Microsoft's problem child, Windows 11, is here. Will you run it? Can you run it? Do you even WANT to run it?
- Reference: 1633437849
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/10/05/windows_11/
- Source link:
The Redmond-based Windows flinger has a problematic history with Windows releases. The century opened with [1]Windows XP , shipped in 2001, which seemed OK. Then came [2]Vista , in 2007, which was not. Then [3]Windows 7 turned up in '09 to undo the Vista badness. And yeah, the users were happy. Right up until the monstrosity of [4]Windows 8 was released (only [5]partially rectified in Windows 8.1 ).
As of yesterday there was [6]Windows 10 , which has evolved into a pretty good platform over the years.
[7]
The pattern is clear. For every decent release there must be a duffer. And Windows 11 is not on the right side of things.
[8]
[9]
Windows Insiders have had a copy of the operating system to play with for a while and although some of the GUI decisions might cause the bile of the faithful to rise (new Start Menu, anyone?) the change from 10 to 11 is nowhere near as painfully loud as the clanger Microsoft dropped with Windows 8.
However, all is not well in the world of Windows, despite the relentlessly perky expulsions from Microsoft's social media orifices.
FTW tech response that puts high-performance gaming front and center. 🎮💚 — Microsoft (@Microsoft) [10]October 1, 2021
We fear that some gamers might disagree. [11]PC Gamer put the OS through its paces (in pre-release form) and found a drop in average frame rate of up to 28 per cent thanks to the enablement of Virtualization-Based Security (VBS) on new kit. VBS should improve security (and is an option in Windows 10) but the penalty for gamers already forced to buy new hardware might be too much to bear.
What great timing as world+dog struggles to source components
It is difficult to discuss Windows 11 without addressing the silicon elephant in the corner: Microsoft's OEM-delighting decision to keep the hardware upgrade gravy train rolling just a little longer by taking an axe to [12]Intel Core CPUs prior to the eighth generation (unless it happens to be a seventh-generation CPU that Microsoft uses in its own kit).
Another of the company's orifices attempted to clarify the hardware requirements, which look at first sight to be minimal. 4GB of RAM and 1GHz CPU? What is all the fuss about?
There are 2! 2 days until the [13]#Windows11 release.
Your PC will need a minimum of
- 1 Ghz CPU
- 4 GB of RAM
- 64 GB storage
Ah! Ah! Ah!
All basic requirements: [14]https://t.co/nCdMBlZp9h [15]pic.twitter.com/zgkuq3NKqz — Microsoft Support (@MicrosoftHelps) [16]October 3, 2021
Sadly, while TPM version 2.0 was listed, a key fact was omitted. A PC using Intel silicon from a family dating back four or more years probably wouldn't work for reasons of [17]reliability, security or compatibility .
A worthy argument, but this was slightly undermined when Microsoft hurriedly added the Surface Studio 2's Intel Core i7-7820HQ as well as an all-too-short list of other older Intel silicon.
Testy testers
And then there is the shoddy treatment dispensed to the company's loyal band of Windows Insiders. First through the hardware compatibility list and then with the company's [18]maybe-maybe-not approach to virtual machines (VMs) – upon which many testers place the company's wares for validation. Having initially said VMs would not be subject to the same requirements, the company performed a reverse-ferret in its Dev Channel and said actually they were.
A cynic might wonder if it is payback for not shouting quite loudly enough prior to the company unleashing the file-munching [19]Windows 10 October 2018 update .
[20]
And so it is into this furore that Windows 11 has emerged, its rounded corners satisfying fans who looked longingly at their Mac-owning chums' desktops while going strangely quiet about legacy hardware support and having to choke down some of the stranger user interface decisions ( [21]the trimming of the context menus and shunting of the Copy option to an icon springs effortlessly to mind).
The minimum hardware requirements represent an own-goal of impressive proportions, particularly when Windows 10 will continue to be supported for another five years, and Windows 11 was demonstrated running quite happily on non-sanctioned kit
Sure, not all of the promised toys have turned up (Android support) but over-promising and under-delivering have long been a thing where Windows is concerned. After all, Windows Insiders are unlikely to have forgotten the [22]much-trumpeted and quietly culled "Sets" feature of Windows 10, nor the big dreams and grim reality of the Windows Insider programme itself as Microsoft struggled to decide how to test its Windows platform ( [23]before opting to, well, kind of not do it at all).
A slew of broken patches, and administration pain has accompanied the Windows platform while [24]Microsoft appears to have remained deaf to the cries of anguish. You didn't really want to print anything anyway, did you? Look at those rounded corners in the new version!
There are some positives – this could have all been so different
It's a shame, because under the hood there are things to like. Windows 11 is subjectively snappier than Windows 10 (in our opinion) despite the updated GUI being mostly lipstick applied to the porker.
