to run. WSl2 fixes all of this in Windows 11.
The computer science that younger children will be taught is likely really just very entry level crap that you’d assimilate in your first week in university, or from reading a good textbook on your own. These kinds of buzz word programs are just memes to attract more funding for the school. While technology can indeed enhance the traditional foundational grade school courses, it would be better to make those the focus rather than teaching some one how to compute an average in Python.
The kids who want to learn programming early on, will just find a way to do so.