Not really
If "staging a come back" means forcing yourself on people (which in other areas is deemed illegal) then lots of people could claim that "I was very popular at work. Yes, I was forcing myself on people but still means I was popular".
Microsoft appears to be starting the year with a rebound in Windows 11 adoption as the latest figures show the operating system reversing its recent months' long declines. The gap between Microsoft's two operating systems has closed, according to Statcounter: Windows 11's market share for January stands at 36.6 percent, up …
Apropos. Today my Win10 computer had a "Windows Update" notification on the bottom of the screen.. Being tech aware and careful, I checked to see what it was, before letting it do its stuff like any normal update.. And it was a F****ing 11 install. Following my finding the hidden rejection choice it then proceeded with two more nags.The irony being that in previous Widows versions I've not minded going up a version. That started to change with the toilet that was Win 8. So though I'm reluctant to let 11 onto my PC because everything I've seen of it is uninspiring at best, and mostly down right annoying I would probably have let the EOL 10 go and accepted 11.
But I'll be damned if I'll let them trick me into taking their ghastly garbage.
(And yes, I'd switch to 'Nux like a shot if family wouldn't object to it so much.).
The biggest setback was that the template forms created ( there's probably a better word, but it'd be rude) by Girl Guiding are even more awful within LO than within Office..
The forms are ( I suspect) designed to look good when sent to a printer and then completed by hand. I try to avoid mansplaing these things, so keep out of it as much as I can. But GG do struggle to get out of the 1980s.
Filling them in within WORD just about works. And the formatting just about copes. Trying to use them in LO and they just get shredded.Sections magically superimpose themselves on top of other sections, images reappear in different places, and so on.
Well, that's the point.
They are clearly designed (I use the word loosely) to work as a printed document- like in the Olden Days. This is 2025 and they need to provide forms that can be completed on thescreen. And retain formatting, with clarity. Not fall apart when text is added. WORD just about copes..
Editable PDFs might be OK of the form fields can be unlimited. But that’s not in the volunteers hands. And as it stands it's WORD or nothing.
Delayed thought. The online version of MS Word? Several retirees here have found that the Raspberry Pi5 web browser works OK for "normal" cloud .docx files. Possible privacy issues?
I don't use MS stuff directly any more, but find that if I log into my very ancient Hotmail account most thing work, with the exception of a very large, heavily revised .docx that was originally created with Word 97. I got the original sender to export it to a .odt file and then reimport it. Most of the cruft disappeared: and, according to the sender, it looked OK.
Don't upgrade (I feel it as a downgrade) to Wi11. I just got my new work laptop, and.... it is not good. Win 10 was not too bad. Things that upset me most are (after two days of use) are the stupid start menu (limited space, no grouping of icons, no arbitrary placement of icons) and the task bar (no free placement of the task bar, I want it on the side, the screen is pretty wide, so lots of real estate) and it is really slow. I mean, really slow, five day test match slow.
Get a Linux laptop for yourself, heck, buy a second hand Lenovo, or year before's model, shove in Debian, done Let the rest suffer. This is what I do.
Yes, it is quite clear from those statistics that very many Windows users aren't at all convinced about the need for the pointless Windows 11 that will in many cases will need new equipment to run on. The antivirus companies will benefit as they will almost certainly offer virus cover for Windows 10 users for some years ahead.
This is what I detest about Microsoft (whoever leads it) - pointless change for it's own sake that inconveniences their home users and business customers. We saw it in the move from Win 7 to the hideous Win 8 and we are seeing exactly the same thing in the move from Win 10 to the worthless Win 11.
You said "...business customers..." - A number of years ago I thought that Microsoft's more important "customers" were their shareholders. When your users are effectively hostages, they are not customers. Caveat: A very long time ago, I was one of their enablers. At the time it seemed like a good idea to transition to Windows to avoid the incessant problems of each system/program needing its own printer/drivers...
People don't like Win11...
Even people who DO have the hardware to run it are reverting back to Win10.
Maybe if MS tone it down a little with all those stupid UI changes and the trying to force spyware down people's throats then maybe...MAYBE... more people would want to have it on their PC's.
But no, MS keep acting like it's their computer and they know best.
Fark 'em...
Everyone needs to calm down. Windows 11 is an OS release,immediately following a popular release, and we all know how much "odd" releases are "loved" [/s]
Once Windows 12 come out, the world will remember Win11 as much as it does Win8. And WinME. And Win2000. And Windows Vista. And Microsoft Bob.
