Windows 11 - first impressions?

[SiliconWizard]

So, a few people had played a bit with the leaked Win 11... but now that's it's officially out, is there anyone here who has installed it and uses it as a daily driver?
If so, what are your thoughts?

From a few comments I have heard at this point, it looks like it's more disappointing than what we thought when we saw the first tests. Sure the UI is a bit more polished, but apparently a lot of things have just plain disappeared. For instance, if I got it right, you can't open the task manager anymore just from a right click on the task bar. I don't now if there is any other easy shortcut. Menus have also become dumbed down a lot. Oh and of course, it will make your life miserable on a regular basis if you don't have an online account.

But more hands-on experience with it would be interesting.

[xrunner]

I have one PC that has the message Windows 11 is ready to install, but haven't done it yet (maybe this weekend). The thing I don't get is that PC has a Ryzen 3 3200G 4 core proc. and that is OK for Win 11. But my main PC, a Ryzen 7 1700 with 8 cores, is not on the list. Technically it's a more capable proc. so I do not understand this. I haven't found the answer as to why?

[ataradov]

Task bar in the middle would be a miserable experience.  You now how you hate when you go to press a link on a page with not fully loaded ad, and then ad loads and you click on an ad instead of a link? They took that principle and applied it to the OS. Imagine you go for a start button, but some application showed an error dialog or some hing like that, and as you click, you miss and launch whatever is next to the start. Also forget your muscle memory, you need to hunt controls, since they move around all the time.

Also, if I understand correctly there is no longer a way to display window title on the task bar, so if you have 5 PDFs open, you get to see 5 identical icons and then you need to guess which one is which. Even though your monitor is super wide and there is no need to save space by compressing stuff.

I'm so glad I use Linux at home, and I hope that by the time W11 rolls out in corporate environment there is some third-party shell that can be used to undo all their "innovations".

Ctrl-Shift-Esc is the shortcut for the task manager, which I hope still works in W11. But yeah, from what I heard most of the right button stuff is not there. I guess it is a continuation of the thing where they fail to  make tablet UI work on desktop.

[SiliconWizard]

The task bar - you can configure it to be left-aligned instead.

Otherwise, it looks a bit as though they had hired some people from the Gnome 3 team.

[ataradov]

The task bar - you can configure it to be left-aligned instead.

Good. I misinterpreted some information as you can move the start button to the left, but not the whole row of buttons. But from the screenshots it looks like the whole ting goes to the left.

Without full buttons it is pretty much useless to me. I constantly have multiple instance of the same app open.

Otherwise, it looks a bit as though they had hired some people from the Gnome 3 team.

Yep, just make things less and less usable. They will make a 'huge improvement' the next version when they put everything back.

[gmb42]

For instance, if I got it right, you can't open the task manager anymore just from a right click on the task bar. I don't now if there is any other easy shortcut.

Does the Ctrl + Shift + Escape hotkey still work?

[DiTBho]

W11 should have a built-in Android emulator 

[Marco]

I'm so glad I use Linux at home, and I hope that by the time W11 rolls out in corporate environment there is some third-party shell that can be used to undo all their "innovations".

Haven't tried Windows 11 yet, so I haven't needed it but it seems like there already is.

Citrix&Co should see this as an opportunity to keep relevant as Azure Stack and Virtual Desktop are eating their lunch. Make their own lookalike (as much as legally possible) desktop, start menu and taskbar and offer continuity and lack of disruption to corporate users. Just cast the applications.

Or maybe Microsoft takes a few steps back by the time you are forced to use it. The XML configurable tiled start menu became a somewhat useful superset of the classic start menu in the end, good way for a business to make important stuff discoverable and locked, if you could avoid all the experiments in desktop tiling and start menu fuckery in between. They can learn to force their GUI developers to swallow their ego, if enough fortune 500 companies tell them they are just not going to upgrade.

[SiliconWizard]

if enough fortune 500 companies tell them they are just not going to upgrade.

But I don't see this happening.

[Ed.Kloonk]

I'll just leave this here.

