back to article Microsoft debuts Windows 11 2022 Update – now with features added monthly

Microsoft has released the Windows 11 2022 Update – and promised that it will both continue issuing annual big bang releases and start to add new features on a monthly cadence. Panos Panay, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief product officer for Windows + Devices, has billed the update – also known as the 22H2 …

  1. Sleep deprived

    New features every month?

    Can we just get a reliable and stable operating system? (not an ad-pushing eye-tiring time-wasting gimmick)

    1. David 132 Silver badge

      Re: New features every month?

      I read the whole article and all I could think, in the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android, was: "sounds ghastly".

      Hey Microsoft. Instead of faffing around trying to figure out when a user's electricity is carbon-free, vegan, macrobiotic and gender-neutral, how about you - and I know this sounds crazy! - allow users to decide for themselves when to install updates? Sounds revolutionary, doesn't it? Go on. It'll be super difficult to implement but I know you can do it...

      1. Someone Else Silver badge

        Re: New features every month?

        It'll be super difficult to implement but I know you can do it...

        No, it will actually be quite simple to implement. What will be difficult is venting the foul gas caused by the indigestion this would cause to the Micros~1 C-suite control freaks.

    2. mmonroe

      Re: New features every month?

      I think the last reliable and stable o/s without annoying asa was XP.

    3. EnviableOne
      Linux

      Re: New features every month?

      Some Finn named Linus came up with one a while back ...

    4. Jou (Mxyzptlk) Silver badge

      Re: New features every month?

      No, they still feature new bugs with every release and month.

    5. aerogems Silver badge

      Re: New features every month?

      While Windows makes up a smaller part of the overall revenue for the company, it’s still significant and the simple fact is bug fixes and under the hood improvements don’t shift new units. Without some user-facing features that basically beat you over the head with their presence, people won’t upgrade.

      1. veti Silver badge

        Re: New features every month?

        The only reason people pay for new Windows licences is that their previous one is no longer supported. Essentially, it's expired.

        Adding new features to an already released version will shift approximately zero new sales.

        1. Jou (Mxyzptlk) Silver badge

          Re: New features every month?

          > The only reason people pay for new Windows licences is that their previous one is no

          > longer supported. Essentially, it's expired.

          Which is weird, 'cause you can still use a Windows 7 key to activate Windows 11. Even though it shouldn't work that way since Windows 10 1607, it still works. Might be a technical reason for this, and they cannot fix the bug else a lot of legit copies suddenly would start to complain...

          Whether the Windows 7 license, if OEM, may be reused this way is a different matter. For private computer MS does not care that much, but they have an eye on companies.

          This is the reason why "Activation" came with Windows XP and Office 2003 in first place: Companies buying ONE copy of Windows 2000 and office 2000, but used that single copy on several thousand computers. Just like those companies did the years before with Win98/WinNT 4.0, Office 97 etc etc down to Altair Basic.

          1. EnviableOne

            Re: New features every month?

            I rember the good old days when MS product keys were valid as long as they were divisible by 7, but then they cottoned on to the all 7s thing, so the last 2 got replaced with 21

    6. Someone Else Silver badge

      Re: New features every month?

      Panos Panay, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief product officer for Windows + Devices, has billed the update [...] as offering “many subtle, but important changes that come together to help you be your most productive and your most creative.”

      Run and hide.

      Run.

      And.

      Hide.

      1. NoneSuch Silver badge

        Re: New features every month?

        Panos Panay, Microsoft’s executive vice president and chief product officer for Windows + Devices, has billed the update [...] as offering “many subtle, but important changes that come together to help you be your most productive and your most creative.”

        My fixed version.

        Panos Panay, Microsoft’s executive vice president and spyware as a service officer for Windows + Devices, has billed the update [...] as offering “many unnecessary, but annoying changes that make us lots of juicy profit and help us gather as much private info on you to bolster our ad and marketing department revenues.”

  2. ecofeco Silver badge

    Testing Win 11 right now

    It finally came to the point where I had use Win11. Work, dontcha know.

    The first thing I can tell you is that it's easy to move the Start bar to the left.

    The second thing is that old Control Panel stuff is still there.

    The third is yeah, it takes a day or two to figure out where things got moved to, but it still mostly works just like Win 10.

