[HN Gopher] Windows 11 may not be as popular as Microsoft had hoped
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       Windows 11 may not be as popular as Microsoft had hoped
        
       Author : jamesdco
       Score  : 27 points
       Date   : 2022-04-03 21:18 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.techradar.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.techradar.com)
        
       | givinguflac wrote:
       | I've disabled telemetry and such, but I really like Win11 so far.
       | Had to jump through some hoops to get android apps up and
       | running, but otherwise it has been smooth sailing. I'm a MacOS
       | fan though so perhaps what I'm enjoying is the new things that
       | make the UI more like Mac imho.
        
       | Urgo wrote:
       | The only reason I was excited for Windows 11 was the Android
       | integration.
       | 
       | When the news about Windows 11 came out I had just recently
       | upgraded to a new PC, the first pre-built pc I've used for myself
       | since the 90s in fact. It was nice to see though that
       | Dell/Alienware was among the first to be able to get Windows 11
       | so I was ready to go on launch day.
       | 
       | Launch day came and went and windows kept saying it wasn't ready
       | yet. Then one day (Jan?) the update finally came. It started the
       | install.. but failed. After the failure it popped up a message
       | saying it wasn't ready yet for my device.
       | 
       | From that point on about once a week the update popped up in
       | windows update and automatically started downloading, but after
       | about 12% it failed and kept repeating the not yet ready message.
       | 
       | I'm wondering if the low number is less about who wants it, but
       | more about who they've released it to so far... which seems very
       | very low.
       | 
       | Also, the android integration.. though it works... does not work
       | very well.. For example I wanted to be able to control a smart
       | device that only has an app from my pc. It works at first, but
       | then just reloads over and over again and is unusable until I
       | reinstall it.
       | 
       | Also with the keyboard I have I often fat finger and put a tiny
       | little of pressure on the windows key when I hit ctrl-t. Ctrl-
       | windows-t turns on and off the subsystem for android reader so I
       | get to hear it telling me about that all day long.
       | 
       | Long story short, windows 11 isn't bad.. at least when you get
       | some third party tools to fix the task bar.. but not at all
       | surprised the numbers are so low. But again, I think its more
       | Microsoft's upgrade system's fault then users choosing not to
       | install it.
        
       | 0des wrote:
       | > yet another start menu
       | 
       | > yet more ads
       | 
       | > requires modern hardware
       | 
       | > more surprise updates breaking things
       | 
       | Win11 not as popular? Imagine my shock and dismay.
       | 
       | A sizable portion of my non-tech peers had bad experiences and
       | one by one switched to Linux and the elder two switched to MacOS.
       | 
       | Frankly I am baffled.
        
         | samtheDamned wrote:
         | > requires modern hardware
         | 
         | *in a time when new hardware was so freakishly expensive that
         | 4-5 year old hardware was being sold for more than it's
         | original MSRP
        
         | melling wrote:
         | Me too. I've been reading comments like this since the Year of
         | Linux first began.
         | 
         | https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/3038d4/when_was_the_...
         | 
         | Image my shock to find out Windows still has 87% market share.
         | 
         | I'm still unhappy that they took my Sun workstation and gave me
         | a Windows PC.
        
           | 0des wrote:
           | Brenda in accounting isn't going to run Ubuntu even with the
           | cute animal names. Until that happens,there will be stacks
           | upon stacks of windows optiplexes being sold every day.
           | 
           | Also nobody misses sloaris. I'm going to chalk that remark up
           | to a misfired punchline.
        
             | hotpotamus wrote:
             | I doubt Brenda would care much if she was running something
             | like RHEL for work since it can run a browser as good as
             | anything. I assume the main thing keeping Windows around in
             | her case is all the IT endpoint management stuff built
             | around the MS ecosystem. Personally, I'd probably be all in
             | on Ubuntu or some derivative if not for gaming.
        
               | loloquwowndueo wrote:
               | In my experience people balk when they realize they're
               | not using Windows or Office. I've literally had someone
               | sit in front of a Linux computer with OpenOffice and work
               | fine on it until they realized "hey the title bar says
               | OpenOffice Calc - it's not excel! I don't know how to use
               | this!" Despite the fact they were using it just fine. At
               | this point no amount of convincing made them give it
               | another try - they'd just cross arms until they were put
               | back in front of their known, trusty Windows computer.
               | 
               | So I agree they don't care but there's also the "I'm not
               | trained for this" fallacy.
        
       | vyrotek wrote:
       | The worst mistake was removing the ability to ungroup taskbar
       | items! Opening more than one instance of an application is a
       | terrible experience right now. The icons are often unresponsive,
       | the indicator that something is open is literally just a tiny
       | dot.
       | 
       | Instead of addressing this I feel like Microsoft is just going to
       | continue to add tabs to all their applications as justification
       | for it. Edge, VS Code, Windows Terminal, and now File Explorer.
        
         | insickness wrote:
         | Some Windows 11 GUI customization tools:
         | 
         | Start All Back https://www.startallback.com
         | 
         | Explorer Patcher https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher
         | 
         | Open Shell https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu
        
       | w4rh4wk5 wrote:
       | I'd really like to know how much Microsoft's behavior with recent
       | Windows versions pays off. Specifically bundling lots of unwanted
       | apps, forcing Edge and Defender down people's throats, removing
       | basic UI customization features, etc.
       | 
       | The fact that they are still doing this today suggests that they
       | get something out of these decisions. Or at least they think so.
       | 
       | I can only imagine that the part of customers being alienated
       | this way is/appears insignificant to them. I still believe
       | Microsoft has the necessary resources to put out a truly great
       | OS, but it looks like they don't want to.
        
