6 ms·

Big Reasons Not to Upgrade to Windows 11

karmakaze 4y ago
I've only used Windows for games or exper mentation/testing. If I can't get windows 10 for a new computer, I'll do with only Linux for personal use. For work it was always targeting Linux servers anyway.
thesuperbigfrog 4y ago
The taskbar changes, removal of context menus, and start menu changes have stopped me from upgrading. I am not sure why the Windows 11 designers thought that removing features that people use were a good idea. I am using a desktop computer and I want to be productive. Please do not strip out useful features by pretending that Windows is a primarily a tablet operating system.
- benttoothpaste 4y ago
  This is a classic case of data driven development. If users do not sufficiently “engage” with a feature, it is removed.
  - rk06 4y ago
    Nope, it is called “stupid”. If significant paying customers (>10k) are using a feature, then it should not be removed. If feature is a power or accessibility feature, then it should not be removed even if it is not used anywhere.
xg15 4y ago
I still don't understand why Windows 11 exists in the first place. Back when Windows 10 was announced, there was a lot of talk from Microsoft about it being "the last Windows" - meaning, that from this point on, all future versions of Windows would be delivered as updates, but the "product" from a user perspective would always be Windows 10. The user should not go through the "install new OS" experience ever again. You can discuss whether it's a good idea to take so much agency away from the user, but it certainly shows MS was aware of the fact that users increasingly don't want to switch their OS every few years. But then comes Windows 11 - and not just did the "last Windows" paradigm go out the window, but MS is back to making wild changes to the UI and having to nudge and pressure an unwilling userbase into switching their OS. Why?
- zamalek 4y ago
  Because Windows 11 sounds way sexier than 20H2. The "last Windows" is an all-round superior approach, except when your marketing department is looking at all the fuss about the new MacOS version. People like new things.
- kwertyoowiyop 4y ago
  The “last Windows” really appealed to me. I was pleasantly surprised they’d operate that way. So naturally they soon reverse course with no coherent explanation. And of course none of my family’s PCs are allowed to upgrade. Thank you Microsoft! :-(
- jankovicsandras 4y ago
  This. At this point: Why does even Windows 10 exist? Does anybody know any application, that couldn't run on Windows 7 if it wasn't the "we deliberately won't support new CPUs to force people to Win10" from Microsoft? What are the critical, structural problems in Win 7 that couldn't be patched and mandated Win 10? Sorry for my bitterness, I just think Win 7 was peak usability. I never saw technical reasons for change afterwards, only forced political ones.
  - gus_massa 4y ago
    Windows 10 is important because it reverts the changes in Windows 8 :) . In particular, you get again a nice program files menu at the left, instead of a slow change of a isolated all screen mode. (The tiles in the manu are a nice improvement from W7 to W10.)
  - probably_wrong 4y ago
    > I just think Win 7 was peak usability. See, right now I agree with you, but then I remember that I said the same about XP and, before that, about Win98. When it comes to Windows releases, Microsoft has a solid streak of "a good one, a bad one". Therefore, my non-cynical interpretation is that there is room for improvement. With Android and iPhones eating the world, it would be reasonable for MS to try something new before becoming obsolete. Whether we'll see such an improvement before Windows 12, that's a different question.
spicyusername 4y ago
Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. - Robert Frost
- kwertyoowiyop 4y ago
  Better known by its informal title, “An Ode to Windows 7.”
bblacher 4y ago
They listed pretty much anything that was changed from 10 to 11.
2Gkashmiri 4y ago
like last year or a few years ago, laptops from dell/hp would come in a "dos" version but that is becoming increasingly hard these days. I saw one model that had a inr 3000/$38 bump over the dos version which i don't want to pay when i am only going to buy a linux laptop but i dont see any in indian markets like the framework. they are comparable to xps line of dell which is like 3 times their cheapest inspiron series. I want dell inspiron class linux laptop, is it that hard?(currently sporting a dell e7440 + kde neon)
gandalfff 4y ago
I use a Mac for work, but I have a Dell Optiplex that I use for gaming. It is not officially eligible to run Windows 11 but is currently running Windows 11 quite happily. The UX improvements are welcome, especially the UI animations. The new WSL has been fun to tinker with as well. I'm not daily driving Windows 11, but in my experience the small improvements add up and it's a worthwhile upgrade from 10, maybe even if your PC isn't "supported".
- randomopining 4y ago
  Isn't WSL fully functional in W10? Are there any palpable improvements or just subjective UI stuff?
  - wbercx 4y ago
    I found out about a WSL feature specific to Windows 11 today, after exporting an image from my Windows 11 laptop to my Windows 10 desktop. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#boot-settings https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#boot... There's a few more on that page. I would not be surprised if more appeared over time.
  - gandalfff 4y ago
    My understanding is that WSLg (support for running graphical Linux applications) requires Windows 11.
randomopining 4y ago
So TLDR, is it worth upgrading to it or not? It sounds like no
- sharps1 4y ago
  Much prefer windows 11 to 10 with the following changes below. Without the changes would probably be worse. Disabled widgets. No longer use the windows explorer for most things as it got worse (extra clicks). Directory Opus or Total commander are fine replacements. I keep the task manager pinned to the taskbar as it is more clicks otherwise to get to. Switching sound to speakers / headphones is now an extra click. I used O&O Privacy to disable a bunch of settings (Actually quite a lot of settings, this was the same on windows 10 though). Design wise I prefer win 11. I like the centralized icons on the taskbar. Tried start11, wasn’t for me, I use the default taskbar.
joaonmatos 4y ago
Call me a simpleton but I upgraded simply because of wslg. I know that you could forward X11 before but seamless integration of graphical Linux apps is too big of a boon. The other stuff I don’t really care. I have 0 stuff on the desktop and use Super + typing the name of the app to open anything. I would use a gnome distro if fractional scaling worked decently, but sadly it doesn’t, at least for VSCode and IntelliJ. So WSL it is.
- _xerces_ 4y ago
  I upgraded for the same reason as I use WSL2 extensively and occasionally need to use something graphical like gitk.
- karmakaze 4y ago
  I thought I read that it was possible without going far off the path to get this all working with Windows 10 as well just not as well known/publicized.
dingleberry 4y ago
it's 2022 now, please upgrade to win22
breadloaf 4y ago
There is lot of non-issues, especially around taskbar UI. You can switch everything as it is on Windows 10, including the file explorer choices. Only issues which are annoying to me 1) TPM necessary, from 6 PCs I have I can upgrade only 1. At least I have some PC for testing. 2) Microsoft account necessary. However I expect that Microsoft will drop TPM request as they will find out that Win 11 market share is stagnating and will be growing only very slowly.

