4 ms·

I literraly can’t name one feature since Windows 7 what was worth it, even on the contrary: every update made the system worse. I had to restore Notepad, Calcu

I literraly can’t name one feature since Windows 7 what was worth it, even on the contrary: every update made the system worse. I had to restore Notepad, Calculator and Paint from Windows 7. What the hell Microsoft?

fancyfredbot 5mo ago
WSL is a great feature and was a part of Windows 10.
- wokkel 5mo ago
  So you install an launcher to run linux. Ditch the launcher i'd say.
- embedding-shape 5mo ago
  WSL1 seemed great, until it wasn't. Then WSL2 came along, which is just a VM and works identical to VirtualBox et al. Still huge hassle to deal with various things that get confused when you run it in a "Linux-but-not-really-but-also-Windows" environment. Better to just go straight to what you actually want, which seems to be a proper Linux distribution, everything just works as expected then.
- mdavid626 5mo ago
  WSL sounded great, until it didn’t. It’s still not so easy to use, plus they ditched it anyway for VM solution.
- realo 5mo ago
  WSL 1 was a piece of garbage. WSL 2 is supposed to be a VM ... all problems solved ... until they aren't. Hint: try to use normal USB stuff natively (Linux) in WSL 2 ...
- heresie-dabord 5mo ago
  For all its problems, WSL is the single greatest power feature that Windows has ever had. Debian itself is a superpower.
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]
alkonaut 5mo ago
WPA3, DNS over HTTPS, WSL2, Windows Sandbox, Per monitor DPI scaling, QUIC, DirectX 12. The list can be made pretty long.
- tossandthrow 5mo ago
  Funny that you mention wsl as a great windows feature - the ability to get out of windows.
  - alkonaut 5mo ago
    Wine is a great thing on Linux too…
    - tossandthrow 5mo ago
      Yet again, because it helps avoid windows.
      - alkonaut 5mo ago
        If I run WSL it’s because I try to avoid Linux - but I want to run something that needs a Linux environment. I think the argument about what’s avoiding what is pretty strange.
    - embedding-shape 5mo ago
      Wine -> Running Windows programs on Linux WSL -> Running Linux VM inside of Windows Wine is more like emulating Windows API behavior on Linux, while WSL is Microsoft throwing their hands in the air and saying "Lets just VM Linux wholesale". Both aim to avoid Windows, neither replace Linux but instead tries to move more to Linux.
      - NewsaHackO 5mo ago
        >Both aim to avoid Windows, neither replace Linux but instead tries to move more to Linux. I don't agree: WSL is an attempt to use programs developed for Linux in Windows. It is clearly for people who want to use Linux programs but don't want the headache of setting up Linux or dual booting.
cfiggers 5mo ago
On Windows 11, when you reconnect to a monitor or set of monitors that you've connected to before, it will automatically return your open windows to the layout across those monitors that you had when you last disconnected (assuming those windows are still open). This is extremely nice and saves me time on a literally (not figuratively) daily basis, to the point that I generally forget that it hasn't always worked that way.
- tomaskafka 5mo ago
  "Well, they turned the entire OS into a tracking, sales and ad/propaganda delivery service, but they managed to make a single feature non-dumb, so guess we're even." (propaganda - Windows 11 default widgets are "offering" a lot of russian-biased media, because Microsoft is too dumb to recognize that and they take any news source - and russian connected outlets are happy to use this delivery vector that most gullible people leave turned on)
  - pndy 5mo ago
    I don't think that any of the news-oriented default Windows application since W8 had an option to provide a custom RSS channel. It was always a default pool of sources they were bringing.
- gausswho 5mo ago
  Even aside from the malevolence, Windows is rotten from the thirty-year old metaphor that it started with: windows themselves. The job of positioning and resizing applications is a confusing mix of responsibility between the user and the system. Once you've switched to tiled window managers, examples like these sound like Stockholm Syndrome.
  - ptspts 5mo ago
    I hate tiling window managers. After I start a program, I move and resize its window to the perfect position, and it stays there for weeks. I don't ever want it to be moved or resized automatically, which is what tiling window managers do by default.
Keyframe 5mo ago
