Does W11 still force auto reboots? W10 was a scourge with this... Rebooting overnight even though I tried everything to disable auto reboots.
For the waste majority of everything Windows 11 and Windows 10 is pretty much the same.
Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu
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Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu
#72Does W11 still force auto reboots? W10 was a scourge with this... Rebooting overnight even though I tried everything to disable auto reboots.
No, it doesn't auto-reboot. You get prompted for updates and you can keep delaying them forever if that's what you wish.
Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu
#73Does W11 still force auto reboots? W10 was a scourge with this... Rebooting overnight even though I tried everything to disable auto reboots.
For the waste majority of everything Windows 11 and Windows 10 is pretty much the same.
It's not though. It has some great improvements on some fronts (no auto-reboot, built-in terminal, WSL already setup, better multi-monitor and dock-undock behavior) and worse on other fronts like the start menu.
Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu
#74I would pay so much money to just be able to use Windows 7's UI with Windows 10's performance improvements. Try spinning Windows 7 up in a VM sometime. Using it is such a wonderous experience. It's almost perfect. I miss it so much. To me, Windows 8/8.1/10/11 have all been massive downgrades to different extents.
You can have at least Win 7 start menu on Win 10: https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu It's fast, reliable and highly configurable.
Do you know if there's something similar but for the task bar?
I really really hate the stock Windows taskbar. The design? Whatever, I can live with that. But it constantly refuses to unhide, it drives me crazy.
Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu
#75I would pay so much money to just be able to use Windows 7's UI with Windows 10's performance improvements. Try spinning Windows 7 up in a VM sometime. Using it is such a wonderous experience. It's almost perfect. I miss it so much. To me, Windows 8/8.1/10/11 have all been massive downgrades to different extents.
> I would pay so much money to just be able to use Windows 7's UI with Windows 10's performance improvements
Windows 8.1 complemented with StartIsBack (https://www.startisback.com/) was exactly what you're looking for.
Unfortunately Windows 8.1 is very soon to be EOL and Windows 10 is unrecoverable even with StartIsBack.
Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu
#76Honestly Windows 11 is getting better all the time. It's much cleaner and less cluttered compared to 10 as well. It's not perfect of course, but it's the best one so far imo, and it keeps getting better. I really like the new way to connect and manage Bluetooth devices from the taskbar that was recently added. But then again, it's Windows, so when you look underneath the shiny new surface and realize e.g there's no w…
Getting better all the time? Yes, so do wounds. Microsoft wounded technology for so many with Windows 11. It's gotten to the point it auto installs even without elevation, so many of us are home with family for Thanksgiving only to spend hours with confused parents trying to navigate the mess of broken 'features'.
Forced OS upgrades should be regulated. Microsoft, Google and other operating system vendors should not be using dark patterns to "encourage" upgrades when users aren't paying attention.
Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Windows 2000 UI was not "good," at least compared to what they have today.
Personally, I consider 2000 the version where windows peaked. They did add some good things since then, but did more damage than good in total. So as we differ this clearly in opinion: What makes you appreciate the windows UI more today?
Adding a search to the start menu is huge and completely changed how I use it -- I almost never do anything besides hit the Windows key and start typing a search query. Besides that, the way nested menus worked was frustrating and I'd frequently waste time doing things I didn't intend trying to navigate them.
Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can have at least Win 7 start menu on Win 10: https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu It's fast, reliable and highly configurable.
Do you know if there's something similar but for the task bar? I really really hate the stock Windows taskbar. The design? Whatever, I can live with that. But it constantly refuses to unhide, it drives me crazy.
> I really really hate the stock Windows taskbar.
Plus in Win 11, we lost the ability to put the taskbar vertically on the left or right side of the screen. When coding on a laptop, I want the max vertical screen space. Taskbar at the bottom means I see 10% less source code.
Boo Win11!
Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu
#79I only updated my gaming machine to Windows 11 about two weeks ago (running Mint on my work device) - and it immediately felt rather incomplete/unfinished to me.
For example, I am using 7zip for compression. In file explorer I right click a file/directory I want to compress, but the option to compress with 7zip is missing from the context menu. So I choose "more options" at the bottom of the menu, and what I get is the Win10 context menu in the old layout (different background, different font+size, etc.) - which has everything the Win11 menu has + some more stuff (including "compress with 7zip").
facepalm
Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu
#80This isn't a good example to use to critique the Start Menu because it's a special case --- downloading Chrome is an action that Microsoft does not want you to complete, so making it a good experience is a Microsoft non-goal.
You're right - it's not a good example, it's a great example! An example which once in the past got them into court!