The changes to the Start Menu and Taskbar might annoy some (as well as a perceived [25]shedding of power-user features , but won't overly bother others, and for most just require a bit of retrained muscle memory. Some features, such as the Windows Subsystem for Linux, can already be found in Windows 10, while others – Android app support, for example – have slipped quietly into the future. But they are on the way, according to Microsoft.
However, the infamously appalling communication skills of the Windows machine could well have put paid to a warm reception for Windows 11 from any but the company's most ardent apologists... and the sellers of new laptops.
[26]Microsoft shows off Office 2021 for consumers ahead of the coming of Windows 11
[27]Start or Please Stop? Power users mourn features lost in Windows 11 'simplification'
[28]The old New: Windows veteran explains that menu item
[29]We tried using Windows 10 for real work and ... oh, the horror
The minimum hardware requirements represent an own-goal of impressive proportions, particularly when Windows 10 will continue to be supported for another five years, and Windows 11 was demonstrated running quite happily on non-sanctioned kit. There is a certain irony that only one of this hack's Intel-based Windows 10 PCs will accept it without tinkering, while an M1 Mac running Parallels Desktop 17.0.1 appears to have no such difficulty.
Unlike certain other vendors of locked-in ecosystems, Microsoft used to be about letting their users choose their own kit.
No more, it seems.
[30]
Despite a Microsoft drone insisting the OS was "Available on the Widest Array of Choice in Devices," the experience of users tells a different tale. And forcing users to ditch perfectly serviceable kit in order to run Windows 11 does not sit well with Microsoft's professed eco-warrior credentials or the wallets of customers faced with the requirement for new hardware amid an IC shortage.
Windows 11 is here. Perhaps it is time to consider the alternatives. ®
Get our [31]Tech Resources
[1] http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2001/aug01/08-24WinXPRTMPR.mspx
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2007/02/20/vista_security_oversold/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2009/10/25/windows_7_reader_reviews_redux/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2012/10/02/paul_allen_windows_8/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2013/07/23/microsoft_oem_neath/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2015/07/07/windows_10_for_windows_8_and_7_users/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YVx2x5LfwaBi3zlu4FS4-wAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YVx2x5LfwaBi3zlu4FS4-wAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YVx2x5LfwaBi3zlu4FS4-wAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://twitter.com/Microsoft/status/1443991610581204998?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[11] https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/windows-11-pcs-can-hobble-gaming-performance/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/30/windows_11_workstations/
[13] https://twitter.com/hashtag/Windows11?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[14] https://t.co/nCdMBlZp9h
[15] https://t.co/zgkuq3NKqz
[16] https://twitter.com/MicrosoftHelps/status/1444693765373968384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[17] https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2021/08/27/update-on-windows-11-minimum-system-requirements-and-the-pc-health-check-app/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/17/windows_11_virtual_machines_requirements/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2018/10/03/microsoft_windows_10_1809/
[20] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YVx2x5LfwaBi3zlu4FS4-wAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/21/windows_new/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2018/06/28/sets_scrapped_from_windows_10/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2018/10/23/microsoft_windows_10_crisis/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/21/microsoft_printnightmare/
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/26/windows_11_user_feedback/
[26] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/04/office_2021_consumer/
[27] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/26/windows_11_user_feedback/
[28] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/21/windows_new/
[29] https://www.theregister.com/2015/07/07/windows_10_for_windows_8_and_7_users/
[30] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YVx2x5LfwaBi3zlu4FS4-wAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[31] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Want to run it?
I don't have to run it because I've retired.
So far, I've been able to do everything I need to do on an IPad.
But, I've got an HP laptop with Windows 7 on which I'll be installing a new OS - if anyone has some pointers on which distrib would be easiest for an exWindows guy.
Re: Want to run it?
"anyone has some pointers"
Linux Mint Cinnamon. The GUI isn't too far removed from Windows 7 and it is a stable and popular version of Linux. I've been using it for years since ditching Windows.
Re: Want to run it?
pointers on which distrib would be easiest
Mint
Debian
ElementOs
Mint is more windows centric
And element more ios centric
Both are a lot less hassle than m$ os's and can be set up to your prefrences, are great for starting out, or if you just want an os to run your olde laptop
Re: Want to run it?
I wouldn't recommend Debian for a beginner, though if you know what you are doing, it is a very nice base to build exactly the system you want. Not as good as FreeBSD though.
Mint is Debian-based and definitely one I would recommend. Never tried ElementOS.
Re: Want to run it?
Start with Mint, and once comfortable consider Manjaro for a bit more power and bleeding edge features. Steam takes a lot of the hassle out of compatibility tools like Wine or Lutris (via Proton) too. I like mint a lot, though for someone that likes to dabble the Arch AUR functionality is very accessible. Perhaps the oddest part of the transition is the move away from .exe or .MSI installers in favour of package managers of one flavour or another.
