Microsoft keeps insisting that it’s deeply committed to the quality of Windows 11

"Reducing unnecessary Copilot entry points" is one of Microsoft's action items.

See full article...

 

[anon_lawyer]

It feels like sooner or later there’s going to be a major shift in the market. Microsoft does not seem to prioritize Windows the way it used to, and while I get it, it is eventually going to bite them.

I saw this as a fairly satisfied Windows user - I use 11, and honestly don’t get what most people complain about. I do have my own frustrations though. And while it’s a mature platform and I don’t want to see major changes… I also don’t feel like it’s improving or even keeping up.

Basic stuff people have been complaining about for years just never seems to get fixed. You need to stay on top of the basic stuff if you want users to trust you.

This thing with side mounting the taskbar is a perfect example. I don’t do that. I don’t want to. I don’t get why anyone else does - though I accept that other people have their own workflows where it makes sense. But come on Microsoft, I want that fixed so that I can stop hearing people complain about it! The fact that it took this long makes me think that I’m SOL if Microsoft ever breaks something that is important to me.

 

[anon_lawyer]

I'm not really sure what that would look like, though. Aside from perpetual behind-the-scenes work supporting new hardware and providing security updates, the OS seems like a substantially solved problem.

Maybe I just lack the creative vision, but I don't see the next "whoa, you can tile windows now", or "whoa, a start menu", or "whoa, tabbed browsing". I don't even remember the last "whoa" enhancement that made the product meaningfully more functional as an operating system. Not on Windows--and not on Linux or MacOS either.

But that’s what I mean, I don’t expect big changes. I want the basic work of fixing minor annoyances to be done. Here’s another one: I want search to work. At least well enough to find applications I have installed.

And I guarantee if you look through the comments on this topic by Monday, you’ll see a laundry list of fixes that people complain about on every Windows article here. You can’t make everyone happy the “just switch to Linux” people never will be. But just because it’s a mature product and users actively don’t want major changes doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do.

 

[anon_lawyer]

Wide-screen monitors. Why would I ever want to use valuable vertical real estate?

Yeah, I get the principle. But isn’t it a pain to move all the way to the side when you need it?

I guess I use two large 4k monitors side by side so I don’t care so much?

In any event the point is lots of people do care about this so they should have fixed it a long time ago. And as a user, when they break a feature that lots of people care about I take notice - even if I don’t use that feature.

 

[anon_lawyer]

Gonna quibble a little bit.....

The problem isn't that Microsoft isn't prioritizing Windows, it's that it is prioritizing it too much. They keep doing stupid shit to try and get Windows to generate more revenue for Microsoft when the vast majority of people just want an operating system that does nothing but operating system things.

Nobody needs Copilot in their OS. Nobody needs advertising in their OS. Nobody needs their OS to take pictures of every little thing they do. And nobody needs their OS phoning home with who knows what it's picked up.

Yet somehow Microsoft has never really understood any of this.

I’m sorry but your examples are all backwards. If Microsoft was prioritizing Windows, they would not do any of those things. Back when they did prioritize windows the goal was always windows first, and many other Microsoft ambitions died so that windows could take top priority.

If the best interest of windows are being sacrificed for copilot, and they are, it’s a different problem.