I already covered Linux before in The Linux Talk post so I’ll not mention it here. Go check that one if you want my opinion on it. This time, we’re tackling Windows. And oh boy…
A Live Service to Piss You Off
Windows 11 is terrible for anyone that has used Windows for ages. I have used Windows since 98 SE and for the most part, the experience has been ranging from decent to okay. Although a lot of people complained about Windows Vista, it was just a much prettier version of Windows XP, so it wasn’t that different.
Starting with Windows 8, Windows completely lost its way. Everything since then had to be fixed to be good eventually and that’s not a good thing. Windows 8 was essentially ‘fixed’ with 8.1. Windows 10 wasn’t as good as it is today, because Microsoft had to patch it (and quite a lot) to get it to a usable state. But Windows 11 is MS being stubborn for the most part and not willing to change things to have a better UX, because what they want is claim the big numbers.
Stuff like ExplorerPatcher is a godsend for UX, but there’s more. Windows comes riddled with ads of all kinds. ArsTechnica has a whole article about how many annoying ads Windows 11 comes with. The problem here is the part where being annoying isn’t enough, it needs to be obnoxious too. More in the article.
Using Windows nowadays is usually an exercise in frustration if you don’t customize it to stop being annoying. At least that is still an option. However that sounds very familiar… That’s right, it’s a Live Service type of thing. Several games do the same thing. “SPEND SPEND SPEND BUY BUY BUY” is usually plastered on menus, compass, NPCs, and many other places.
A quick example is Gran Turismo 7, which is not that obnoxious with this, but the feeling is there. Everything is much more expensive than it should be, which is trying to get you to spend real money on it. But once you ignore it (which is actually easy), the game is quite decent. I used GT7 as a comparison that you don’t need to make it obnoxious to make people spend money. You only do that because you are desperate.
Windows 11 does not allow you to finish the installation without a Microsoft Account.While you can bypass it if you do some commands, the desperation is palpable. And it doesn’t get better when you actually go to the main Desktop area.
When it works…
I have used ExplorerPatcher, Winaero Tweaker and a few other programs to get all this garbage off my view. Then Windows 11 reveals itself, a slightly better version of Windows 10, which itself was a much revised version of Windows 8.1. Nothing wrong about that, I suppose.
But Windows is used by a lot of people because it just works. Your programs mostly work, your games will certainly work, and many other things will just function. UI is usually getting shafted with each release, but for the most part, you adapt to it, or get a program that makes it look like the older ones because the OS is so modular that allows that to happen.
Need to install some sort of program but that has a dependency? It’s most likely already pre-installed inside the system and if it’s not, it’ll either tell you that you need it or install it for you. Crazy good, makes troubleshooting less of a nightmare.
But then it doesn’t…
However, it seems that Windows is a timebomb and the clock is always ticking down. It doesn’t matter if you turn off your PC or not, it’ll do the same thing. Programs stop launching. Window positions don’t save anymore. Programs get uninstalled out of the blue. Long boot times. Weird glitches. Full screen programs don’t do full screen anymore. Stutters. Drivers giving out on you. Printer no longer works, no matter what you do. You name it, it’ll happen to you. It seems that Windows has a 1.5 years life expectancy, so after that period, the OS just starts to break. Oh and it doesn’t matter what version of Windows you’re using, even older versions had this issue.
Modular Enough But Not Quite
A new class of hardware has been created with the GPD Win, by GamePad Digital, waaay back in 2016 (Before the Switch even!), the Handheld Gaming PC. While it was the first of its kind, it used Windows 10, which wasn’t up to the task, as it lacked many touchscreen capabilities (which, ironically, would be perfect if Windows 8 was used). While it was still a PC, it was too much for the hardware used for it.
Many years later, we have a market with plenty of hardware parts, so many that it’s impossible to cover all of them. And what most of them use? Windows, of course. A system that was never truly designed for it is being used on devices that makes it clear, Windows needs to be even more modular.
And Microsoft is trying to follow along, making changes to… The Xbox app, which no one cares about. Yes, it has to be always obnoxious. Or make an overlay with MS Edge, that works for every game, regardless of store. Yes, let’s make the ad filled browser more bloated.
What we actually need is to make sure that these changes aren’t put in programs that people don’t (want to) use. Regedit and GPEDIT.msc aren’t part of Xbox, they are part of Windows. And chances are that if you got a Handheld Gaming PC, you’re not gonna use Xbox on it, meaning that, while Windows is modular enough, some bean counter still thinks they can get away with making people wanting to use Xbox on PC. Yeah, no, we have Steam and the Steam Deck-like Big Picture, we’re fine.
“Just switch to Linux lol”
I did say I wasn’t gonna mention Linux and technically I’m not going to. The reason why people don’t switch to Linux is because of what I discussed at that link, people would be confused to get the ‘best version’ of Linux because no such thing exist. But for Windows, people will recommend either the latest, the previous one, or the latest with some software to “make it usable”.
Some software only works on Windows (or Mac but not the point). If you are dependent of Adobe works, like Photoshop, you simply won’t switch to Linux. Anti-cheat software for games do not work on Linux for the most part because ??? I don’t understand it either, but that’s how it is.
And the last bit, getting a new operating system is like learning a new skill. Most people are already used to Windows. Your skill of using Windows will translate both forwards and backwards (if you try out Windows 98 SE, you’ll see how similar it is), meaning that people won’t move to something that breaks that.
What’s Next
I suspect that MS is working on Windows 12 as I write this. Some rumors say that it’ll be modular, only having the things you want to use, and that X86 Emulation will be one of those modules. That could be good, since there’s plenty of people and apps that don’t exactly need it, and if you need games that are X86 only, you could get that module.
The interface design concepts I’ve seen makes me wanna go back to Windows 7, and very likely we’ll get some nifty paid programs that I’ll have to pay for get the ‘classic Windows 10’ experience back.
But for now… I guess we’ll have to just install a bunch of stuff to get rid of all the first-party bloatware and telemetry, just so we can have an usable daily driver system.