    The fourth is yes, you have to clear out the junkware, but it's no more than usual.

    I got the latest version, and it worked fine right out of the box. I just installed this new update today. No problems there either.

    I'll be putting it into production later this week. I will off course, be complaining about it from now on, but honestly, it seems no worse than Win 10 now that they've fixed most of the previous Win 11 blunders.

    Heck, MS even bought back a built-in video editor! ClipChamp. (remind you of anything?)

    And no, I will never be an MS fanboi, but work dictates needs and I like paying the bills. Not a lot of jobs for Linux support in my region. Too bad because I love Linux.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Testing Win 11 right now

      "...I love Linux"

      Guerrilla style advertising for Microsoft won't work on most of us, we can smell your kind

      1. ecofeco Silver badge

        Re: Testing Win 11 right now

        Lol! Have my upvote!

        Then look at my past posts on MS.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Testing Win 11 right now

      1. Once you google how to do it, yes.

      2. For now, but more and more is leaving bit by bit.

      3. Yesyesyes. Let me waste my time and energy relearning something that shouldn't need to be. It is my ass on the line when I can't do my job fast enough cause they decided to move things. AGAIN

      4. get-appxpackage -allusers | remove-appxpackage is not a command I should need to have to memorize.

      11 hasn't fixed a lot of the issue that it has had since the release. Still the same even worse than 8 Start Menu. Still have the volume, network, and battery control put together. Everything is designed around only for touch so it is a terrible experience with a mouse. The safe round corner need to go. Along with the fake glass effect. Then there is the sysreq which seem like a back door into DRMing computer even more so.

    3. aerogems Silver badge

      Re: Testing Win 11 right now

      It’s not a panacea, but I swear if people spent some time to learn to use the search function instead of trying to sort everything, a lot of complaints about “they moved Feature X to a new location” would stop pretty quickly. Then you only need to work on sorting things like important documents or apps you may not use on a regular basis.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Testing Win 11 right now

        A search function is not an excuse for poor structure, a poor UI and making people again have to get used to a new interface. They should stop that rubbish.

        1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: Testing Win 11 right now

          Search would be great, if it didn't decide to arbitrarily search the web instead of the computer & decide that Edge should be the browser to do it.

      2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Testing Win 11 right now

        "if people spent some time to learn to use the search function instead of trying to sort everything, a lot of complaints about “they moved Feature X to a new location” would stop pretty quickly."

        Yeahbut, Search only works if you know what you are looking for. And if you know what you are looking for, a user adjustable hierarchical menu is quicker because if if stuff is where you put it, then it's where you expect it, not hidden away in some ever changing location depending on if there is a "Y" in the name of the current day.

    4. wolfetone Silver badge

      Re: Testing Win 11 right now

      That's pretty much everyone's experience with Windows 11. Same same, but different.

      I think though that the minimum entry requirements are it's own worst enemy.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "We do this by leveraging the variety of update mechanisms"

    Can someone with an understanding of Bollocksspeak offer a translation?

    1. Totally not a Cylon
      Holmes

      Microsoft:"'since we removed the ability of users to turn off automatic updates more people are using it. Therefore they must prefer it, so we will use it to push our latest 'whale song, illicit smoking sessions inspired feature' that way....."

      1. Rich 11

        (You forgot to list the ayahuasca.)

      2. aerogems Silver badge

        AKA, all those idiots who would never update their systems and spread various forms of malware now are put out of our misery.

    2. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

      Re: "We do this by leveraging the variety of update mechanisms"

      It means we will use a crowbar to get it in your machine, if we have to.

    3. aerogems Silver badge

      Long and short of it is that some of the updates will get shifted to the windows app store. Sort of like Notepad and Paint. Where they can be updated independently of the core system.

  4. Dacarlo

    Bug free?

    I'd settle for being able to set the bar at the top of the screen (sans hacked work around) and also for the open apps from said bar to reliably allow me to switch between several instances of those apps. Right now it doesn't for explorer for example.

    There's also issues with disappearing icons in the taskbar overflow feature.

    No more bells and whistles please, fix the basics!

    1. that one in the corner Silver badge

      Re: Bug free?

      No more bells and whistles please, RESTORE the basics!

      1. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: RESTORE the basics!

        IIRC each version of DOS had a different version of this utility, and they were incompatible with each other.

