After 40 years developing a Windows operating system, you’d think Microsoft could get it right, right? But no, Microsoft continues its unfathomable pattern of following up success with unmitigated disasters.
Windows 7: Released in 2009 and destined to become one of the most popular Windows operating systems ever, if not the most popular. What do we get next? Rather than building on Windows 7’s success, we get the unmitigated disaster that was Windows 8.
Windows 8: Released in 2012. I still remember when I first loaded Windows 8 and stared at that blank desktop wondering how the heck one gets started. There was no Start button and seemingly nothing to indicate where to go next.
Of course, I soon learned that the Start button was actually hidden and easily revealed with a mouse over. Just the same, many users railed against the full-screen Start menu, with detractors declaring that switching back and forth between the full-screen Start menu and desktop was a “jarring experience”.
Windows 8 was so poorly received that it was soon superseded by Windows 8.1, released just under a year later.
Windows 10: Released in 2014. At first criticized for what was perceived as excessive telemetry, but ended up being one of the most popular Windows operating systems, probably second only to Windows 7.
So does Microsoft build on Windows 10’s popularity? Nope, the company follows up that success with Windows 11.
Windows 11: Released in 2021. Do you remember when Microsoft declared that Windows 10 would be the last Windows version ever? It’s easy to argue now that Microsoft should have stuck to its word.
It begs the question… why was a Windows 11 even needed? Well, my theory is that Microsoft spent so heavily developing “Windows X” that, when that project was finally abandoned, all that expenditure with no end result needed to be justified.
So, the idea for Windows 11 was born. And much of what constitutes Windows 11 was then ported over from the failed Windows X project.
When one considers that Windows X was designed to be a lightweight mobile operating system supposedly to challenge iOS and Android, and Windows 11 was largely based on Windows X, it becomes easier to understand why the Windows 11 experience on PCs has been less than desirable.
It’s also easier to understand why, five years later, Windows 11 remains under constant development. Some good news is that one victim of the Windows X-ported UI elements, a fully moveable Taskbar, is slated for a return in Windows 11 26H2, expected to roll out in October 2026.
BOTTOM LINE:
After 40 years of development, you’d be forgiven for thinking we should be looking at the perfect Windows operating system, but instead, we’re looking at Windows 11.
That said, Windows 11 has improved out of sight in the five years since its initial release, and with the ongoing development plus Microsoft seemingly now listening to consumers, I have high hopes that Windows 11 will eventually meet, if not surpass, consumer expectations.
Do you think there might be a Windows 12 in the future? Personally, I doubt it, but with Microsoft, one can never be certain about anything.
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And because of W11 system requirements, how many perfectly good running PC’s have ended up in landfills or ported to Linux or users have installed W11 on unsupported hardware. I have one laptop and one desktop that are happy running W11 on unsupported hardware!! Just does not any sense. as to what MS has done with Windows!!
100% agree with you Daniel.
It was never about whether your “out of date” PC or laptop (out of date according to Microsoft anyway) could actually run the 11 O/S – it was all about control and Microsoft wanted to force users to use TPM security chips as well as force a Microsoft account on them so that they ensnared you totally from within the Microsoft ecosphere. They also forced users to upgrade their PCs and laptops so they could continue to rake in profits from the commission sales of 11 on new devices.
Microsoft should really have had to pay massive fines to cover the environmental damage they needlessly will have caused but of course we all know who would have really ended up paying it in the end by way of increased cost of computers.
I still complain about Microsoft but back a few years it was then a necessary evil as there was no plausible alternative unless you wanted to turn into a Linux geek. Now that Linux is finally getting some traction (especially in the games arena) there is not a lot you need to stick with Windows for unless you have Windows-only software that you absolutely have to use.
It will take a while for the Boomers of my age to accept a change to Linux however slowly but surely there are a lot of younger gen who see no reason to put up with the inefficient, ridiculous Microsoft playbook any longer. Most of the damage to Microsoft has been done by Redmond itself. If they had just stopped tinkering with new features that no-one really wanted or asked for, had provided features we did ask for and just made sure their updates didn’t bork stuff that was working fine before they pushed the updates, they wouldn’t have incentivised users to look elsewhere !
Cheers
Reg
After running Windows Vista with 3GB of RAM and upgrading to Windows 7, Windows 7
Blew all of them out of the water! Even XP! I still remember back in 2004 when my father’s Dell Laptop that previously came with Windows ME (BTW- Which I never had a issue with,
but maybe that’s because it was the Windows 2000 Professional Editions that was installed
on the computers in high school I was used to. Idk, I just never got around to tinkering with Windows ME, and then the Laptop got upgraded to Windows XP by our tech guy (Which
Idk why he did that because the laptop only had 128MB of Memory! It was a big mistake
that was always slow as a turtle. Then in December 2006 it finally crashed. Good riddance!
We got a Desktop of Windows XP with 512MB of RAM! Until 2013. Then Windows 8.
Now Windows 11. Microsoft should of stuck with Windows 7!