Is it now worth trying Windows 11?

[james_s]

I turned off updating completely in 2015 when they started pushing Windows 10, I've had much less trouble with my Win7 machine since then, it just works.

[IanB]

I think you've misunderstood me, I was attempting to point out I've never required an MS account for that system (initially Win 10 and then upgraded to Win 11) and nor have I needed one on the clean installs of Win 11 I've done.

I resisted setting up Windows machines with a Microsoft account for a long time, but I eventually realized that by using local user accounts I was just causing pain for myself, like walking around with a ball and chain attached to my ankle. When I moved from Win 7 to Win 10 I relented and set the machines up with my MS account. The experience is so much smoother and more pleasant that I will not go back.

[james_s]

I resisted setting up Windows machines with a Microsoft account for a long time, but I eventually realized that by using local user accounts I was just causing pain for myself, like walking around with a ball and chain attached to my ankle. When I moved from Win 7 to Win 10 I relented and set the machines up with my MS account. The experience is so much smoother and more pleasant that I will not go back.

I know they are hoping everyone will just do as you've done, but I steadfastly refuse to give in. I will give up Windows entirely before I create an online account.

[IanB]

I know they are hoping everyone will just do as you've done, but I steadfastly refuse to give in. I will give up Windows entirely before I create an online accoune.

You don't have any online accounts at all? No Google? No Apple?

For me, using a Microsoft account for Windows is not much different than using an Apple account for iPhone or Mac, or using a Google account for Android or Gmail.

[Ed.Kloonk]

I know they are hoping everyone will just do as you've done, but I steadfastly refuse to give in. I will give up Windows entirely before I create an online accoune.

You don't have any online accounts at all? No Google? No Apple?

For me, using a Microsoft account for Windows is not much different than using an Apple account for iPhone or Mac, or using a Google account for Android or Gmail.

In the early days, you did indeed had to have a on-line account to manage your remote terminal access and to time-share valuable resources. But James' point is excellent. Everything you need to do what you want to do is already in your house or even in your hand.

[james_s]

You don't have any online accounts at all? No Google? No Apple?

For me, using a Microsoft account for Windows is not much different than using an Apple account for iPhone or Mac, or using a Google account for Android or Gmail.

I have an apple account that I use exclusively for my iphone, I don't like it but there is no alternative, Android needs an account too. Still it's a phone that requires a service provided to do anything, my PC on the other hand does not. It is a standalone machine, in my ~35 years of using PCs I have never needed an online account to use one and I'm not going to change that. It's a self contained *personal* computer, not a dumb terminal.

So no, just no. I didn't ask for a Microsoft account, I don't want a Microsoft account, and on principal I absolutely refuse to sign up for one and the more they try to pester me to do so the more I will dig in my heals.

[rdl]

I figure the less of Google and Microsoft there is in my life, the better off I am. I probably had accounts with both of them at one time, but that was a decade or two ago.

[Ranayna]

I think you've misunderstood me, I was attempting to point out I've never required an MS account for that system (initially Win 10 and then upgraded to Win 11) and nor have I needed one on the clean installs of Win 11 I've done.

I resisted setting up Windows machines with a Microsoft account for a long time, but I eventually realized that by using local user accounts I was just causing pain for myself, like walking around with a ball and chain attached to my ankle. When I moved from Win 7 to Win 10 I relented and set the machines up with my MS account. The experience is so much smoother and more pleasant that I will not go back.

I am genuinely curious what the big advantage is you are seeing for using an MS Account to sign in to Windows.
I have to admit i can't speak of the usability, because i never used the MS Store or OneDrive, but as far as i know, at least on Windows 10, these work with a local windows Account. Of course you need to sign in to the store and OneDrive, but the login should be able to be saved.

I know that Office 365 works with a local Windows account. You just have to be careful on initial setup to not hit the wrong button and convert your local account to a MS Account.
For the time i used it, it sometimes nagged me (which just added to my annoyance with Microsoft), but worked fine.

[SiliconWizard]

That is something you either say no to, or you accept everything that possibly goes with it.
An online account is worse for privacy than bare telemetry, which is already pretty bad.

If you find it convenient, good for you. Everyone should have a choice either way. I don't ever want anyone to tell me what I need and what is convenient for me or not. This trend is rampant everywhere and it has got to stop.

[Karel]

https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/04/rufus_explorerpatcher_windows_11/

[DavidAlfa]

Got tired of the Explorer crashing, yesterday it crashed every few minutes when copying files, so I removed Explorer Patcher.
Can't blame it 100%, could also be the ext2fsd driver, but it was installed long time ago and I don't remember such issues.