 

[SilverSolder]

The best thing about Windows 11 is that from now on, Windows 10 will be relatively stable as they stop messing with it! 

[ptluis]

It's really the good same s..t automatic updates that f...k up your system, bloatware, telemetry, many useless features that exhaust your computer resources, and so on. but if you are feeling loneliness and want a more intense experience just talk to the machine to fullfill your needs.... and if you ask her/him about bill gates it's even a more unique and intense one.... When I'm feeling alone I love to talk s..t with my google assistant... it's so nice and if I turn on cortana we made a threesome of intense talk...  Have you ever try to put both google assistant and cortana talking to each other?  well try and see for yourself 

PS. after 30min I deleted it

[ptluis]

The best thing about Windows 11 is that from now on, Windows 10 will be relatively stable as they stop messing with it! 

you will update to 11 because it will be free 

[james_s]

you will update to 11 because it will be free 

Windows 10 was "free" and I still haven't "upgraded" to it. I had to use it for a while at a former job and I hated it, it was the most user-hostile operating system I have ever experienced. It felt like it was constantly fighting against me, just wearing me down.

[SilverSolder]

you will update to 11 because it will be free 

Windows 10 was "free" and I still haven't "upgraded" to it. I had to use it for a while at a former job and I hated it, it was the most user-hostile operating system I have ever experienced. It felt like it was constantly fighting against me, just wearing me down.

One problem is that there is a "cost" to changing an OS...  you have muscle memory of where everything is and how everything works, and changing to a new GUI (even if it is better!) requires an investment in time and energy.   Is that investment worth it?  -  when you are young and energetic and excited, it is absolutely worth it.  As you get older and have other responsibilities and many things to do, you learn to prioritize...  what do you want to spend your precious time on?

Another issue is that Windows (and the computer industry in general) has changed direction over the last 20 years.  The focus used to be on improving the performance and capabilities of hardware and applications to solve problems and do work for the user.   Now, the focus is on selling IT as a service to the user...   The users' problems are still being solved, but subtly, the user no longer owns the means of production and has become a "tenant" in cyberspace...    Maybe this is actually a good solution for many (perhaps most) computer users, but not all...

[xrunner]

One of my friends is a Windows Insider and has had Windows 11 for a while. I ran into the issue where the "PC Health Check" told me my CPU (Ryzen 7 1700) was not acceptable for Windows 11. We were talking about why that was, and I asked him the other day what exactly Win 11 does (other than look different) that Windows 10 does not do. What will it do for me that I will be excited about? He basically mumbled for a while and admitted he couldn't answer my question.

 

[rsjsouza]

Sure, there might be a number of positive changes in the long run but, at this moment, it looks to me as one more iteration of the current trend of "change for the sake of change" - similar to what Windows 10 was in relation to Win7.

Well, that and one more step to consolidate Windows as SaaS, just like Windows 10 started and was partially backported to 7 and 8.1.

So, it is a pass for me at the moment, just like 10 was in my personal computers (I use it on a company owned computer).

[ptluis]

One of my friends is a Windows Insider and has had Windows 11 for a while. I ran into the issue where the "PC Health Check" told me my CPU (Ryzen 7 1700) was not acceptable for Windows 11. We were talking about why that was, and I asked him the other day what exactly Win 11 does (other than look different) that Windows 10 does not do. What will it do for me that I will be excited about? He basically mumbled for a while and admitted he couldn't answer my question.

 

I tell you: the need for a new computer, expensive hardware upgrades, new software purchases or cloud subscription, and so on. It has always been like that. We live in a voyeuristic society, so we have voyeuristic operating systems, voyeuristic smartphones and voyeuristic technologies that drive the economy and empower those who control them

But not everything is bad, if you need a stable, secure and more private operating system 10, 11 to develop your projects, just remove most of rubbish, uninstalled or disabled, leaving only the operating system itself, it is very solid it is stable and can even be installed on older computers with single core CPU like the Pentium M, for example.