        So be careful what you wish for.

        Icon is where to keep a copy of DOSVER handy ---->

  5. Ball boy Silver badge

    Eh? Most productive?

    "...to help you be your most productive and your most creative.”

    If that's the aim, surely leaving the damn Operating System alone and not forcing continual reboots and updates on people would be the correct thing to do.

    The mind boggles.

    1. Tim 11

      Re: Eh? Most productive?

      That should read "most productive (within the scope of Windows 11)" - it goes without saying that not using Windows 11 may be more productive (and when I say "may" I'm being kind to MS because I haven't used it myself)

  6. Trollslayer
    Flame

    The best update?

    Downgrade the OS version by 1.

    1. Wade Burchette

      Re: The best update?

      I would say more downgrade the OS number by 4.

      1. EnviableOne

        Re: The best update?

        By the time it got to SP5 98SE was rock solid, then there was the abortion of Me because XP wasn't ready

        1. Test Man

          Re: The best update?

          LOL "SP5" for Windows 98SE

    2. Pirate Dave Silver badge

      Re: The best update?

      Add 1,989 and you've got it.

    3. AlbertH
      Linux

      Re: The best update?

      Simple - erase it. Install a proper operating system. Perhaps one that doesn't cost anything, comes with built-in security, proper networking and lots of free, high quality applications, and works well "straight out of the box". One that provides a nice-looking desktop that aligns with UX paradigms that have been around for many years, to minimise the need to re-train staff.....

      1. Jou (Mxyzptlk) Silver badge

        Re: The best update?

        > proper operating system

        This is defined by what you want to do or have to do. The OS does not matter, the applications do. So the proper OS is not defined by some religious type of thinking and definition on what is proper.

        Linux has its place and got irreplaceable for a lot of things. But not as Desktop OS. Especially when it come to applications there are many gaps.

        Get following combination: Mail, Web, Video editing including "pure stream copy" in an easy to use GUI, TV recording (DVB-S2), ffmpeg for final encoding, > 1000 games installed, RAID+Snapshots+encryption (+deduplication on server) in one easy to use way, the ability to run binaries from before 1999 as long as they were somewhat clean written (like Starcraft 1, DeltaForce 1), etc etc etc... No way to get everything done with a Linux. And don't throw that "compile it!" - that is not the reality when the source is from before 2000.

        Last fresh install was in 2011 with Windows 7, then upgrade to 8, 8.1, 10 (1511) and now 11. Though the latter only for Nested-V with AMD, else it would still be W10. The only upgrade that did not work as when battleye was still in the system, somehwere 'round Win10 17xx or 18xx.

  7. anthonyhegedus Silver badge

    Doesn't work on my Virtual W11 running on Parallels on my ARM MacBook. It just doesn't offer the update.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      anthonyhegedus,

      "Doesn't work on my Virtual W11 running on Parallels on my ARM MacBook. It just doesn't offer the update."

      Please don't brag ..... it is not very polite to highlight your good fortune when most people must continue to suffer through no fault of their own!!!

      :)

  8. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    Light Bulb Moment...

    I now know why they call it 365.

    Nothing to do with uptime.

    It's the number of updates per year.

    (Can we have a light bulb icon?)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Light Bulb Moment...

      I thought it was the number of days per year that you wished you'd gone with Google instead of Microsoft.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Light Bulb Moment...

        Wonderful choice: bugs and breaches or hardcore privacy violations. No thanks, not interested in either.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Light Bulb Moment...

        Wow, tough crowd. For the record, I'm an O365/M365 user and regret moving to Microsoft. Hence my joke about it. Perhaps I should have said "number of days you wished you'd stayed on-prem" so as not to offend the sensitive..

  9. Pirate Dave Silver badge
    Pirate

    " using the “43 trillion security signals” Microsoft states it gathers every day."

    Ahh, that's where all the Internet bandwidth went. And we thought it was down to 4K pr0n streaming. Nope, it was alllllll those Cortanas out there sending their thousand points of light back to Redmond several times a day. Gosh, those must be chatty little services.

    Thanks for watching out for us, Microsoft, and not wasting our time or resources on needless bullshit.

  10. Jou (Mxyzptlk) Silver badge

    Shadowcopy / Previous versions access still broken...