I've only used Windows for games or exper mentation/testing. If I can't get windows 10 for a new computer, I'll do with only Linux for personal use. For work it was always targeting Linux servers anyway.

thesuperbigfrog 4y ago

The taskbar changes, removal of context menus, and start menu changes have stopped me from upgrading. I am not sure why the Windows 11 designers thought that removing features that people use were a good idea. I am using a desktop computer and I want to be productive. Please do not strip out useful features by pretending that Windows is a primarily a tablet operating system.

benttoothpaste 4y ago
This is a classic case of data driven development. If users do not sufficiently “engage” with a feature, it is removed.
- rk06 4y ago
  Nope, it is called “stupid”. If significant paying customers (>10k) are using a feature, then it should not be removed. If feature is a power or accessibility feature, then it should not be removed even if it is not used anywhere.

xg15 4y ago

I still don't understand why Windows 11 exists in the first place. Back when Windows 10 was announced, there was a lot of talk from Microsoft about it being "the last Windows" - meaning, that from this point on, all future versions of Windows would be delivered as updates, but the "product" from a user perspective would always be Windows 10. The user should not go through the "install new OS" experience ever again. You can discuss whether it's a good idea to take so much agency away from the user, but it certainly shows MS was aware of the fact that users increasingly don't want to switch their OS every few years. But then comes Windows 11 - and not just did the "last Windows" paradigm go out the window, but MS is back to making wild changes to the UI and having to nudge and pressure an unwilling userbase into switching their OS. Why?

