Windows 11 First Impressions- and a Brief History of Microsoft OS's

Tech people tend to be aggressive upgraders. There's a reason for that- we know how to fix stuff if the upgrade goes sideways. That means the normal stress/fear/problem aversion response is lessened and the potential pros outweigh the potential cons. Business owners and people who are "Getting Things Done®" (big fan here) tend to be more conservative because productivity is more important than following trends. As someone running a tech business, I often feel the tug in both directions. Usually what happens is I end up leaning on my experience of knowing which software companies are more likely to put out quality products out of the box and make a judgement call based on that. Having said that, I probably lean more heavily on my business instincts than my techy instincts on the balance.

Windows 11 is here. It's not coming in preview, it's not beta, it's Released to Manufacturing (RTM), Generally Available (GA) software. The last few years, Microsoft releases have been sketchy, but in this case, here we go anyway- the tech side of me wins. I've written about this aspect before, but if you're noticing many similarities on first glance with MacOS 11 (a.k.a. Big Sur), you're not far off the mark. In true Microsoft fashion, and true to their roots, they have copied some great aspects of MacOS from their primary competitor in the Desktop OS space, Apple Inc. That may sound like a criticism, but it's not really. If I wanted to write a criticism of Microsoft's business practices (don't tempt me, haha!) that would be a completely different kind of article. Instead, I want to write a positive article about some of the changes they've made for the better and some gotchas to know about. But first some history.

Windows XP (and it's server-side cousin, Windows Server 2003) was probably the best Windows OS (for its time) that Microsoft has made in terms of functionality, ease of use, and esthetics (and yes, esthetics are important). It was a big improvement from Windows 2000 in almost every way. Users were happy. Admins were happy. Then came the Vista/Windows Server 2008 debacle. This was a major disaster for Microsoft, mostly due to app, hardware, and driver compatibility issues- not to mention the introduction of user account control (UAC). Look, as a big security guy, I'm not going to bash UAC too much. It's a basic security speed bump that was needed. Yes, it can be bypassed but it takes a lot of work. But its main problem was constantly asking for permission to do things people were used to doing without being asked, "Are you sure?", and people hated it. Microsoft wants to forget about Vista, and they want you to forget about it, too.

Then came Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2. They re-branded Vista and made the UAC feature a little less annoying. People hated Vista so much, they ran into Windows 7's arms full-speed not noticing it was basically a re-branding effort. People still love Windows 7. There are a lot of Windows 7 hold-outs buying Extended Security Updates (ESU's)- talk to us if you need them- running Windows 7 safely is still a reality in 2021. After Windows 7 came Windows 8 (naturally) and it's server-side cousin Windows Server 2012. Windows 8 was another disaster for Microsoft- and for good reason. They took the start menu away and introduced a flat, tiled square style of apps (called Metro apps). Colorful, 3-D curved windows became lifeless, drab boxes. Windows 8 became another OS MS wanted to drop down the memory hole. It was so bad they had to release a Windows 8.1 (first time since Windows 3.1) just to bring the start menu back.

Then, in 2015 they released Windows 9. What? They didn't? Why wouldn't they? That's how bad Windows 8 was, folks. They had to skip a version number for marketing reasons. They needed more distance from the monstrosity that was Windows 8. So like I was saying, in 2015 they released Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016. Was it very different from Windows 8? Did they change much under the hood? No. They just gave it a new paint job and skipped a version number. But even the paint job was a meagre effort. Truthfully, Windows 10 was really Windows 8.2. Yes, there were some under-the-hood changes that were begun at that time. The control panel began slowly to be replaced with the Settings app. More apps got metro-ized. But marketing can overcome all problems, seemingly.

Back to the present- the Windows 11 roll out began about two weeks ago. I've recently began to use it as my daily driver. My first impressions are surprisingly positive. As someone who uses MacOS regularly along with Linux and Windows, the similarities I alluded to are glaringly obvious, but at the same time a big improvement. What I think they've got here is a Microsoft OS people can live with again, not unlike Windows XP and Windows 7 were. It looks nice on today's modern monitors with more thought and attention given to high-DPI display scenarios. Application windows are curved once again. They finally killed tiles (good riddance!). And they also fixed two of my main criticisms of the Windows 10 Settings metro app- (1) it finally feels as if it's feature complete- I don't have to go to the control panel much anymore; and (2) it's not that terribly ugly anymore. In short, beautiful is back.

Microsoft has finally killed the Snipping Tool, as they have threatened to for a few years. They did it by renaming the new metro-ized Snip & Sketch to... Snipping Tool! If you want the old one back, after the upgrade, you can copy the old files, SnippingTool.exe and SnippingTool.exe.mui from their Windows.old folder back to where they used to be, but please don't do this unless you know what you're doing, nor without a backup. Other than that, the entire user interface has been greatly improved. Right-click context menus, folder icons, application icons, the taskbar, the start menu, widgets, the aforementioned Settings app- they're all vastly improved in look & feel (including shadowing and transparency) and responsiveness.

Microsoft Windows- for businesses it's often a "can't live with it, can't live without it" situation. But in this case, they've walked back many of the bad design decisions of the past, bringing back a comfortable user experience. If your business is ready for a desktop refresh, this could be a great time for that because additionally- from a security perspective, Desktop hardware has now reached a point where AMD's Zen 2 processors are well available to the hardware manufacturers. We have active relationships with three excellent distributors, so we can get what you need fast. Whether you need the expertise to keep what you have running smoothly or navigate these uncertain winds and waters of change- we would be honored to serve you. Give us a call today- we'll answer it!