Huh, I thought it would just be a loud fart noise. Windows has never been a good operating system but it’s definitely taken a nosedive in the last decade. In the list of uninstalled apps?...
Huh, I thought it would just be a loud fart noise. Windows has never been a good operating system but it’s definitely taken a nosedive in the last decade.
Integrating AI where it’s most meaningful
In the list of uninstalled apps?
Seriously though, they're doing the bare minimum to stay competitive. People use Windows because they have to, not because they want to, and Microsoft knows this. They know it means they can just do the bare minimum.
Not many home users are actually forced into using Windows. There are workloads where Windows is defacto neccessary but these are specific. In my opninion it is more a question of priorities and...
Not many home users are actually forced into using Windows. There are workloads where Windows is defacto neccessary but these are specific. In my opninion it is more a question of priorities and cultural inertia.
A random person that wants to stop using Windows can do so easily. It would take a weekend as a stretch and willingness to learn
I think you drastically overestimate the average person's ability to install an operating system. Many people don't even know it's possible to install a new one.
I think you drastically overestimate the average person's ability to install an operating system. Many people don't even know it's possible to install a new one.
I don't think ability is as much of an issue here as the willingness. Instalation of an OS is simply not very complicated and can be done by following simple and straightforward guides. It can be...
I don't think ability is as much of an issue here as the willingness.
Instalation of an OS is simply not very complicated and can be done by following simple and straightforward guides. It can be scary to someone who has never done that before, I know it was for me, but nowadays the actual instalation is easy.
I can't say there hasn't been issues on arch myself, but a fair amount of the issues have been skill issues :P. I'd never recommend the average person tries it, but Arch has become a fairly stable...
I can't say there hasn't been issues on arch myself, but a fair amount of the issues have been skill issues :P. I'd never recommend the average person tries it, but Arch has become a fairly stable OS with a much lower barrier for entry than 4 years ago. And as more people have been joining, the more documentation and community help there's been!
I hit 3 years on Mint this past Christmas. Linux has its own share of annoyances, and I still haven't gone through the Linux guide online that I told myself I would do when I first switched over,...
I hit 3 years on Mint this past Christmas. Linux has its own share of annoyances, and I still haven't gone through the Linux guide online that I told myself I would do when I first switched over, but even so I'm feeling good enough about it that I'm dipping my toes into other distros and desktop environments to find my perfect fit.
A little over a week ago I got a newish, gently-used laptop off Craigslist for a friend, and testing that was the first time I've used Win 11 myself. I was not enthused.
If anyone wants some context, this article has a bit of an angry take on what's going on https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-users-are-angry-and-microsoft-is-finally-doing-something-about-it/...
If anyone wants some context, this article has a bit of an angry take on what's going on
I don't daily drive Windows, but my gaming PC/oversized Steam box does run Windows 11 Education (leftover license from Uni) with that script and it's quite good. I don't see Copilot or ads anywhere.
I don't daily drive Windows, but my gaming PC/oversized Steam box does run Windows 11 Education (leftover license from Uni) with that script and it's quite good. I don't see Copilot or ads anywhere.
Maybe it depends on the use case, but I upgraded to 11 when they ended support for 10. I uninstalled copilot, haven't seen a single ad and have had no issues with Windows 11. But I use my computer...
Maybe it depends on the use case, but I upgraded to 11 when they ended support for 10. I uninstalled copilot, haven't seen a single ad and have had no issues with Windows 11. But I use my computer for gaming and web browsing so maybe it's a bigger problem for other work flows. I was worried going into it but it's been a non issue for me at least.
This really feels like virtue signalling rather than a commitment to actual product improvement. I know I'm not a typical, representative user, but the big bugbears for me over the past five years...
This really feels like virtue signalling rather than a commitment to actual product improvement. I know I'm not a typical, representative user, but the big bugbears for me over the past five years or so have been:
obfuscation of settings
windows deciding it knows what I want better than I do when it comes to updates, installed apps, adjusting settings, etc.
sound: inconsistent sound device usage, a lack of per app volume control, seemingly a set of automatically determined volume adjustments that mean people's voice in group chats changes level significantly with this hidden adjustment not user editable
slow, non-performance focussed design (it doesn't feel like they even try and keep things lightweight any more)
UX getting slowly worse
lack of quality control: for six months to a year window snapping consistently misaligned the second window, thumb cache breaking and spending hours chugging away without being able to fix itself, etc.
feedback hub consistently feeling like yelling into the void, no triage of actual issues unless the community accidently stumbles upon it and upvotes it, search and issue grouping just not working at all
Winget is great, it occasionally breaking installs and not being able to fix them, and it being unable to tell you where a program was installed sucks
AppData as a whole
The horrible, horrible bloated mess of a settings store that is the registry
I'm sure I'm being unfairly pessimistic here, but Windows is the poster child of something you use daily but remains consistently shitty. It'd be great if Microsoft is actually trying to make a product people want to use again, but I really struggle to believe that is going to be the case
I'm amazed it took this long for them to allow moving the taskbar to other sides of the display. That was one of my biggest annoyances when trying Windows 11 in 2023. Good to see them finally give...
