Yes. I Tried Windows 11.
Posted on October 14, 2023 at 3:58 PM.

(return to Tech's Blog)

Microsoft spent more time on animations than fixing their software.

Recently, I tried out Windows 11 on my main machine (and what I mean about tried is that I upgraded my existing install of my stable Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016 directly to Windows 11 Enterprise) and my experience with it was, eh. I've ran into some issues where File Explorer tends to forget some of my folder's preferences and saved columns, and one time when dragging files out of File Explorer onto a different app would either cause it to lag horrendously or outright forget that I'm dragging a file onto an app and doesn't "let go" of the file and some performance drops that I never encounter while using LTSB 2016.

The problem with modern-day Windows is that, Microsoft forgot what made Windows, a perfect OS for desktop computers instead of trying to cram Windows onto every thing like handheld gaming consoles of all things and how Microsoft is focusing on nonsense things like making animations look smooth and implementing AI into Windows as I am not surprised that during its development in early 2021, Microsoft had other engineers from different departments, like Office, Xbox, Visual Studio, to all work on Windows which resulted in many inconsistencies when it comes to user interface and its functions. Nevertheless I decided to upgrade my current install directly.

Of course, doing some patches so that Windows 11 can install on my computer, since its TPM, EFI, and Secure Boot nonsense are apparently "required" to run Windows 11, considering its still using BOOTMGR, dated back to Windows Vista, which both support EFI and legacy boot! If Microsoft really, really, really want to make Windows 11 EFI only, Microsoft would spend much time on rewriting the boot loader (BOOTMGR) to remove legacy boot support, which I don't think Microsoft would ever do, so hah. Oh, and having Microsoft to rework DISM to prevent people from manually installing Windows 11 onto a hard disk. ;)

First look at Windows 11.

Back on topic, the image below is my desktop alongside the new Start menu with its shortcuts to apps.

Click to view larger image.

I'm not really a big fan of the new Start menu. Sure, it doesn't have the infamous "live tiles" from Windows 8, but if I want to go to my all apps list, I have to click on a button. But didn't Microsoft get rid of the "All Apps" button on the old Start menu on Windows 10 starting version 1607? (which I actually think was a smart idea and was glad that it was implemented.) Also, the "Recommended" section I don't use and that you can't truly turn off without using patch tools. Now, if I'm designing the Start menu, there should be an option to add the all apps list on the left side of the Start menu which doesn't take as much room, enough for the pinned apps to be displayed on the right side, or have the Start menu to only show the all apps list instead.

Click to view larger image.

Oh look! File Explorer finally got tabs support! It's not like I'd seen it before on a development build of Windows 10, named Sets! Now yeah, I know the upcoming version 23H2 would enable tabs in explorer to be torn off and reattached. (which why wouldn't it be on 22H2?!) The window itself is a mix between WinUI 3 language and the legacy File Explorer code mashed together, why couldn't Microsoft go full out and use WinUI 3 for File Explorer? Oh yeah, it'll take too much time to get done, perhaps years, but haha Microsoft only have 2 years or less to push an update for Windows 11 before your currently installed version is discontinued and obsolete, thanks Windows as a Service!!

What's up with the new Task Manager?

The gif above shows the sidebar's lack of

the "expand" animation. Click to view larger GIF.

Task Manager. A very useful application for Windows NT. Microsoft "redid" the interface for Task Manager and I gotta say, I'm not a fan. Like File Explorer, it's using a mix of WinUI 3 language and existing code of the reliable Task Manager, but hey! there's dark mode!!!!! In my honest opinion, controls should be on top and not on the side with the hamburger menu. I've notice that clicking on the hamburger icon to expand it, won't play the animation and instead takes about a second to show the expanded view. My guess is that, Microsoft lazily disabled the expand animation because Task Manager has to redraw its content frame-by-frame so that the sidebar would play the expand animation, but due to the nature of old design language, redrawing the frame would result in a sloppy mess. It's like when you resize some applications, the contents of the window would "tear". See the animation below on what I mean by that.

As you see above, the search bar "tears"

alongside the scroll bar of the window.

