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Windows 11’s taskbar is finally getting labels and never combine app icons

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Re: Windows 11’s taskbar is finally getting labels and never combine app icons

#141
Thank you! I am very fond of the non-grouped taskbar with title text and small icons, which is the classic functional design in Windows 95/98/2000/Me. I turned off grouping ever since XP. Starting in 7, I turned off the default big icons and re-enabled text. This served me well in 8 and 10. But seeing how Windows 11 had the useless, offensive taskbar, I vowed to never upgrade to it and declare 10 as the end of the line. But now there is hope again.

Re: Windows 11’s taskbar is finally getting labels and never combine app icons

#142
post #96
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they didn't scrap it and start from zero... at least the labels were already disabled in Windows 7 by default, and more than 10 years later they thought it would be safe to remove them completely, but looks like they were wrong. Personally, the Windows 7-style task bar (icons only and combining quick launch icons with the task bar) was one of the few innovations (yeah, I know it was heavily inspired by MacOS) t…

> the labels were already disabled in Windows 7 by default And literally every Windows user I personally know has turned them back on.

Really? It was like 2% around me. I prefer current style.

Re: Windows 11’s taskbar is finally getting labels and never combine app icons

#143
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with pleasing old costumers is that you might fail to gain new customers. Microsoft is mostly conservative with its OS, while Apple is not afraid to cut off features it consideres outdated. And the MacOS market share has increased strongly over the last ~20 years.

And how ubiquitous is MacOS compared to Windows? It isn't even close

Over the past decade, the U.S. MacOS market share has doubled from 15% to 30%, whereas Windows has dropped from 80% to 60% (according to statcounter)

Re: Windows 11’s taskbar is finally getting labels and never combine app icons

#144
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slow clap for windows 11 taskbar! Now…. When will they bring back the ability to park your taskbar vertically on the left hand side? Another 2 years?

Hold off Microsoft! I got my girlfriend to try Linux because she like the bar on the side.

Exactly my case two years ago. After while of using Fedora she said "I though linux is more different."

She forgets on Win quickly and probably never go back.

Re: Windows 11’s taskbar is finally getting labels and never combine app icons

#145
post #4

Never Combine and Only Combine when Full. Two missing features that were literally keeping me from upgrading to 11.

Also compact size for bar and more customizable start menu. I don't need to waste a space by recommended files and also compact shortcuts would make my start menu more efficient.

Start menu in Win11 is dumbier.

Re: Windows 11’s taskbar is finally getting labels and never combine app icons

#148
post #31

I used Windows server 2022 for first time today on a vps. It's what I imagine we all want windows to be. Just simple Windows 10ish ui without all the fluff. I imagine its very stable too given its for servers. Reminds me of Windows 2000 I ran on my Pentium 2. Does anyone just use Windows sever 2022 on their desktop? Why not?

I have a friend that runs it on his gaming rig.

Re: Windows 11’s taskbar is finally getting labels and never combine app icons

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slow clap for windows 11 taskbar! Now…. When will they bring back the ability to park your taskbar vertically on the left hand side? Another 2 years?

I've been using valinet/ExplorerPatcher on Win11 for a bit just to bring back all the old Win10 taskbar stuff. I know we should even need this, but I hope this is helpful. https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher

Sadly that's x64 only and will likely never support Arm, so I've been stuck with the shitty taskbar on the VM on my mac.

Works very well on x64 though.

Re: Windows 11’s taskbar is finally getting labels and never combine app icons

#150
post #96
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they didn't scrap it and start from zero... at least the labels were already disabled in Windows 7 by default, and more than 10 years later they thought it would be safe to remove them completely, but looks like they were wrong. Personally, the Windows 7-style task bar (icons only and combining quick launch icons with the task bar) was one of the few innovations (yeah, I know it was heavily inspired by MacOS) t…

> the labels were already disabled in Windows 7 by default And literally every Windows user I personally know has turned them back on.

Ok... I can sympathize with wanting to keep the old UI (I installed the "Classic Start Menu" under Windows 7 too), but I like the icons-only taskbar better than the old one. I use Alt+Tab to switch between apps, so I see the window titles there, I don't need them taking up valuable space in the taskbar. The taskbar is there to launch apps and see at a glance what apps are currently open.
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