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2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

windowscentral.com

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Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#41

Post by coldtea »

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #17
areoform wrote: post #10

I'm a macos / linux user who bought a second-hand windows PC last year for CAD and games. Windows 11 is worse than you think it is. It's worse than the data harvesting (which required two hours to turn off), irritating ads (for an OS you pay for) and generally schizophrenic UX (don't get me started on the Start menu). The Windows team has gone far beyond typical bugs. They're introducing new classes of bugs; one day…

As someone who has been primarily Mac for most of my life, I started using a Windows machine fairly recently for work. I'm tied down to the Windows eco-system (Teams, Outlook, etc). I still haven't gotten use to the idea of every link in Microsoft apps opening in Edge regardless of your settings. This might seem like a small thing, but the entire UX seems to be designed around benefiting Microsoft, not the user.

>I'm tied down to the Windows eco-system (Teams, Outlook, etc)

All of them are available for the Mac.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#42

Post by coldtea »

Zopieux wrote: post #37

Why does anyone still go through the trouble, for personal use, of buying and fighting against Windows terrible design decisions and crappy implementations, when there are so many great alternatives?

Because there aren't so many great alternatives.

There's MacOS, which requires expensive dongles (an Apple computer), and has some of its own systemic issues.

And there's Linux, in different subtly incompatible distros, with its own share of problems, and a non-starter if you need and/or want to use many proprietary staples, from the Creative Suite to video, music, and business apps...

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#43

Post by areoform »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #32

Is Windows usage actually down?

    > "As Forbes reports, a whopping 1 billion PCs are still running Windows 10 - despite half of them technically being eligible for an upgrade. During PC maker Dell's November quarterly earnings call, the company's COO, Jeff Clarke, admitted that "we have about 500 million of them capable of running Windows 11 that haven't been upgraded," referring to all PCs, and not just Dell machines."

    > In other words, those who own a whopping third of the estimated 1.5 billion PCs worldwide are outright refusing to upgrade, indicating Microsoft is seriously struggling to woo them. That’s likely due to a number of reasons, from simple frustrations over a tweaked and unfamiliar interface to the need to run software that isn’t Windows 11 compatible — and annoying ads.
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/windows-users-r...

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#45

Post by cheschire »

awesan wrote: post #29

I installed Linux (an arch-based distro) last month. There have been some minor issues but nothing worse than what I experienced regularly on Windows recently. My computer feels fast again and when things randomly break I can at least get to the root cause and fix it myself. I used to quite like Windows, but it has gotten worse every patch day for years now. The pain of learning a new system is not so bad and at leas…

When things randomly break in my Linux install, I fire up Claude

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#46

Post by Aurornis »

callc wrote: post #40
bigyabai wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nvidia abandons the gaming market Citation? I've been hearing this from Gamer's Nexus for decades, but Nvidia seems to be fine RAM shortage notwithstanding.

The last 3 generations of nvidia gpus have been a big middle finger to PC gamers in terms of price and power usage Gone are the days of affordable graphics accelerators in the $300 to $500 range. Now it’s $1000 to $2000. 400 watts now instead of 100.

> Gone are the days of affordable graphics accelerators in the $300 to $500 range. Now it’s $1000 to $2000.

What are you talking about? nVidia only has two models in the $1000 to $2000 range and they’re clearly premium parts.

The $300 to $500 cards are actually fine for normal gaming unless you demand to play at 4K at high settings.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#47

Post by Zetaphor »

zbrozek wrote: post #8

I'm really hoping that the Linux gaming folks keep making progress on Windows-on-Linux compatibility so that I can transparently and with zero-fussing run any arbitrary Windows application. Unfortunately there's still plenty of professional software that has not been and will never be released for Linux.

Linux ages like WINE, Windows ages like milk.

The incentives for improving Linux are driven only in part by commercial interests, and those interests are not completely centralized. Windows' fate is entirely in the hands of the current Microsoft leadership, and they seem hellbent on extracting maximum value from their users while ignoring the suffering their "Continuous Innovation" creates.

It's almost as if they want everyone to start looking for the exits, and thankfully Linux is finally at the point in its maturity on desktop to start attracting power users who have no prior experience.

I don't think 2026 is the year of the Linux desktop, but it does feel like we're at the start of a big shake-up in the industry. Once we start seeing the hockey stick pattern in the adoption rates I would expect that more money and developer time will follow to help smooth out the areas where the transition is still difficult, like professional software.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#49

Post by pcblues »

I haven't had a _terrible_ UI experience with Win 11 that Apple hasn't put me through already. But it took away my sideways toolbar. I don't click anything that loads edge, like "Show me more from the web" type links. So I don't see ads. I use firefox and thunderbird.

The telemetry all the way through the operating system sucks ethically. But I'm invested and familiar with Windows and Office. Not being able to make Copilot disappear is annoying.

However, all my games and software that work on Windows won't necessarily work on linux. I am not interested in making a political stand and putting up without abilities and features I currently have.

So, for my own use-case, Win 11 it is.

Clearly not an endorsement, just a data-point.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#50

Post by throwway120385 »

areoform wrote: post #10

I'm a macos / linux user who bought a second-hand windows PC last year for CAD and games. Windows 11 is worse than you think it is. It's worse than the data harvesting (which required two hours to turn off), irritating ads (for an OS you pay for) and generally schizophrenic UX (don't get me started on the Start menu). The Windows team has gone far beyond typical bugs. They're introducing new classes of bugs; one day…

I think if Dassault et. al. released a version of their software for Linux or Mac OS then the only excuse I have left to boot Windows would be gone completely. Hell even if it worked somewhat reliably as a viewer on Valve's Proton I'd be happy.
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