Introducing Windows 11

I couldn't find Microsoft Teams on the Microsoft app store today. Maybe they should fix that first.

I think there are more people who are happy with (or at least tolerant of) Windows 10 than some of us geeks might like to admit. A lot of non-techie people aren't going to run into the negative aspects of Windows 10 much in practice. They aren't going to be changing enough settings to be frustrated by the multiple UIs. They won't look up each OS update online before deciding whether to install it. Many of them care less about issues like privacy than we tend to and willingly hand over huge amounts of personal information to online services anyway. Some of them will get stung badly, and they'll receive the same half-sympathetic, half-contemptuous look their techie friends would give someone who chose a dictionary word as a password or who didn't back up their precious photo collection. Most of them won't get stung, and probably have no idea about any of these issues, and happily carry on with their lives worrying about things that are much more important to them.

That said, the same rise in online services that Microsoft seems to be betting on as a corporate strategy has made Windows increasingly expendable on the desktop. For day-to-day use, most techies I know are now on Linux or Apple desktops. A lot of non-technical users are fine with just their phone and maybe a tablet for everyday stuff now, and Apple laptops are popular with home users who are OK with the premium price. Windows laptops are seen as the cheap (in every sense) option, and I don't remember hearing anyone ever say they specifically wanted one. It's different in enterprise world, but in enterprise world the technical advantages of Windows 10 are more useful and most of the worst disadvantages don't apply.

I also think reports of Windows 7's demise are premature. It's obviously only a relatively small part of the desktop market now, but people are still using it for a variety of sensible reasons both at home and at work. I imagine they are more interested in being able to run whatever software or hardware is keeping them there than in lectures about security from people whose proposed alternative would disrupt their work and compromise their privacy by design anyway.

Teams is built in in Windows 11

>I'd like to think that, but I am not sure if that's actually true.

It's hard to get real numbers, for sure. There's counts based on what the server shipped with, when those used to be bundled, which favors Windows. And there's counts of active servers on the internet, which favors Unix-like. Both counts are fundamentally flawed for various reasons.

I did, though, get a chuckle out of Microsoft's slide that showed more Linux instances than Windows ones on Azure: https://build5nines.com/linux-is-most-used-os-in-microsoft-a...

Comment on the Reddit thread where this screenshot was posted - https://old.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/o1x183/the_famou...

The ODBC Driver interface for configuration is tied to the old dialog.

The interface for the drivers was designed around GetOpenFileName() as it was at the time.

One of the features of GetOpenFileName/GetSaveFileName is that the structure passed in can include two special options- a function pointer to a hook routine, as well as a custom dialog template which windows will insert.

The functions were improved in Windows 95 with the "Explorer style". Even old programs get this style at the very least, because windows will imply the flag.

unless a template or hook routine is specified. See if a hook routine or template is specified and the OFN_EXPLORER flag is not, then the hook routine or template was designed for the old-style dialog. Windows uses the old-style dialog in this instance so that the program can run and doesn't crash.

The ODBC Driver configuration uses a dialog template to add the "read Only" and "Exclusive" checkboxes. That is why it shows the old style dialog.

People might say, "They should update it"

Update what?

If GetOpenFileName()'s ability to fallback to the old-style dialog is removed, than you won't see this dialog. Instead, it will crash. Cool. great experience.

the driver interface? OK great. so now there is a new version of the ODBC Driver interface. Now all the ODBC Drivers need to be updated. Some of the drivers were written by companies that are either out of business or rather different. I have this sneaking suspicion that Paradox software isn't going to be writing a new ODBC Driver for the MS-DOS Database.

Just drop everything? OK Cool.... so now companies get forcibly upgraded to Windows 11 and literally cannot do business because they rely on them in some manner. "They should upgrade". I won't get into that except to say it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, but companies in that position are far more likely to find ways to not upgrade the software that caused the problem so, you know, they can keep doing business. And not upgrading the OS is certainly cheaper than countless thousands of man-hours in upgrading their Business software.

And a big thing people don't understand about backwards compatibility is it's not just about old programs working. It's about new ones working to.

If Microsoft removed all "backwards compatibility", than practically nothing would actually work. Software would be constantly crashing, sending error reports, etc. Now, call me crazy, but somehow that doesn't seem like it's a great experience. And if upgrading to Windows X+1 suddenly caused programs to crash left & right, nobody is going to blame the programs.