AMD graphics instead of Nvidia tend to make life easier in my experience too. But you will hear a thousand arguments for and against Nvidia versus AMD on Linux.
Re: Want to run it?
I'm liking MX Linux.
Re: Want to run away from it?
Yes, and I have, leaving my current employer and IT full time to pursue other more purposeful activities. Win 11 is the next guys problem! I wish them well!
Re: Want to run away from it?
You're a good man chivo243. I'm with you. Not leaving just yet, but, will be in the not too distant future. Microsoft thinks we are all just hamsters to be put in a wheel. What a wasted life dealing with Microsoft products. Think of all the hours people have wasted installing Windows updates on their buggy authoritarian software.
Re: Want to run it?
My lappie is about 10 years old, and it starting to show the age. I'm in the boat of actually needing to update. So... resisitance is futile.
Re: Want to run it?
Put some fresh SSD, add some RAM and install Linux. 10 years old machine - if it's Sandy Bridge, won't be much worse than current offerings.
Re: Want to run it?
If you get hold of Microsoft's Media Creation Tool, you can put Windows 10 on it - assuming that your version of Windows 7 is legit - free of charge.
I'm currently using an 11-year-old Compaq-branded (!) HP laptop that was running Windows 7 until April of this year and it's now running Windows 10 21H1. Yes, it's a bit slow, but it was slow anyway under Windows 7 and it's fine for checking my work webmail, light surfing of news sites, etc. More importantly, it's back to having a fully-supported OS.
Surprisingly, this laptop does not meet the criteria for Windows 11. I wonder why... ;-)
Re: "assuming that your version of Windows 7 is legit"
"assuming that your version of Windows 7 appears to be legit"
FTFY
I've been testing it on VMs this morning (clean install from ISO), and can report the following:
- It doesn't seem to enforce CPU compliance, and will install on older CPUs (ten year old Xeon in this case)
- It does enforce TPM. Won't install without a TPM. Not had chance to see what happens yet with TPM 1.2 - need to find a physical machine for that
- Not sure yet whehter it enforces Secure Boot
Windows 11 launch and FB Bork on the same day. Coincidence?
I have advised my client base not to upgrade, due mainly to the right click menu being messed about. Stupid light blue icons for cut / copy / paste etc more clicks to do the same task.
But (and forgive my ignorance), if a graphics card has direct access to storage, how long will it before that's a vector for attack? I can see 'cryptolocking' fake games appearing that kills your system and windows will not know anything about it. (If I understood what I read correctly)
Can't run it
My home laptop, a i7 4th gen HP business laptop won't run it due the age of processor and lack of TPM 2.0. (only TPM 1.2 here)
After the Win10 support runs out in 4 years, it remains to be seen whether my 2014 model is still in operation. The battery is down to 15 minutes, the left touchpad mouse button is barely functional as are some keys. Fingerprint scanner kicked the bucket last year.
All of these I can replace, but I'm wary of buying a battery that has probably sat on a shelf for several years. Also, spending a couple hundred to replace the keyboard, touchpad assembly and the battery doesn't strike me as wise investment anyway.
This will be the fourth...
...generation of Windows that I will happily ignore, having switched all of our computers to Linux some years ago.
Life is soooo much simpler now.
Not until I can move the task bar to the right
I have a Surface Pro currently running Windows 11. It's a nice laptop/tablet but the keyboard is too close to the bottom of the screen for it to make any sense having the start button there. With Windows 10 I've always docked it to the right.
Looks like I'll be going back to 10 when the beta expires.
I defenestrated myself a while back
First different flavours of linux and now a fruity M1. The boss lady still uses the beast of Redmond's output so I am not sure what to do when her X1 Carbon gives up the ghost as she will go nuts with copy and paste being messed up.
Re: I defenestrated myself a while back
Why not break her in gently - the X1 runs Mint brilliantly.
Re: I defenestrated myself a while back
If you pop WinAero Tweaker on, you can set Windows 11 to always open the classic context menus by default. I imagine many more options will be added to dial-back some of MS's more contentious UI decisions as well...
Widest array?
"Available on the Widest Array of Choice in Devices" - except maybe the one that you actually own and/or use right now.
I can answer the third question very easily.
"No."
I can also answer the first question very easily.
"No."
Settings/Control Panel
What's the deal with the weird Settings living side-by-side with Control Panel panel thing we've been having to live with up until now? Did MS take the opportunity granted by a Full Version Upgrade to take one out the back and put it out of it's misery?
Re: Settings/Control Panel
Digging through settings during trouble-shooting feels quite like digital-archeology sometimes.
Well, I guess that's what they call technical debt.