[Karel]

The end game? Selling thin-client/low-cost devices to businesses and consumers and offsetting costs via ads and subscriptions.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/whats-next-for-windows-cloud-integration-ad-and-subscription-powered-devices/

[Warhawk]

I switched to windows 11 when I bought Framework laptop. I have the 12gen core with the big-little thing and was told that the scheduler in w10 does not work that well with it. I also have W10 on my corporate laptop.
I like windows 11 way more. I did not do any additional adjustments. I like the window manager that I use with my ultra widescreen monitor. I am too supprised because generally I am conservative. Windows 2000 is the best UI for me. 

[BeBuLamar]

I tried Windows 11 on my Lenovo P1 Gen4 laptop. It has an I7-11800H 2.30GHz, 32GB RAM, 1TB hard drive, Nvidia RTX2000. It went thru the installation then restart but ran into some kind of problem so it went back to Windows 10. I tried twice.

[DavidAlfa]

Upgraded to 22H2. Few cosmetic updates, seems snappier and faster.

Edit: Said nothing, it's 22H2 aka bugged version!
Has tons of weird issues, stay with 21H2 for a while!

[SiliconWizard]

Upgraded to 22H2. Few cosmetic updates, seems snappier and faster.

Edit: Said nothing, it's 22H2 aka bugged version!
Has tons of weird issues, stay with 21J2 for a while!

 

[SL4P]

I don’t like the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
But I wish OS vendors could understand the idea behind that.

[james_s]

I don’t like the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
But I wish OS vendors could understand the idea behind that.

They operate off the principal of "If it ain't broke, fix it 'till it is"

[The Soulman]

I don’t like the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
But I wish OS vendors could understand the idea behind that.

Yeah, Imho "they" have deliberately broken a perfectly fine windows 7 and now a at least usable windows 10.
I'm in a argument now with dell about all sorts of audio stability issues on a new latitude laptop with w10 pro, they say reinstall w10, I say screw it, this is nonsense!
Been a happy dell+windows (xp/7) user for twenty years but enough is enough!
Although I absolutely despise apple it seems to be the least worse os as far as simply respecting user settings, yes the world is falling apart. 

[DavidAlfa]

I was fine with 21H2, but a windows update completely broke the system, made it unbooteable, so there was no other way, after trying everything I finally decided to make a fresh 22H2 install.

It's terribly buggy.
Shortly after fresh install, all the Modern apps stopped working (Store, Calculator...) had to reset all of them.
If you open the Explorer by clicking "This PC", everything is normal, but when issuing Win+E, "This PC" is missing, no drives, only Desktop/Docs/Downloads/etc and Network are present.
If you enable "Show This PC" on folder options, then it works with Win+E, but opening through This PC shortcut shows it twice!
Sometimes Home also appears duplicated.

Getting sudden reboots without any warning, while working the screen suddenly goes black "Rebooting..." WTF?
Navigating the filesystem causes frequent freezes, where even the mouse stops reponding for few seconds.

How the hell do you release something in this state?

[artag]

How the hell do you release something in this state?

It's what you do when you believe you have a captive market.
The solution is to uncaptivate yourself.

[nigelwright7557]

Windows 11 adds more security and also runs Intel efficiency cores correctly.
I found it awkward to find some functions I wanted when I first got it.
I haven't had any driver problems except for it wont run my 32 bit graphics program IPhoto any more yet Win10 did.
It was buggy when it first came out but recently  I havent found any problems.

[SiliconWizard]

How the hell do you release something in this state?

You call your dev processes "agile" with all the buzzwords and organizational nonsense, convincing whoever wants to be convinced that dev cycles will be much shorter this way and will cost less - while claiming that it is in the users' best interest as their "inputs" will be integrated in a much timely manner. Everyone should win, right?

You even attach the "continuous delivery" mantra to this, convincing your teams and investors  that software quality will dramatically improve. (Spoiler alert: not so much.)

Then you get your customers used to the crap output it generates until they keep quiet enough not to cause business issues. Which is relatively easy once they think they have no choice.

Interesting to notice how many die-hard Windows users are switching to MacOS.

[Karel]

https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide/

 

[james_s]

The thing is, most people stick with windows no matter how bad it gets, because putting up with the crap is easier than switching ecosystems. I like my work Macbook but Apple has their own problems, not the least of which being an extremely small selection of hardware. Linux is nice but suffers from fragmentation and a perception that it is hard to use. There just really aren't too many options, I abandoned Windows beyond 7, but most people just use what is put in front of them.