I used to run all three major OS' where I saw no real difference in me using it for the apps etc I needed. As I leaned more heavily on the development side, linux kind of prevailed. Windows 8.1 and Yosemite were the last of the other two I've used for real. Never had to look back to other two since, be it for work, games or whatever. Even occasional need for Adobe things stopped. I would still really like to see Adobe suite on linux, but if they don't want my money that's cool too I guess. I suspect the software tools people use for work is what's holding them back mostly, like Altium, CADs etc. Funnily enough, Microsoft office is just fine without OS native version most of the time.
Telaneo 5mo ago
I can name features, but everything I can think of are technical features rather than obvious surface level stuff: DX12, better support for SSDs (Windows 7 doesn't natively support TRIM), HDR (I guess, but it still seems broken to me). And none of these are things that couldn't be implemented in Windows 7. The UI has nothing to do with these things, and there's no reason we couldn't have them without the trouble Windows 10/11, other than the fact that MS doesn't want to do things that way.
- the_lucifer 5mo ago
  > I guess, but it still seems broken to me You would be correct. It uses a wrong tone curve (piecewise-sRGB vs gamma 2.2/2.4) which makes the darks look off: https://github.com/dylanraga/win11hdr-srgb-to-gamma2.2-icm https://github.com/dylanraga/win11hdr-srgb-to-gamma2.2-icm This was true at least as of 2023-25 when last checked, having been super annoyed by HDR just looking flat out wrong on my PC vs my Mac (which is probably the only OS that gets everything right given their large audience of Creative/visual professionals and mobile experience).
kosh2 5mo ago
Windows terminal
- mdavid626 5mo ago
  I wouldn’t say Windows Terminal is great. Have you ever used a proper one, like Ghostty or iTerm2?
  - garganzol 5mo ago
    Neither Ghostty nor iTerm2 work on Windows.
    - mdavid626 5mo ago
      I never said they are. I just stated, they are better than Windows Terminal.
      - p_ing 5mo ago
        It's because iTerm2 incorporates AI in it, amirite? ;-)
        mdavid626 5mo ago
        Not sure what you mean. I’ve never used any AI features in a terminal.
    - benrutter 5mo ago
      Yeah, I thought it was an odd couple of recommendations. Alacritty is an awesome terminal emulator that'll run on Windows (although I'd say Windows Terminal is still pretty close to decent)
SSLy 5mo ago
AutoHDR is nifty and useful
Legend2440 5mo ago
Tabs on notepad and file explorer are extremely nice. I can't believe it took them 20 years to add them, but at least they're finally here.
Someone1234 5mo ago
This may be unpopular, but they made three legitimately GOOD changes to Notepad, before they went absolutely batshit. - Dark mode - Tabs - "Continue previous session" (restore after restart) But they also made a HUGE regression which isn't talked about enough: - Previously, if you delete the underlying file, Notepad didn't "notice." Meaning you could Save to recreate it. The file existed in an ephemeral state, as long as the Notepad window remained open. Right now, if you delete the underlying file, Notepad notices immediately, errors out, and closes that tab -- content gone. VSCode handles this correctly, it puts a line through the filename in the tab (and red-font), but doesn't close the tab on you suddenly. Ephemeral state retained. In my ideal world Notepad needs exactly ONE new feature: - Right Click Tab: "Copy Path." Then just REMOVE: Spell Checker, Formatting, CoPilot, Markdown(!), and Autocorrect. Completely inappropriate functionality for Notepad, and the Vibecoded Markdown implementation already added a security vulnerability(!) to freaking Notepad. Branch off into a product called "Wordpad" and then create all of that garbage in there.
- cshokie 5mo ago
  Notepad also understands line endings and text encodings now, instead of always writing as CRLF UTF-16. That eliminates a whole class of “save file in notepad, corrupting it” trouble.
will4274 5mo ago
Did you restore Internet Explorer from Windows 7? It seems uncontroversial that the state of web browsers is improved since Win 7
mdavid626 5mo ago
So, to sum it up: DirectX 12, better SSD support, HDR, restoring window layout when reconnecting monitors, WPA3, DNS over HTTPS, WSL2, Windows Sandbox, per monitor DPI scaling, QUIC, dark mode/tabs/previous session/better encoding in Notepad, Windows Terminal. All these sound really nice to be honest. The things I want my OS to get. The only problem is: these are the improvements what this OS got in the last 20 years, not last year. Microsoft is a $3T company.
- talon8635 5mo ago
  Is even one of these unique to windows I can’t tell if this is serious or sarcasm.
red_admiral 5mo ago
Being able to search for the names of specific settings is a plus, typing "env ..." so I can add something to PATH for example. Snipping tool. Some WINKEY+arrows combos for arranging windows. The new terminal.
idonotknowwhy 5mo ago
How did you do this? I tried to get notepad and mspaint from an older Windows 10 build -> Windows 11 on a surface pro, but gave up after a few hours...