    Every 22621.* build has following problem: "Previous Version" tab in explorer shows no previous version. Wanna get your data from the restore points windows does more ore less regular? You should have a backup!

    The shadowcopies are still there, can be seen with vssadmin, but you cannot access them. It is a broken NtFsControlFile function in either kernel32.dll or ntdll.dll.

    Reported several times since June including insider feed-backs and Forums etc etc.

    I suspect it will be fixed in January or February.

    I heavily use Shadowcopies on top of my backup, and with my two scripts you get real control for workstation Windows.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shadowcopy / Previous versions access still broken...

      You suspect it will be fixed, but most likely Microsoft will mark as "won't fix" and then get Raymond Chen to write a snarky, patronising blog entry about how Microsoft has done the right thing and everyone else in the world is an idiot. Again.

      1. Jou (Mxyzptlk) Silver badge

        Re: Shadowcopy / Previous versions access still broken...

        I expect worse: They will remove the "Previous Version" tab from the explorer for local drives. "Fixed".

  11. aerogems Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Just buy Files App already

    Aside from being on the slow side, this app is what the windows file manager should be. Microsoft needs to just buy it, improve the performance, and then make it the official file manager for the OS. Or they can just buy it and integrate some of the code to the existing file manager. Don’t care as long as the end result is that we get something like the Files App.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Just buy Files App already

      Microsoft buying something and improving it, best laugh I've had all week :) ;) :)

    2. Someone Else Silver badge

      Re: Just buy Files App already

      Microsoft needs to just buy it, improve the performance, and then make it the official file manager for the OS.

      If Micros~1 were to buy it, what in the name of $DIETY makes you think they will improve the performance? Or improve anything? Most likely, they will simple regulate it to Storage B, and you will never see it again.

  12. veti Silver badge

    “Windows 11 uses the power of AI to generate a continually updated app control policy that allows common and known safe apps to run while blocking unknown apps often associated with new malware,”

    I'm sure there's a simple answer to this, but how is anyone supposed to develop or publish new software?

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge

      Microsoft will allow all software to run exactly once on each machine, so malware had better do all the damage the first time.

      In all seriousness, I've found that Endpoint Protection will fairly consistently allow a "potentially dangerous" application to run the first time, then block subsequent executions.

      Which is both utterly pointless and incredibly frustrating.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The best carbon reduction MS can offer this planet..

    .. is if they close shop. The amount of labour and energy wasted on this junkware must have contributed considerable to global warming, as well as the manure and hot air of their sales presentations and public statements.

    1. Roopee Bronze badge
      Mushroom

      Re: The best carbon reduction MS can offer this planet..

      That would be great, as long as they open-source their activation servers...

  14. PhilipN Silver badge

    Watch for the buzzwords

    MS standard operating procedure is to present as having huge benefits those aspects at which they suck. In the late Ballmer era "innovate" appeared in any and every press release usually several times.

    So : "the power of AI". We shall be seeing this from MS from now on until they realise something else gets more attention.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Watch for the buzzwords

      Imagine what will happen when they pounce on quantum computing...

  15. anthonyhegedus Silver badge

    Do we really need new features every month?

    How about just getting the thing right, from the get-go? Things like if there are too many open programs there’s no overflow area (there is with this update, but we used to have it, so why not now?)?

    Or when you right-click on a file, you have to go to additional options to see them all?

    Or make it so you can actually click on the system tray icons when there is notification after notification blocking the area?

    Silly little things that they just don’t care enough about and can’t be bothered to get right, at the expense of getting monthly new features.

  16. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Facepalm

    “43 trillion security signals”

    Dear God, the amount of bullshit is reaching towering levels.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: “43 trillion security signals”

      If we stack them all on top of each other, we might end up with a space elevator!

  17. pavel.petrman

    Using AI

    Let's hope Microsoft have done a better job on repurposing Tay than IBM on selling Watson.

  18. OhForF' Silver badge

    Quite a change from Micros~1's advertisement around 2000 where they pointed out open source os can change and pictured a mutating penguin.

  19. DrXym

    Fix the start menu

    Most of the rest of Windows 11 is fine. But that start menu is stupid and annoying. I turned off recommendations so why is it still showing me the recommendations section even though it is blank? Why can't it use that area to show more pinned apps? Come to that, why is pinning and arranging apps so retrograde?

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