         | odonnellryan wrote:
         | Gotta have some bad versions of windows so when we get an ok
         | version we think it is good!
         | 
         | It isn't like you're going to use Linux ;)
        
       | sumthinprofound wrote:
       | last I checked I would need to login to my local machine with a
       | Microsoft account to do a clean install. deal breaker.
        
         | gscott wrote:
         | Before installing windows disconnect from the Internet.
         | Otherwise it forces you to use a Microsoft Account.
        
         | manwe150 wrote:
         | I just set up a clean install with only a local account. It
         | isn't the first option presented, but it was available
        
       | brundolf wrote:
       | This is the first time I've ever held off on a Windows update; I
       | didn't even mind Windows 8
       | 
       | From what I've seen, this one is so bad that I'm assuming they'll
       | be forced to walk it back and/or dramatically rethink it, so I'm
       | just holding out for that
        
         | plusmax1 wrote:
         | Tbh I like it. Except that I've disabled most of the telemetry,
         | the ads, the handholding and new "features" (lots of github PS
         | scripts available to 'optimize' the initial install). I've also
         | installed StartAllBack to disable the new taskbar which I hate.
         | Now its behaving just the way I like it and it's lean and fast.
         | This, together with WSL2 I don't feel I need anything else as a
         | daily driver.
        
         | Vladimof wrote:
         | Windows ME was pretty bad too
        
       | freediver wrote:
       | Feels like Microsoft is shooting itself in the foot with Win11 as
       | far as consumers are concerned, and instead sees the future of
       | Windows in enterprise.
        
       | jeffdubin wrote:
       | A huge number of consumers who can't upgrade to Windows 11 due to
       | unsupported hardware will instead opt for an iPad or Chromebook.
       | Everything is either web- or app-based, and people don't want the
       | complexity of Windows. Microsoft will lose a big chunk of the
       | Windows user base this way.
        
         | supernovae wrote:
         | i know more people with chromebooks and ipads they never use
         | who went back to pc and enjoy windows 11..
        
       | guidedlight wrote:
       | Windows adoption is largely driven by corporations.
       | 
       | Most corporates align on a common policy of migration to every
       | second major Windows release following this pattern:
       | 
       | Windows NT 4, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 10
       | 
       | With Windows 2000, Windows Vista, and Windows 11 skipped.
       | 
       | Which is a shame as these same corporates who have fleets of
       | Apple Mac computers normally migrate annually about 6-9 months
       | after each major annual MacOS release.
       | 
       | I hypothesis the reason may be that Windows upgrades tend to be
       | major IT projects with historically large testing and remediation
       | activities, whereas MacOS upgrades are small, introducing a small
       | number of feature enhancements. New Mac computers also are only
       | compatible with the latest MacOS release further encouraging
       | rapid corporate adoption.
        
         | cameronh90 wrote:
         | You forgot Windows 8. Don't worry, so did everyone else -
         | probably for the best.
        
       | smoe wrote:
       | I haven't been following Windows development really, but wasn't
       | 10 supposed to be "last version of Windows"? Anyone knows what
       | happened to that, or if that statement has always been just
       | overblown by tech media?
        
         | buscoquadnary wrote:
         | The answer comes to us through humour as it turns out the
         | jester is usually the one telling the truth.
         | 
         | https://www.theregister.com/2011/11/11/bofh_2011_episode_18/
        
         | jerrysievert wrote:
         | macOS updated to 11, can't have another os with a higher number
         | or others might want it instead.
        
       | 0des wrote:
       | I guarantee if these numbers keep trending downward, Microsoft
       | will just find ways to force you into upgrading, or trick you
       | into upgrading like they did with windows 10 and the weirdly
       | phrased update prompt options.
        
         | aneutron wrote:
         | They "tricked" my little sibling into upgrading, by essentially
         | threatening that "this message will keep popping up until you
         | upgrade".
        
       | pbnjay wrote:
       | I basically only have a windows PC to test compatibility of apps
       | I make, and occasionally play games. MS told me I can't upgrade
       | so that's the end of it for me. I don't really care enough for
       | any of the new features to go buy a new PC
        
       | uberman wrote:
       | I would happily upgrade, but MS has decided that none of the
       | systems I own will support it.
        
       | 0xTJ wrote:
       | Windows 11 being how it is is what finally pushed me to switch to
       | Linux.
        
       | LeoPanthera wrote:
       | My gaming PC, which isn't that old (Skylake / GTX 1080) isn't
       | compatible with Windows 11. It still works fine, but given that
       | it will inevitably be out of date with something that requires
       | Windows 11, and the current impossibility of buying reasonably
       | priced GPUs, I bought a XBox instead.
       | 
       | Microsoft gets my money anyway, I suppose, but all my real work
       | is done on a Mac.
       | 
       | It's funny how Microsoft is basically just a gaming company for
       | me, now.
        
       | annoyingnoob wrote:
       | I'm running Windows 11. Its just like Windows 10 but with many
       | annoying UI changes.
        
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       (page generated 2022-04-03 23:01 UTC)