Icon: that's my archeology coat. When I managed to get a proper hat, I will feel like Digital Indiana Jones in the Temple of Settings & Controls Doom
Re: Settings/Control Panel
Microsoft will never provide a clean and consistent Windows
I just had the good fortune to dig into some samba logs and try and work out why some (but not all) of our Windows 10 machines won't mount a particular network share. The actual answer still eludes me, but in my digging I discovered that a clean install of Windows 10 when you "net use" sends this to the server:
Requested protocol [PC NETWORK PROGRAM 1.0]
Requested protocol [LANMAN1.0]
Requested protocol [Windows for Workgroups 3.1a]
Requested protocol [LM1.2X002]
Requested protocol [LANMAN2.1]
Requested protocol [NT LM 0.12]
Requested protocol [SMB 2.002]
Requested protocol [SMB 2.???]
Yep. Windows for Workgroups is only the third oldest protocol it attempts to negotiate.
That's a clean install. Of Windows 10. I will bet real money right now that if I did the same thing from Windows 11 it would also try to invoke a network protocol that was deprecated over quarter of a century ago.
By contrast, doing the same thing from a OS11 Mac starts the negotiation at NTLM 0.12 - which frankly is still silly, but is at least better.
Re: Settings/Control Panel
No wonder Windows file sharing always seemed so slow and didn't ever want to work right.
Re: Settings/Control Panel
Windows gets used because businesses are stuck to their legacy applications. So Windows has to support those. Indefinitely.
Sucks to be in that spot, I'm pretty sure of they cut out 2/3 of the code that's only there for these old things we would see fewer breakage on patch Tuesday.
(and I care sweet f.a. having no Windows machine of my own - the company one is not my problem)
Can you ungroup the taskbar icons?
Can you move the taskbar to the side of the screen?
No.
It would totally make sense, as the screen is much wider than tall.
Alas, no longer. All for being a cheap mac knockoff, with that stupid task bar menu thingy (ok, I don't like it, I actually hate the looks of it, but that's my taste, so gerroffmelawn!).
"Available on the Widest Array of Choice in Devices,"
The apologists' play-book for that is not only already written, it's looking quite dog-eared: "only a small proportion of users....".
More accurately, Microsoft has launched a new shell for the NT kernel today...
... along with some configuration changes intended to encourage users to purchase new hardware.
There is less here than meets the eye.
That should be
An own-goal of Escobarian proportions, Andres Escobar being the footie player who scored an own goal during the 1994 World Cup… and who was killed when he, unwisely, returned to Columbia. A whole lot of systems are going to have MS products killed because of this…
You would have moved away from Windows long ago.
Let's be honest, if it were "possible", people would have moved away from Windows long ago.
So for those that have not moved, will you choose to run Windows 11? Microsoft says, "you have NO choice."
Surely, this year ...
... will be the 'Year of the Linux Desktop' ??!!
it's going to be a long time before i'll have any reason to use windows 11. i only boot into windows for a couple of specific things, which is music production, and software for flashing firmware on various devices. i use linux mint for everything else. i expect i won't even see a computer running windows 11 until someone brings me one to fix.
The new Win 7
Windows 10 will be supported until sometime in 2025 and I am betting that at that stage there will still be more Win 10 users than Win 11. Win 7 reached EOL at the beginning of 2020 and in August this year still had 16% of the Windows users. On that basis I figure I am good on Win 10 until the end of the decade.
Short answer is "No".
Long answer is "Hell no!" Between the loss of Start Menu functionality and loss of Right-click context menu functionality, I don't want anything to do with Windows 11. Why do the GUI devs always seem to think more clicks are better?
Re: Short answer is "No".
Why do the GUI devs always seem to think more clicks are better?
Because they're from the Tap and drag generation? Not the click and work generation? Round peg, square hole.
"Windows 10, which has evolved into a pretty good platform over the years"
Did it? After all these years it still looks "unfinished". It is usable - for some meaning of usable - but I won't call it a pretty good platform. It runs Windows application so when you can forget the OS it's not a problem - but many administration tasks became cumbersome because of the fixation with "touch controls" and "simplified window" and never really improved. Betting that more and more use just fire up a browser and forget the rest. Unluckily, that's true only in the empty heads of Microsoft marketdroids and executives.
People moved to it only because 7 support ended. Otherwise they would see a large number of users still using it.
Waiting for at least Windows 11.1
I run older kit that is quite capable of running Windows 11 but not shiny enough to be supported. Linux doesn't care so that is what I run on it with Win10 confined to a VM. I would bet that if 6 months from now the Windows 11 adoption rate is in single digits, MS will release Win 11.1 that will magically be more backward compatible (and start forcing upgrades from Win 10.)
Want to run it?
No. But one day I will have to because Borg. But I'll wait at least a year before I install. I'll do what I always do: let others beta test.