[ It's also possible you might have chosen a modern version of Windows and been successful as well.

With the right planning, nowadays you can plug a new machine into the network and go home. By the time you return in the morning, it will have booted over the network to a Windows installer, installed Windows with the appropriate drivers, installed all software appropriate for the machine (based on departmental association, etc), fully patched itself, and will have received all the appropriate customizations (restrictions, etc.).