I'm amazed it took this long for them to allow moving the taskbar to other sides of the display. That was one of my biggest annoyances when trying Windows 11 in 2023. Good to see them finally give you back some control over the updates and widgets. Also good to see them cut back a bit on putting Copilot in everything. I'm also interested in seeing how the new File Explorer performs. While I haven't used W11 much since 2023, it was frankly embarrassing for Microsoft just how slow the Explorer was at times.
Huh, I thought it would just be a loud fart noise. Windows has never been a good operating system but it’s definitely taken a nosedive in the last decade.
In the list of uninstalled apps?
Seriously though, they're doing the bare minimum to stay competitive. People use Windows because they have to, not because they want to, and Microsoft knows this. They know it means they can just do the bare minimum.
Not many home users are actually forced into using Windows. There are workloads where Windows is defacto neccessary but these are specific. In my opninion it is more a question of priorities and cultural inertia.
A random person that wants to stop using Windows can do so easily. It would take a weekend as a stretch and willingness to learn
I think you drastically overestimate the average person's ability to install an operating system. Many people don't even know it's possible to install a new one.
I don't think ability is as much of an issue here as the willingness.
Instalation of an OS is simply not very complicated and can be done by following simple and straightforward guides. It can be scary to someone who has never done that before, I know it was for me, but nowadays the actual instalation is easy.
Integrating AI? Let's start with search indexing that actually fucking works. Baby steps, Microsoft.
I've been running Linux Mint for over 2 years now, I'll never be going back.
Big same. Arch Linux btw, going on ~4 months, buttery smooth experience with no surprises and no reason to go back.
I've been using Arch btw for over 2 years with no regerts
I can't say there hasn't been issues on arch myself, but a fair amount of the issues have been skill issues :P. I'd never recommend the average person tries it, but Arch has become a fairly stable OS with a much lower barrier for entry than 4 years ago. And as more people have been joining, the more documentation and community help there's been!
I hit 3 years on Mint this past Christmas. Linux has its own share of annoyances, and I still haven't gone through the Linux guide online that I told myself I would do when I first switched over, but even so I'm feeling good enough about it that I'm dipping my toes into other distros and desktop environments to find my perfect fit.
A little over a week ago I got a newish, gently-used laptop off Craigslist for a friend, and testing that was the first time I've used Win 11 myself. I was not enthused.
If anyone wants some context, this article has a bit of an angry take on what's going on
https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-users-are-angry-and-microsoft-is-finally-doing-something-about-it/
More neutral but still frustrated
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/microsoft-keeps-insisting-that-its-deeply-committed-to-the-quality-of-windows-11/
I'm still holding out on upgrading to 11 as long as I can
No promises how it does, but a friend used Win11Debloat and had good things to say about it.
I don't daily drive Windows, but my gaming PC/oversized Steam box does run Windows 11 Education (leftover license from Uni) with that script and it's quite good. I don't see Copilot or ads anywhere.
Maybe it depends on the use case, but I upgraded to 11 when they ended support for 10. I uninstalled copilot, haven't seen a single ad and have had no issues with Windows 11. But I use my computer for gaming and web browsing so maybe it's a bigger problem for other work flows. I was worried going into it but it's been a non issue for me at least.
This really feels like virtue signalling rather than a commitment to actual product improvement. I know I'm not a typical, representative user, but the big bugbears for me over the past five years or so have been:
I'm sure I'm being unfairly pessimistic here, but Windows is the poster child of something you use daily but remains consistently shitty. It'd be great if Microsoft is actually trying to make a product people want to use again, but I really struggle to believe that is going to be the case
I'm amazed it took this long for them to allow moving the taskbar to other sides of the display. That was one of my biggest annoyances when trying Windows 11 in 2023. Good to see them finally give you back some control over the updates and widgets. Also good to see them cut back a bit on putting Copilot in everything. I'm also interested in seeing how the new File Explorer performs. While I haven't used W11 much since 2023, it was frankly embarrassing for Microsoft just how slow the Explorer was at times.