One sure could debate on the wisdom of the Windows registry...........

I spent many years with Amiga's where the programs called for needed
libraries that were kept in certain directories. No program ever had
to re-write a registry, nor a system library to use the system
libraries. The advantage is that random programs would never kill the
system libraries by installing it's own custom library while re-
writing the registry and cutting off the previously installed
programs to the libraries they required, as Windows does.

The result is that while Windows is constantly re-writing itself in
individual computers, with too-frequent internal mistakes gradually
crippling the computer, other OS's that use static libraries to
operate, say the hard drive, or the sound chips; fly along without
using longer and longer re-written or improperly crippled dll's. I'll
long remember with fondness the Amiga's 3rd party program 'Scout'. It
would run in the background and when a new program had a problem, you
would get a report that such and such library was looked for in such
a directory and failed to be found. It was a snap to find the stray
library or other element and move it to the proper system location;
then restart the program to see it working perfectly.

Unlike Windows where a program simply refuses to work and crashes on
the user without giving an understandable explanation of what failed
in the process.

I most strongly suspect that Microsoft mainly keeps the old registry/
dll design because of it's very lucrative and pricey Windows
Technician certification programs that must be kept in operation to
keep world-wide Windows based computers operating with their needed
constant individual OS repair.

I know the very technical can state the above in other terms. But the
essence is why Windows is such a flawed, self-destroying OS.