Summary: In this paper, we take up an old thread of development concerning the characterization of supersymmetric theories without any use of anticommuting variables that goes back to one of the authors’ very early work [H. Nicolai, “Supersymmetry and functional integration measures”, Nucl. Phys., B 176, No. 2, 419–428 (1980; doi:10.1016/0550-3213(80)90460-5)]. Our special focus here will be on the formulation of supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories, extending previous results beyond \(D = 4\) dimensions. This perspective is likely to provide new insights into these theories, and in particular the maximally extended \(N = 4\) theory. As a new result we re-derive the admissible dimensions for interacting (pure) super-Yang-Mills theories to exist. This article is dedicated to the memory of Peter Freund, amongst many other things an early contributor to supersymmetry, and an author of one of the very first papers on superconformal gauge theories [A. Ferber and P. G. O. Freund, “Superconformal supergravity and internal symmetry”, Nucl. Phys., B 122, No. 1, 170–176 (1977; doi:10.1016/0550-3213(77)90430-8)]. The final section contains some personal reminiscences of H N’s encounters with Peter Freund.