You could always get the part you just needed the proper cross reference. I have no doubt that sears didn’t make it easy to find them but given I’ve had kenmore in my home my entire life as well as craftsman I can tell you that the folks who repaired thing as a profession have always known how to cross reference the original manufacturer.
Which makes my point. You Joe Public had no alternative but to pay someone {usually Sears} for a repair. Microsofts new products are more often than not especially W8 like a car company putting the steering wheel on the right hand side and calling it an upgrade. The brake was moved to the back seat and you can buy a headlight app, Wipers app, heater app, for $100 a year.
The layout, the stability, the overall ease and reliability of W/XP simply isn't there with W/8. I had XP pretty well figured out within a day. W8 took over a month and I started out using W/98. Hiding files and functions in obscure places wasn't cute nor an improvement.
For those of us who due to location can not get high speed internet service W8 is a royal nightmare and PITA. So is "CLOUD" I liked to have never found the place to gain some control in what was uploaded. The IE crashes at least once a night usually more than that. IE also hates Bing Search for some reason how Ironic. Every other OS Microshaft puts out is Crapware and after W7 that's just what they did. That pattern started after W/98. W/ME junk, W/XP reliable, W/Vista more junk, W/7 reliable, W/8 crapware again. Not once in the past 15 years has MS acknowledged they made a serious blunder and made things right.
W/8 as a laptop or desktop OS should have never been released. It should have never passed Quality Control. Actually it should have never made it past the first level supervisor's desk in their R&D department. Microsoft is it's own worse enemy bringing much of the animosity & contempt on itself due to sheer corporate arrogance. They know better but refuse to do better and feel they don't have to because they hold the majority market. Much like Walmart and their on time delivery inventory policy these days. Empty storeroom, empty shelves, and too arrogant too care.