Now, the functions of the new Task Manager isn't new, but rather a sloppy redesign that Microsoft did, in the sake of consistency. Don't get me started on 23H2's version of Task Manager. The dialog box now shows inside the Window and isn't responsive compared to the older dialog box.

OOOOH NEW DESIGN. Same old code.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Microsoft utilized its engineers from different departments to help develop Windows 11 by changing its design but keeping the underlying code of Windows NT the same, just because Apple finally let go of version 10 back in 2020, and now increments its major version every year. Well, the "redesign" of Windows seem to make people upgrade to a reskin version of Windows 10, considering the fact back in 2021, Windows 10 had TWO development channels for 21H2. First, being dedicated to the active development branch of Windows 10 and the second being focused on implementing new features like the new icons many people began seeing during development of Windows 10 Cobalt, which ultimately became Windows 11.

Microsoft surely did a great job on fooling people on how "new" Windows 11 is, as the only thing that stands out is an interface redesign. Heck, using tools, you can get some of Windows 10's interface on Windows 11 easily. Microsoft wants to hide its flaws by making "smooth" and "flashy" animations that caught people off-guard and praise Windows 11 for having smooth animations, DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THAT "GEAR SPIN" EASTER EGG.

Windows 11 is still version NT 10.0, all what Microsoft did was focus way too much on animations and refining the interface instead of fixing the operating system, fixing bugs like poor performance, input lag, and nonsense bugs that ultimately made people fall into buying a new GPU so that Windows 11 can be happy, even though you don't have to. I don't need new flashy UI animations, all I want to do is to get work done with an operating system that's stable and doesn't cause trouble, hence why I'm sticking to Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016, and if some programs would to stop working, I'll make it work, or use an older version of said app.

Windows-as-a-service MUST GO.

It's obvious. I want it gone. Why is Microsoft treating Windows like some kind of a mobile operating system that has to be discontinued after two years? What's wrong of having 10 years of support? Now, we only have two to three years of support. But look, Microsoft wants to do this "three-year major features update" thing, which they should've been doing since Windows 10! Now, Windows 11 has a thing called "Moments" which it's similar to how Windows got its new features, by installing Service Packs. Still, we want to upgrade at our own convenience, not feel compelled to upgrade. I KNOW that I only have 3 years of support left, which is why I've been working on my escape route, in the event where I have to escape, like when my applications stop working or what not. Hell, Microsoft would probably not care, since they only care about AI, AI, AI and more AI nonsense into Windows rather than fixing their operating system and make it great, like what it used to be back then.

I'm not switching operating systems because everything I do on my current OS works flawlessly and my applications I use continue to work! No reason to upgrade if the tools you use continue to work. And the "new" features of Windows 11, I don't use at all! Hell, what about DirectStorage? Are there games out there taking advantage of that? I don't need HDR because I DON'T OWN an HDR monitor! Game mode? Yeah, no improvements at all other than hogging your system's resource for that one particular application and makes other apps be slow as heck.

Whatever. I'm not going to Windows 11 anytime soon. Also speaking, I had enough and I went back to my previous version and everything went according to plan right??? Well.... mmmmm-no.

Going back to my previous version broke things. Nice job!

Wow! What a very snarky dialog box, telling me I can

come back to Windows 11 anytime.

So I went back to my stable system, using the go back feature. Yes, it restored my system but things went missing. All of the sudden, my useful pinned folders on my quick access section were all gone, like completely gone. If I hadn't made any backups I would be pissed.

Oh no! Windows 11 got so mad at me,

it decided to clear my quick access!

Click to view larger image.

Luckily, I made a system image backup prior to upgrading to Windows 11. I decided to boot into Windows Setup and restored my system the way it was before Windows 11, and all went according to plan, though it took almost an hour to complete, but hey! Good as new!

Click to view larger image.

After half an hour went by, there's my useful shortcuts that Windows 11 decided to delete for some reason.

Click to view larger image.

Well. yeah. I'm not going back to Windows 11 anytime soon, considering it's still a mess out there, I shouldn't be surprised. Although my applications still work on Windows 11, I had many performance issues to nonsense bugs that were occurring many times, I had to go back.

Remember, newer isn't always better! Continue using old software!

TechnologicalByte