fancyfredbot 5mo ago

WSL is a great feature and was a part of Windows 10.

wokkel 5mo ago
So you install an launcher to run linux. Ditch the launcher i'd say.
embedding-shape 5mo ago
WSL1 seemed great, until it wasn't. Then WSL2 came along, which is just a VM and works identical to VirtualBox et al. Still huge hassle to deal with various things that get confused when you run it in a "Linux-but-not-really-but-also-Windows" environment. Better to just go straight to what you actually want, which seems to be a proper Linux distribution, everything just works as expected then.
mdavid626 5mo ago
WSL sounded great, until it didn’t. It’s still not so easy to use, plus they ditched it anyway for VM solution.
realo 5mo ago
WSL 1 was a piece of garbage. WSL 2 is supposed to be a VM ... all problems solved ... until they aren't. Hint: try to use normal USB stuff natively (Linux) in WSL 2 ...
heresie-dabord 5mo ago
For all its problems, WSL is the single greatest power feature that Windows has ever had. Debian itself is a superpower.

deleted 5mo ago

[deleted]

alkonaut 5mo ago

WPA3, DNS over HTTPS, WSL2, Windows Sandbox, Per monitor DPI scaling, QUIC, DirectX 12. The list can be made pretty long.

tossandthrow 5mo ago
Funny that you mention wsl as a great windows feature - the ability to get out of windows.
- alkonaut 5mo ago
  Wine is a great thing on Linux too…
  - tossandthrow 5mo ago
    Yet again, because it helps avoid windows.
    - alkonaut 5mo ago
      If I run WSL it’s because I try to avoid Linux - but I want to run something that needs a Linux environment. I think the argument about what’s avoiding what is pretty strange.
  - embedding-shape 5mo ago
    Wine -> Running Windows programs on Linux WSL -> Running Linux VM inside of Windows Wine is more like emulating Windows API behavior on Linux, while WSL is Microsoft throwing their hands in the air and saying "Lets just VM Linux wholesale". Both aim to avoid Windows, neither replace Linux but instead tries to move more to Linux.
    - NewsaHackO 5mo ago
      >Both aim to avoid Windows, neither replace Linux but instead tries to move more to Linux. I don't agree: WSL is an attempt to use programs developed for Linux in Windows. It is clearly for people who want to use Linux programs but don't want the headache of setting up Linux or dual booting.

cfiggers 5mo ago

On Windows 11, when you reconnect to a monitor or set of monitors that you've connected to before, it will automatically return your open windows to the layout across those monitors that you had when you last disconnected (assuming those windows are still open). This is extremely nice and saves me time on a literally (not figuratively) daily basis, to the point that I generally forget that it hasn't always worked that way.

tomaskafka 5mo ago
"Well, they turned the entire OS into a tracking, sales and ad/propaganda delivery service, but they managed to make a single feature non-dumb, so guess we're even." (propaganda - Windows 11 default widgets are "offering" a lot of russian-biased media, because Microsoft is too dumb to recognize that and they take any news source - and russian connected outlets are happy to use this delivery vector that most gullible people leave turned on)
- pndy 5mo ago
  I don't think that any of the news-oriented default Windows application since W8 had an option to provide a custom RSS channel. It was always a default pool of sources they were bringing.
gausswho 5mo ago
Even aside from the malevolence, Windows is rotten from the thirty-year old metaphor that it started with: windows themselves. The job of positioning and resizing applications is a confusing mix of responsibility between the user and the system. Once you've switched to tiled window managers, examples like these sound like Stockholm Syndrome.
- ptspts 5mo ago
  I hate tiling window managers. After I start a program, I move and resize its window to the perfect position, and it stays there for weeks. I don't ever want it to be moved or resized automatically, which is what tiling window managers do by default.

Keyframe 5mo ago

I used to run all three major OS' where I saw no real difference in me using it for the apps etc I needed. As I leaned more heavily on the development side, linux kind of prevailed. Windows 8.1 and Yosemite were the last of the other two I've used for real. Never had to look back to other two since, be it for work, games or whatever. Even occasional need for Adobe things stopped. I would still really like to see Adobe suite on linux, but if they don't want my money that's cool too I guess. I suspect the software tools people use for work is what's holding them back mostly, like Altium, CADs etc. Funnily enough, Microsoft office is just fine without OS native version most of the time.

