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2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

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Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#211

Post by SunshineTheCat »

idontsee wrote: post #193
SunshineTheCat wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> every link in Microsoft apps opening in Edge regardless of your settings. fwiw, there is a setting in Teams itself to have it use your default browser instead, on top of having to change it on a system level. This does not work when using the PWA though

Lol I have looked through the settings 57 times and only just now found that because of your note. Much appreciated.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#212

Post by SirMaster »

ksynwa wrote: post #142

For me the strange and unproductive direction Windows is going towards in encapsulated in the right-click menu in the file manager (Explorer). 11 has a shiny new menu that shows up when you right click. But it is a new coat of paint over the ones from 10 or before. Additional options from for example 7zip don't show up in it. You have to click "more options" at the bottom which them reveals the old menu. There is no…

Apps not showing up in the new menu is because the app has not updated to support the new menu. I am seeing third party apps in my Windows 11 right click menu such as WinMerge.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#213

Post by leptons »

autoexec wrote: post #66

Microsoft was a disaster for Windows 11. They made a product that's such shit that now you've got people who'd rather figure out what linux is or how to work on an apple computer than use Windows 11.

I moved my server and 6 VMs running on it to Linux Mint this year, in response to Microsoft enshitifying Windows 11. It was a pretty easy move, and practically all software I needed has a Linux version. Plex, Agent DVR (security cams), and the LSI-Megaraid admin software for my RAIDs all runs on Linux. Moving the RAID was the easiest part, I just moved the LSI card from the Windows system to the Linux system and drives just showed up instantly. Of course they are formatted as NTFS, and it would be better for Linux if they were formatted as something else, but I'm working on moving ~35TB of stuff off to a backup server so I can reformat those RAID drives, then move all the data back.

The last VM I need to move to Linux is a somewhat complex Windows 10 IIS webserver setup that is still running on a Windows VM. I have to figure out a bunch of stuff to make that move to Linux happen, but I will do that soon enough.

Microsoft can fuck off, I'm done with them after 30 years. They have made it clear I am not their target audience anymore, and I won't recommend their products to anyone anymore.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#214

Post by gregors »

ncr100 wrote: post #112
Aurornis wrote: post #68

I did a clean install of Windows 11 when Windows 10 went EOL. From all of the complaints I was hearing from headlines I expected a disastrous experience. But to be honest, it’s been fine. I’m not a heavy user but I switch to the Windows PC at least once a day for a few hours of CAD, gaming, and one other engineering program that is Windows only. I don’t click any of the AI buttons. I declined the OneDrive or backup s…

After long-term usage, my environment on MacOS (laptop issues mainly!!!) stutters and becomes less-usable. Perhaps Windows, or Linux, or JUST NO COMPUTER WHATSOEVER would be better? MacOS is less for power users. On my Mac (macbook pro with Notch) I can no longer see menu-bar apps, since I have 11 icons up there which are not from Apple. The 12th / 13th are simply inaccessible. Added Tailscale this week .. Annnnnd it…

I slapped 96GB of ram into my 13 framework laptop last year, when prices were cheap. I'm probably going to upgrade next cycle for fun and give my current laptop away (I'll keep the ram). I'm sure that laptop will last a very long time with linux.

Macbook Pro's are the best laptops I've ever used. But if you go that route you better up front that RAM or you'll be stuck. The one place the Mac destroys the framework is battery usage. It's not a deal killer for me, but it might be for many.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#215

Post by SirMaster »

gregors wrote: post #208

As Win10 is officially unsupported now, non-tech people have come to me to ask me what they should buy as a new laptop. So far I've been successful in installing Ubuntu or having them install Ubuntu and go on about their life. The vast majority of these people live in a browser. Sometimes I get asked "what's a good app for x?" People who are hard-tied to Windows for some program aren't the ones asking for my input. I…

Well they have official extended update options, so it's still officially supported?