Wasn't the rubbishing of Windows 10 due to the telemetry, forcing Windows 10 upon the user when they did not want it (recall the close window button (top right) was reprogrammed to mean accept the upgrade, etc.)
Microsoft behaved abhorrently and arrogantly, so peoples ire was well deserved. The link below is a reminder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Windows_10
>"Ironic, isn't it, that the IT crowd has such a conservative streak."
Ironic? No, it's expected.
I was drawn to the IT field because I like new blinky shiny cool techy stuff. Once I started getting paid for IT stuff I found out that the paycheck isn't for playing with cool toys, it's for managing the tech that allows the rest of the business to get stuff done more efficiently.
Sometimes that means you need new shiny powerful. Sometimes it means the current system works fine, don't muck with it without a damn good reason, or you'll get in the way of the test of the business.
Any change is disruptive, so changes neet to enable something better (upgrade an old server for a faster one) or avoids something worse (upgrade an unsupported OS before you get compromised)
It took me a while (and being on the ass end of a few ass chewings) before I learned that lesson.
Any change is disruptive,
A really fundamental and universal observation that eludes many of our "betters" that are unaccountably held to be clever.
Any change can result in one of three (subjective) states - better, worse, the same.
One would assume one would only be interested in the first case when contemplating change (idiots and the malignant exempted.)
Any potential change presents a barrier against which resource must applied to overcome. If this weren't the case the contemplated change would have already occurred spontaneously.
So given any change incurs a cost which might be recouped by a benefit, the wise would first evaluate the potential benefits and weigh any such against the costs - otherwise known as a cost/benefit analysis. The projected benefits could be predominantly resource recovery in which case a cost/cost analysis would be appropriate.
Clearly there exists a rational, measurable framework within which change can be considered and managed. What do we observe? Mostly we find ourselves surrounded by disgusting walls bespattered by fæces which not sticking are slinking down the wall.
I imagine Cory Doctorow's coinage would encompass most of the modern world's approach to change.
In many ways this is because Microsoft will take note of Windows 11's lack of popularity *and* ultimately tone down their nonsense.
That said, I think people should always just wait for the LTSC release and torrent it if Microsoft refuses to sell them a license. Even with Windows 11, it is far cleaner than the consumer "Pro"/Home versions.
But... one can't apply "Star Trek(TM) a Motion Picture" rules to Operating Systems. (The even vs odd count of"Star Wars" movie rules are even more complicated, since #1 became #4.)
Windows 98 sucked. Windows 98 SE (second Edition, which, being even+1, technically qualifies as odd), was decent.
Windows XP (which came after 2000, so, must have been odd) and Windows 7 were both odd, and well liked (well, for "Windows" that is).
Fista (Sorry, I won't call it Vista), 8, and 10, upon initial impression, and further usage, all sucked.
From my point of view, 11 is the "first" odd release to suck, (or, "to suck more than previous versions") in quite some time.
Unfortunately, I expect Windows 12 to suck even more than 11, with more advertisements, more selling of your "private" (hah!) data to the highest bidders, and <cough> "synergy".
Windows 13 will probably be skipped, due to Triskaidekaphobia.
Next Windows after that will probably move on to a different naming convention ("Windows 2525*"?)
Sorry, the single [/s] in the OP's post didn't quite plumb the depths of the sarcasm involved, hence, my elaboration on the top. Call me a straight man.
* Apologies to Zager & Evans
Had to explain to my wife why her app disappeared after an update.
“Honey, you don’t own that expensive piece of jewelry, Apple does. They will only allow you to have use it just enough to get you to buy the next newer version. “
Most of the time she is able to do something she wants, unlike her android that constantly had issues from every click bait download she ran across. Some folks you just have to have a wall around the garden.
I don't think it so much they don't like it as they don't see a need to mess with their Windows 10 PC that's currently working perfectly well.
Imagine if you had a 10 year old car that was working great, no reason to believe it wouldn't continue to work great for another five years, but the dealer called you up and said "we aren't going be able to service such an old car anymore after the end of the year, do you want me to put you in touch with our sales team so you can look at newer models?"
I always recommend that friends and family find a local, trustworthy mechanic once their car's warranty has expired. Avoid the stealership whenever possible.
Me? I work on my own equipment. Always have. That's why I don't use commercial drek on my computers.
That doesn't mean that people will actually want to use said "AI" silicon.