Telaneo 5mo ago

I can name features, but everything I can think of are technical features rather than obvious surface level stuff: DX12, better support for SSDs (Windows 7 doesn't natively support TRIM), HDR (I guess, but it still seems broken to me). And none of these are things that couldn't be implemented in Windows 7. The UI has nothing to do with these things, and there's no reason we couldn't have them without the trouble Windows 10/11, other than the fact that MS doesn't want to do things that way.

the_lucifer 5mo ago
> I guess, but it still seems broken to me You would be correct. It uses a wrong tone curve (piecewise-sRGB vs gamma 2.2/2.4) which makes the darks look off: https://github.com/dylanraga/win11hdr-srgb-to-gamma2.2-icm https://github.com/dylanraga/win11hdr-srgb-to-gamma2.2-icm This was true at least as of 2023-25 when last checked, having been super annoyed by HDR just looking flat out wrong on my PC vs my Mac (which is probably the only OS that gets everything right given their large audience of Creative/visual professionals and mobile experience).

kosh2 5mo ago

Windows terminal

mdavid626 5mo ago
I wouldn’t say Windows Terminal is great. Have you ever used a proper one, like Ghostty or iTerm2?
- garganzol 5mo ago
  Neither Ghostty nor iTerm2 work on Windows.
  - mdavid626 5mo ago
    I never said they are. I just stated, they are better than Windows Terminal.
    - p_ing 5mo ago
      It's because iTerm2 incorporates AI in it, amirite? ;-)
      - mdavid626 5mo ago
        Not sure what you mean. I’ve never used any AI features in a terminal.
  - benrutter 5mo ago
    Yeah, I thought it was an odd couple of recommendations. Alacritty is an awesome terminal emulator that'll run on Windows (although I'd say Windows Terminal is still pretty close to decent)

SSLy 5mo ago

AutoHDR is nifty and useful

Legend2440 5mo ago

Tabs on notepad and file explorer are extremely nice. I can't believe it took them 20 years to add them, but at least they're finally here.

Someone1234 5mo ago

This may be unpopular, but they made three legitimately GOOD changes to Notepad, before they went absolutely batshit. - Dark mode - Tabs - "Continue previous session" (restore after restart) But they also made a HUGE regression which isn't talked about enough: - Previously, if you delete the underlying file, Notepad didn't "notice." Meaning you could Save to recreate it. The file existed in an ephemeral state, as long as the Notepad window remained open. Right now, if you delete the underlying file, Notepad notices immediately, errors out, and closes that tab -- content gone. VSCode handles this correctly, it puts a line through the filename in the tab (and red-font), but doesn't close the tab on you suddenly. Ephemeral state retained. In my ideal world Notepad needs exactly ONE new feature: - Right Click Tab: "Copy Path." Then just REMOVE: Spell Checker, Formatting, CoPilot, Markdown(!), and Autocorrect. Completely inappropriate functionality for Notepad, and the Vibecoded Markdown implementation already added a security vulnerability(!) to freaking Notepad. Branch off into a product called "Wordpad" and then create all of that garbage in there.

cshokie 5mo ago
Notepad also understands line endings and text encodings now, instead of always writing as CRLF UTF-16. That eliminates a whole class of “save file in notepad, corrupting it” trouble.

will4274 5mo ago

Did you restore Internet Explorer from Windows 7? It seems uncontroversial that the state of web browsers is improved since Win 7

mdavid626 5mo ago

So, to sum it up: DirectX 12, better SSD support, HDR, restoring window layout when reconnecting monitors, WPA3, DNS over HTTPS, WSL2, Windows Sandbox, per monitor DPI scaling, QUIC, dark mode/tabs/previous session/better encoding in Notepad, Windows Terminal. All these sound really nice to be honest. The things I want my OS to get. The only problem is: these are the improvements what this OS got in the last 20 years, not last year. Microsoft is a $3T company.

talon8635 5mo ago
Is even one of these unique to windows I can’t tell if this is serious or sarcasm.

red_admiral 5mo ago

Being able to search for the names of specific settings is a plus, typing "env ..." so I can add something to PATH for example. Snipping tool. Some WINKEY+arrows combos for arranging windows. The new terminal.

idonotknowwhy 5mo ago

How did you do this? I tried to get notepad and mspaint from an older Windows 10 build -> Windows 11 on a surface pro, but gave up after a few hours...