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#216

Post by gregors »

robocat wrote: post #165
samiv wrote: post #54

I've been preaching this for a while but the era of PC as in "personal computing" is coming to an end and will slowly but surely be replaced with CC, Corporate Computing, where the corporations own everything, the hardware, the software and only permit you to use their equipment against a monthly fee and only to the extent they allow and permit. Everything you do will be controlled and observed and extracted for data…

Why don't laptop manufacturers deliver models with Linux? I presume the problem is that users cause support costs? Or that Linux and App updates cause costs? Windows users have many support issues, however the users don't blame the laptop manufacturer? I guess Chromebooks serve that market. And Google allow Linux installs on Chromebooks (helps attack Windows instalbase, but too little)

Dell offers several models with Ubuntu. Other smaller manufacturers also support linux, for example Framework and System76. A tiny minority to be sure.

Microsoft's EOL for Win10 means a lot of people are either going to e-waste their old laptop or just run without patches if they can't afford new hardware.

I'm actively helping people convert to Ubuntu if they want to give it a try. Their computer is effectively EOL so the risk is quite low. Especially when you can save several hundred or thousand dollars on a new box. The risk/value ratio is properly aligned. It's different to try out a new OS on new hardware - too much risk for your average user.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#217

Post by gregors »

deepfriedrice wrote: post #200
hypertexthero wrote: post #44

I think 2026 will bring many to Linux because of Steam Machine: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steammachine

I can't help but think that Steam Machine/SteamOS/Linux gaming in general is severely bottlenecked by anti-cheat. Nearly all serious multiplayer games require Windows specific anti-cheat. Maybe there's a critical mass of Linux users that will force AC support. Maybe new cheating paradigms (DMA) will obsolete local AC. I suppose one of those could happen in the next 10 years.

Arc Raiders on linux is fully supported and a lot of fun. Lots of people have steam decks and lots of people will have a steam machine. There will be FPS multi on linux. The larger studios might not, but many more will.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#218

Post by estimator7292 »

p_ing wrote: post #209
odie5533 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I know, to modify the audio Exclusive Mode settings and view jack information, you still need to use mmsys.cpl from the Control Panel. And I think many operations like converting MBR to GPT still require the Disk Management control panel.

You're correct, and those are likely all little-used in the grand scheme of Windows users (MBR -> GPT for certain).

Waving it away as little-used features is not an excuse, it's the entire reason things got this way. That's why we have layers upon layers of half baked UI with "only" the controls that "everyone" needs. Because those rationalizations are wrong and this is the result.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#219

Post by mmcnl »

ksynwa wrote: post #142

For me the strange and unproductive direction Windows is going towards in encapsulated in the right-click menu in the file manager (Explorer). 11 has a shiny new menu that shows up when you right click. But it is a new coat of paint over the ones from 10 or before. Additional options from for example 7zip don't show up in it. You have to click "more options" at the bottom which them reveals the old menu. There is no…

I actually don't mind this at all. These days the norm seems to be to drop features just because it's more convenient. I think this hybrid approach is not bad at all: the new menu is more aesthetically pleasing and consistent from a UX perspective, and if you really need something that is not there yet you can always use the old menu.

For all its faults I think it's strange to criticize Microsoft for maintaining backwards compatibility.

Re: 2025 was a disaster for Windows 11

#220

Post by estimator7292 »

12_throw_away wrote: post #179
wwweston wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d be willing to bet that behind a change like this is a certain amount of data showing that the removed options weren’t used that frequently, and a stakeholder decision that this must mean that they should be demoted. And it’s data driven. Makes for a nice bullet point in a report. Most users don’t miss it, on stakeholders can tell themselves that those that you are a minority who don’t really matter for one reason…

> data showing that the removed options weren’t used that frequently [...] Most users don’t miss it Um, I am very skeptical that Microsoft's KPIs have this level of alignment with actual user workflows.

You really should assume that Microsoft knows exactly what you do on their machine.
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