Clippy was largely ignored. There's no reason, except the expectations of Redmond's Board, that people will flock to this new AI Clippy.
But hey, go on throwing money and resources at this abomination. Since when had Borkzilla ever learned from experience ?
Whilst I hate the settings element of W11, eg, the poor logic of the networking section etc, once the context menu reg fix is applied and the common shortcuts added to the taskbar, users rarely notice the difference. They spend little time in the start menu or do anything other than emails / office apps / file explorer / chrome so a slow upgrade hasn't been too much of a problem.
ISTR someone suggesting in December that the explanation for the W10 gain in December was that with the holidays the number of accesses from home (W10) had cone up and those from work (W11) had gone down simply because users were at home instead of at work. In that case a reversal in January was to be expected.
As an example in the corporate world.
I work for a US corp and we have around 120k employees globally. Yes you will have heard of us, and probably don't like us ;-) (hence the AC).
We have a Win 11 image available for those that want to try it out, but the company is not pushing this at all yet. The company seems to be in no rush to roll out Win 11. I suspect this will change as October approaches.
My work device is still on Win 10, I have no plans to move to Win 11 until it's forced on me.
My home system is dual boot, Primary OS is Mint 22.1, secondary is Win 10. I've disabled TPM in BIOS and so far this has blocked any sneaky shenanigans from MS to stealth update to 11. I rarely boot into Windows these days, so have no intention to move to 11 at home. If 10 becomes untenable, I'll just wipe the drive and use the extra space for Mint!
Once Windows 10 is no longer supported and becomes a security risk, my folk's machine will be reinstalled with Ubuntu 24.04.1 plus patches. They already use Thunderbird for mail and Firefox for browsing, so give or take a bit of education and hand-holding for the first little while, they'll feel right at home. They don't install and use programs, just websites. Perfect candidates for a Chromebook if they didn't already have hardware waiting to be reinstalled.
Bye-bye, Satya! Pay for a new machine to let my folks put up with your "Recall" surveillance tool?
Not on your life, or theirs!
cut-down
That's the magic!
A really basic GUI, obvious buttons or icons for the email app, word processor, browser etc and an equally basic GUI file manager that you can keep unchanged for the long haul - then you are done.
Choose the particular applications that historically haven't substantially changed their user interfaces - this is more difficult as even Firefox has undergone disruptive changes but in many cases the application can be reconfigured to reproduce a "classic" interface.
Don't be deceived into believing that the person requiring such an arrangement is any way deficient. Have a long hard think about contemporary computer user interfaces and the required work flows to complete the most basic of tasks and ask yourself who is the defective one?
This is perhaps more obvious to a command line cowboy like y.t. who is frequently flummoxed when forced, kicking and screaming, to resort to a GUI interface.
We have the peculiarly named "feature" phone for those of us who only ask of a phone the feature to make and to receive calls perhaps augmented by the odd text (SMS.)
Perhaps a market exists for a "feature" PC whose flagship feature would be the exclusion of any AI followed by a simple relatively intuitive interface that is guaranteed not to substantially change
Windows the Feature Edition? Windows FE and I can hear the flapping of pigs' wings. Windows FF, fully f'd actually available now.
While the idea of locking down their machine is appealing from a stability point, it would also be really insulting to deny them the app store for Ubuntu and the card and other games and entertainments it offers them for free. They do like their card games and such. Light gaming, nothing graphics intensive that has ever taxed the Intel chipset graphics on their CPU, but games none the less.
Unless you think they're going to somehow magically damage the system (and that is entirely possible, I suppose), don't deny people their freedoms. Linux is all about freeing the user, not imprisoning them like an Apple FondleSlab.
Microsoft (MS) arose during the heady days of micro-computing arriving in businesses and homes. MS won the lion's share of the operating system market for personal computers. Simultaneously, it branched out into software ranging from programming tools to office applications. MS took pains to enable independent developers to make products for its platform. For the first three, or so, decades, new releases of MS Windows caused excitement; each time, on offer was a notable advance in the ability to use more powerful silicon chips, to deploy more memory, enhanced utilities for ordinary users, an improved GUI, and so forth. In parallel, office suites, and software for collaborative working, came into prominence. Against that backdrop, clever marketing involving loss-leaders for use in educational establishments, familiarised future workers in industry and commerce with the MS way of doing things.