The other option is to use linux and be happy: - +

[james_s]

If they released an up to date OS with the slick and polished Windows 7 UI and complete control over the updates that's something I would get excited about and would be happy to pay for. Otherwise my computing needs are roughly the same as they were 10 or more years ago and I really strongly dislike change for the sake of change. I also don't like the trend of dumbing everything down and removing options.

[SiliconWizard]

you will update to 11 because it will be free 

Windows 10 was "free" and I still haven't "upgraded" to it. I had to use it for a while at a former job and I hated it, it was the most user-hostile operating system I have ever experienced. It felt like it was constantly fighting against me, just wearing me down.

Same here. So still on 7 and happy with it. Issue though is that software companies have started not just not supporting Win 7 anymore, but releasing software that can't even run on it. Typically not a problem yet with the tools I use. Except for Vivado. I'm not working on Xilinx 7 series projects at the moment, but when I do, I'll see. I'll probably install Vivado on my Linux box and access it via VNC.

I had tried Win 10 though, just to see. Installed it back then on a laptop. To be fair, this laptop had a Win 7 "home" edition, so it got upgraded to 10 home as well, which is the worst of all editions regarding privacy and user control. But anyway, the overal experience was consistantly horrible.

[ptluis]

you will update to 11 because it will be free 

Windows 10 was "free" and I still haven't "upgraded" to it. I had to use it for a while at a former job and I hated it, it was the most user-hostile operating system I have ever experienced. It felt like it was constantly fighting against me, just wearing me down.

Same here. So still on 7 and happy with it. Issue though is that software companies have started not just not supporting Win 7 anymore, but releasing software that can't even run on it. Typically not a problem yet with the tools I use. Except for Vivado. I'm not working on Xilinx 7 series projects at the moment, but when I do, I'll see. I'll probably install Vivado on my Linux box and access it via VNC.

I had tried Win 10 though, just to see. Installed it back then on a laptop. To be fair, this laptop had a Win 7 "home" edition, so it got upgraded to 10 home as well, which is the worst of all editions regarding privacy and user control. But anyway, the overal experience was consistantly horrible.

if you want to use whatever OS, do it on a virtual machine, win 10, 11 also runs fine, like Mac OS, android, etc, or create a multi-boot system on your computer. win 7 is still the best windows version of all, but as I said before, windows 10 without the crapware are really solid. If for some reason any old software doesn't run on it, just run it in compatible mode (win7+Sp1 or win7+sp2) with administrative rights, works for about 98% of old software. but the most practical way is in fact using a virtual machine if your actual system allow it, of course.   The best flavours of win 10 are the LTSC ones, and with some cleaning, really nice.

[rstofer]

Apparently, none of the machines I own, including a couple just a year or two old, are candidates for upgrade.  Something to do with a missing TPM...  It is rumored that Win 11 will run but that Microsoft won't support it.

There's a hardware 'Health Check' utility that will help determine whether a PC can be upgraded and, apparently, mine can't.  Good news and bad, I suppose.  I'm not in the market for a new PC or laptop.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3631575/how-to-check-if-your-pc-can-run-windows-11.html

Many of the people complaining about the implications of an upgrade need not worry.  Their hardware may not support Win 11 anyway.

[SilverSolder]

I recall when the TPM first came out...  it was widely seen as an intrusive technology.  Now, it is required... even to play Tic Tac Toe on the PC.

Sign of the times...

[ptluis]

I recall when the TPM first came out...  it was widely seen as an intrusive technology.  Now, it is required... even to play Tic Tac Toe on the PC.

Sign of the times...

TPM could easily be bypassed by adding a key to regedit, or your windows installation image, tested on physical machine and virtual machine, so no problem.
search google for "bypass windows tpm" you have lots of tutorials if you don't know how to do it.

[james_s]

I kind of suspect they'll backtrack on the TPM thing eventually, since there seem to be a large number of systems (including most desktops) that don't have it and most people don't seem to even understand what purpose it serves. MS is going to be pushing to get as many people as possible onto their latest OS and this is working against them for no good reason. If they want to recommend a TPM that's fine, but there is no good reason to require it.