zamalek 4y ago
Because Windows 11 sounds way sexier than 20H2. The "last Windows" is an all-round superior approach, except when your marketing department is looking at all the fuss about the new MacOS version. People like new things.
kwertyoowiyop 4y ago
The “last Windows” really appealed to me. I was pleasantly surprised they’d operate that way. So naturally they soon reverse course with no coherent explanation. And of course none of my family’s PCs are allowed to upgrade. Thank you Microsoft! :-(
jankovicsandras 4y ago
This. At this point: Why does even Windows 10 exist? Does anybody know any application, that couldn't run on Windows 7 if it wasn't the "we deliberately won't support new CPUs to force people to Win10" from Microsoft? What are the critical, structural problems in Win 7 that couldn't be patched and mandated Win 10? Sorry for my bitterness, I just think Win 7 was peak usability. I never saw technical reasons for change afterwards, only forced political ones.
- gus_massa 4y ago
  Windows 10 is important because it reverts the changes in Windows 8 :) . In particular, you get again a nice program files menu at the left, instead of a slow change of a isolated all screen mode. (The tiles in the manu are a nice improvement from W7 to W10.)
- probably_wrong 4y ago
  > I just think Win 7 was peak usability. See, right now I agree with you, but then I remember that I said the same about XP and, before that, about Win98. When it comes to Windows releases, Microsoft has a solid streak of "a good one, a bad one". Therefore, my non-cynical interpretation is that there is room for improvement. With Android and iPhones eating the world, it would be reasonable for MS to try something new before becoming obsolete. Whether we'll see such an improvement before Windows 12, that's a different question.

spicyusername 4y ago

Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. - Robert Frost

kwertyoowiyop 4y ago
Better known by its informal title, “An Ode to Windows 7.”

bblacher 4y ago

They listed pretty much anything that was changed from 10 to 11.

2Gkashmiri 4y ago

like last year or a few years ago, laptops from dell/hp would come in a "dos" version but that is becoming increasingly hard these days. I saw one model that had a inr 3000/$38 bump over the dos version which i don't want to pay when i am only going to buy a linux laptop but i dont see any in indian markets like the framework. they are comparable to xps line of dell which is like 3 times their cheapest inspiron series. I want dell inspiron class linux laptop, is it that hard?(currently sporting a dell e7440 + kde neon)

gandalfff 4y ago

I use a Mac for work, but I have a Dell Optiplex that I use for gaming. It is not officially eligible to run Windows 11 but is currently running Windows 11 quite happily. The UX improvements are welcome, especially the UI animations. The new WSL has been fun to tinker with as well. I'm not daily driving Windows 11, but in my experience the small improvements add up and it's a worthwhile upgrade from 10, maybe even if your PC isn't "supported".

randomopining 4y ago
Isn't WSL fully functional in W10? Are there any palpable improvements or just subjective UI stuff?
- wbercx 4y ago
  I found out about a WSL feature specific to Windows 11 today, after exporting an image from my Windows 11 laptop to my Windows 10 desktop. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#boot-settings https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/wsl-config#boot... There's a few more on that page. I would not be surprised if more appeared over time.
- gandalfff 4y ago
  My understanding is that WSLg (support for running graphical Linux applications) requires Windows 11.

randomopining 4y ago

So TLDR, is it worth upgrading to it or not? It sounds like no

sharps1 4y ago
Much prefer windows 11 to 10 with the following changes below. Without the changes would probably be worse. Disabled widgets. No longer use the windows explorer for most things as it got worse (extra clicks). Directory Opus or Total commander are fine replacements. I keep the task manager pinned to the taskbar as it is more clicks otherwise to get to. Switching sound to speakers / headphones is now an extra click. I used O&O Privacy to disable a bunch of settings (Actually quite a lot of settings, this was the same on windows 10 though). Design wise I prefer win 11. I like the centralized icons on the taskbar. Tried start11, wasn’t for me, I use the default taskbar.

joaonmatos 4y ago

Call me a simpleton but I upgraded simply because of wslg. I know that you could forward X11 before but seamless integration of graphical Linux apps is too big of a boon. The other stuff I don’t really care. I have 0 stuff on the desktop and use Super + typing the name of the app to open anything. I would use a gnome distro if fractional scaling worked decently, but sadly it doesn’t, at least for VSCode and IntelliJ. So WSL it is.

_xerces_ 4y ago
I upgraded for the same reason as I use WSL2 extensively and occasionally need to use something graphical like gitk.
karmakaze 4y ago
I thought I read that it was possible without going far off the path to get this all working with Windows 10 as well just not as well known/publicized.

dingleberry 4y ago

it's 2022 now, please upgrade to win22

breadloaf 4y ago

There is lot of non-issues, especially around taskbar UI. You can switch everything as it is on Windows 10, including the file explorer choices. Only issues which are annoying to me 1) TPM necessary, from 6 PCs I have I can upgrade only 1. At least I have some PC for testing. 2) Microsoft account necessary. However I expect that Microsoft will drop TPM request as they will find out that Win 11 market share is stagnating and will be growing only very slowly.