Instead of trying, with great fanfare, regularly to push 'upgraded' Windows onto customers' PCs, MS should consider a more stable, almost seamless, approach akin to that of Linux distribution evolution. There could be a current 'cutting edge' version of Windows intended for use by enthusiasts and for appraisal by IT managers, maybe a beta version with access to alpha trial features. Behind that would be the current stable version with bug and security flaw fixes available for many years, but no feature enhancements other than optional improvements which easily 'latch on' rather than require alterations deep in the core. Further behind, would be older, stable versions. Perhaps, after a given time, old versions could be open-sourced under the proviso that they were for 'do it oneself' maintenance, possibly provided by outside consultants, but not resale of compiled copies.
Under this arrangement, as part of the subscription business model, users could opt to advance to the next version or not. The decision to 'progress' would be influenced by availability of support for additional hardware or for a version better capable of running the latest office suite or whatever. An emphasis on stability would free a core team of developers to think beyond backwards compatibility; they could explore radical changes; these if acceptable to key elements of the user-base would lead to a fork which could gather users whilst running alongside the bloated 'traditional' versions.
I shall stick with Linux.
Windows 11 so called rebound may well be due to laptop and PC sales over the Xmas period ?
I bought a new rig a couple of years ago and loved Windows 11.
After the 24H2 update, it ruined everything.
I installed 2 patches which fixed some issues but caused other issues.
I downloaded the windows 10 iso and installed that instead, I didn't want to use my older copy of windows 11 which came with the PC, as I would once again be forced to install the 24H2 update.
Hopefully 24H2 will be fixed before October 2025.
I've been using win11 at work for over a year. I really don't care about the telemetry, spying, etc. But oh my god, why is It so slow? It's unbelievably slow to open an explorer window, slow to browse files, slow to switch between applications, slow, slow, slow.... I've been trying to find some kind of explorer replacement but it doesn't seem to exist; classic UI and stuff like that don't seem to help at all. It's a work computer so there's little else I can do, switching back is not an option.... (obligatory "I use Linux at home" quote)
My new laptop came with Win11, which I never intended to set up. But, the stupid thing would not allow me to access the boot menu without first installing Win11 and letting it on the internet to phone home. Tried my best to prevent it, even shut my router off, but it just stopped loading and said to find an internet connection to continue because it wasn't going any further and I couldn't find a way to bypass.
"Microsoft ends support for Windows 10 – October 14, 2025, is the end of support for most versions"
And then? With a billion computers on Windows 10, they can't just stop security updates? That would become the biggest bot network in the world.
So I expect that Microsoft will take care of import security updates on Windows 10
For many, there is no reason to upgrade to Windows 11. If their existing software works, what's the point? Microsoft's business model of:
1. Make some user interface changes to the OS
2. Bump the version number
3. Charge customers for new licenses
is not working. I suspect that de-supporting Windows 10 will simply encourage more users to move to other operating systems, like MacOS or Linux. For many, hosting business apps in the cloud and interacting with them via something like ChromeOS (another version of Linux) will make more sense.
My guess is that it will be more nuanced. SOHO users that care about Windows 10 EOL and need full sized computer, but adamantly resist 11 ( possibly not too many) and can afford to go to Apple will bite the expensive bullet. Else they'll grit their teeth and carry on with 10 come what may.
If they don't need a full sized PC they may well go to a Chromebook or just use a tablet.
'Nux in the mainstream? It would be nice to think so. But I wouldn't put money on it.
In my volunteer role as a "Digital Champion" we're giving residents recycled Win 10 laptops, and teaching them to use the usual Microsoft stuff. That is very much the official policy. At eol we're not going to to have a whole bunch of Win 11 ready recycled machines to give them
I have got the paid council officer that manages things from day to day with the official (Win 11 ironically) PC that we use to deliver the sessions course materials on to LibreOffice and one or two of the residents who have their own laptops too. But that's stretching it.
This is an interesting one…
Just had a Dell laptop, which Dell says supports W11 22H2 and thus be upgradeable to 23H2.
It was running W10 21H2, no problem just let WUP do its job as it says it’s W11 compatible. Only problem it installed W11 21H2 and further updates are not being offered. It seems this is quite a frequent occurrence from various forums and is potentially nontrivial to rectify ie. Not solvable by job public letting WUP do its job, also I have yet to work out what is preventing the update.
This leads to an interesting problem, I expect many will have done the in-situ update from W10 to W11, not realising that the update was to W11 21H2 which will go EoL in October. I can see many currently happy W11 users becoming very unhappy when they get the flash screen telling them Windows 11 is no longer supported…