Ever since Microsoft announced that it would end support for Windows 10 in October, the company has been trying hard to convince users to make the switch to Windows 11. First, it warned that unsupported Windows 10 PCs will no longer receive security updates, making them easy targets for hackers. Later, it advised users to trade in their old computers and buy a new one that comes preloaded with all the Windows 11 goodies.
Now, once again, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, Yusuf Mehdi, has published a fresh blog highlighting all the benefits and advantages of Windows 11, including a statement claiming that Windows 11 PCs are up to 2.3 times faster than Windows 10 PCs. However, what they failed to make clear is that this claim is entirely based on a comparison of new versus old hardware, rather than the software itself.
I’ve never understood Microsoft’s design and marketing strategy.
They appear to exist in some sort of mirror universe in which quality is a bad thing, so they mostly build OSes that are bloated, clunky garbage and do everything they can to fool/coerce/force people into using them. But then every once in a while it’s like they accidentally let an actually decent OS slip through, and they immediately panic and start trying to kill it. Like they can’t cope with having an OS that people actually want to use, and can’t wait to get back to where they’re comfortable - fooling/coercing/forcing them to use bloated, clunky garbage.
Microsoft is beginning to suffer from the long term effects of replacing upper level engineers with sales managers. Windows is in much the same place as VMware right now. A still useful product currently controlled by people who don’t understand it and who are solely focused on making the line go up.
It really began when the injunction preventing them from bundling services expired between Windows 7 & 8.
Windows 10 is terrible, it’s bloated garbage as well. It’s just windows 11 is worse, and windows 8 was a complete mess.
One thing Windows is absolutely amazing at, is backwards compatibility. A software from 20 years ago can still run seamlessly on a newer version. That’s something to behold, and it definitely makes the system bloated. But then, on top of their shady practices, they add a lot of useless shit, which makes the bloat even worse.
I’ve always heard this claim, but in reality I’ve had more luck running old software on linux with wine than on windows.
Windows has a lot of old bloat still around (even some win3.11 apps remain on win11), but that doesn’t mean it’s that good at backwards compatibility. Backwards compatibility also requires an effort, which Microsoft doesn’t want to make.
Yeah they can do that because they basically never remove anything, and just keep piling more and more nonsense on top of it.
Also, cough WINE, cough Proton.
You’re quoting what they used to say about linux. Without the mirror explination of the usual corporate hypocrasy.
I think they struggle with the backward compatibility, that’s what makes it clunky. I also think they love marketing, that’s what makes it bloated
Windows 11 IoT LTSC is anything but bloated and clunky. Best OS I’ve used.
The whole point of LTSC is reduced bloat and increased stability for enterprise customers – doesn’t the existence of a bloat-free version tell you all you need to know? They don’t seem to have an issue selling enterprise software, but the users on the home versions definitely suffer from bloat and choices they never asked for.
To be fair most of the “bloat” is the flashy stuff that gets consumers to buy things. The extras that enterprise and some power users don’t care about because they want to use their own thing instead.
A lot of that “bloat” is the easy integrated stuff the average person can set up and use themselves following a couple login and setup screens without having to think about it. Things like OneDrive for easy automated document backup, backing up device licenses to an account versus needing to keep track of a license key if they need to reinstall, integrated find my device services, etc.
All of those functions are expected in a modern OS by the average user, so they are ready to go out of the box with a little setup. It’s the same way Apple handles similar services on OSX and iOS, and Google does with ChromeOS. Not every user will use those services, and there are alternatives of course. Nothing prevents you from uninstalling OneDrive, or most other pre-installed programs or components. I got rid of those immediately after installing Windows 11 because I use other services, and I haven’t seen them since.
I think I see your point, you’re saying what I’m calling “bloat” isn’t necessarily useless, right? Sure, but that still kind of supports my point – they include software/features by default that aren’t necessary and should be opt-in instead of opt-out regardless of how easy it is to set up. That’s the dictionary definition of bloatware, and they have a lot of it. I’m not trying to say it’s a terrible OS, but it is definitely bloated.