I…didn’t think windows 12 was actually a thing but here we are?
Remember when Windows 10 was “the last operating system”?
Here’s a good article about that: https://www.pcworld.com/article/394724/why-is-there-a-windows-11-if-windows-10-is-the-last-windows.html
Apparently that wasn’t really ever Microsoft’s official stance.
Yeah, it was supposed to be a subscription model that they would continuously update. They have not lived up to that promise…
They probably did a user survey and found out that moving windows to a subscription would cause 100% of users to switch to Mac / Linux
Pepperidge farm remembers. I had the same thought. lol
I’ve tried almost a dozen distros in the last couple of days. Only a couple of them see my second monitor, and none of them pick up my WiFi card. Guess what does every time? Windows 11. It’s been rock solid, fast and smooth.
Now I could put in a usb adapter for WiFi and fiddle around to get the other monitor to liven up, but I shouldn’t have to. I did this for Manjaro, and I was hopeful. On the second day it crapped out.
I didn’t want to like Windows. I used to be a die hard Mac boy, my first computer was a Mac portable. Apple polo shirt, tie and lapel pins, wallet, watch with Apple logo. I even printed my own t-shirts. ‘The box said Windows 95 or better, so I bought a Mac’ etc.
Gave up a few years ago when they became more fashion items than tools.
I’ve tinkered with Linux since Hardy Heron and Mandriva, and Chromebooks since they first came out. It always needed tinkering, nothing just worked for too long. Mac did. Mind you, Windows was crappy back then though.
Perhaps it’s because I’m on the Windows Insider programme but I really have no problem with 11. OK it has some guff that I don’t need but I’ve removed that. And sure it’s not as customisable as Linux distros, then again neither is Mac.
For me 11 just works. It syncs to my phone as soon as it’s in range. KDE Connect never did. I can run Android apps now (yes I know Chromebooks can) so Samsung Notes is my go to Notes app ever since Evernote went down the pan. OneNote is a pile of old fish parts.
I’ll keep trying distros though, I have to as my old HP laptop which dual boots MX Linux (that’s been flawless on the laptop) and Peppermint, won’t run Windows 11. I have a ‘new’ older laptop coming soon and that probably won’t run 12 ;-)
But for now the daily driver is Windows 11.
Blimus, that was longer than I expected 😮
Lol. Remember when W10 was to be the “final” one?
The “10 year OS” that was 2015. Guess profits got in the way.
Oh and 10 didn’t track you enough or put enough ads in the OS.
This is just my own take, but I feel like at least part of the reason they went back to releasing new versions is because of the recent resurgence of macOS. Not only do Macs have the excitement of Apple Silicon, but they have annual “new” OS releases; even if not much has changed, it creates excitement with their fanbase. I think Microsoft realized that it’s not very exciting to just be on Windows 10 forever. So we got Windows 11.
I think that Windows 11 is just a name and even if they hadn’t named it that we would have gotten the same features as an update in Windows 10. Windows 11 is nothing more than an update. And Windows 12 probably won’t be much different. Increasing the number version of Windows looks much better to the average user.
Makes you wonder if they’re going to just start implementing the version number on every update, sorta like Chrome does these days. Will we see another Windows 95 eventually?
Well, Win10 Home and Pro EOL is late 2025, so it’s tecnically correct…
It wasn’t the profits or ads that got in the way.
It was the security that got in the way. (remember the whole TPM module thing?)
Iterating the version number was just a convenient excuse to throw more ads, and tracking in.
Apparently the source of that wasn’t an official statement by Microsoft. It was some offhand comment in a dev conference that kind of got out of control.
Actually XP was supposed to be the last one. Service Packs were supposed to be the future of OS updates/upgrades.
Too late. I switched to MacOS.
I got sick of edge hijacking my chrome tabs, and then opening on bootup (despite being set not to).
Selling my Xbox Series X too and swapped to PS5… (Remote Play on PS5 actually works on my computer)
Likewise, I had a “high end” business laptop, that didn’t have many alternatives in the windows ecosystem, and replaced it with a 14” base m1 mbp.
The battery lasts 3x longer on the Mac than on the old laptop, and I can generally get significantly better performance in photoshop and Lightroom without dealing with the dual gpu problems that windows laptops have. Additionally, my heavy compilation workloads in Go are almost 2x as fast on battery, and around 1.3x when plugged in.
Top that with a screen and speakers that are so much better there just isn’t a comparison. Windows laptops are a joke unless they live plugged in
Yep… I used to hate MacOS (used to work at an AppleCentre). But, sometimes it almost feels like Microsoft tries to screw us over, and then reverts only if we complain.
The only issue I have, is Netflix performs poorly on my HDMI screen on my Mac Studio (everything else is fine)… I suspect its related to Widevine/DRM though (and might be why there is no netflix app on MacOS)
Aero Peek and such though in Windows is a lot nicer than MacOS imho… I installed magnet (not as good, but better).
I do feel Windows was ahead in some areas, but when you can’t get your own console showing properly on your own computer OS, thats embarressing…
KDE developers: okay so we’re gonna switch to a floating taskbar so we look less like a Windows clone
Windows developers: hey guys I have a crazy idea
They are necessitating 8GB of RAM. for what?! Like, it would be a struggle to find a machine with less than 8GB still being sold new, sure, but why does the OS need that RAM?
Microsoft: “Gotta keep all of the telemetries and AI running 24/7 of course!”
Every day I’m closer to trying Linux again.
Please do? What is stopping you anyway?
How is Linux with flight sticks? With Steam now available in Linux, lots of game compatibility is taken care of, but I would love my peripherals to work as well.
As someone who has moved from Windows to Linux and has been using it as primary OS for everything and gaming; it’s not ready.
I love Linux. But it’s not there. It’s for tech savvy people. It’s simply not user friendly enough for the “normies”. I hope it’ll happen one day.
I’m no “normie” but Linux is so damned ass backwards my brain just can’t cope, some of the times I was unsure if I was asking the OS to change directory or summon Moloch to bring a thousand years of darkness to the world.
Linux always had the problem of highly technical people building wonderful things with a GUI that looks like it was designed by a third grader. Mainly because the majority of Linux contributors think the GUI is some fad that will blow over soon. I’m exaggerating of course, the last 10 years has seen some massive improvements. But the GUI being an afterthought still has a bit of truth to it.
You exaggerate but only slightly.
I get how you feel. A lot of your existing Windows knowledge is not applicable to Linux so you feel like an old fart that doesn’t understand computers when you first start using it.
That being said. Now that I’m over that hump, I get why all the linux nerds are so militant about it. It is an objectively better experience if you compare it to Windows from a power user level. It’s a lot like gaming on a PC. Yes, you have to build it. Yes, you have to tinker with games to get them to run “just right”. But it is a better experience once you get there.
Fedora linux: If Microsoft does this why not us?
To be honest, I think 8 GB is a more realistic requirement for light tasks nowadays, but not because of Windows - even Windows 10 would struggle with Chrome, Word, Excel, etc on just 4 GB, and I can’t imagine that W11 is any better. Increasing the requirements would ensure that OEMs won’t put Windows 12 on shitbox PCs with 4 GB and call them usable, just because they meet the bare-minimum standards.
Yeah, I guess. It seems wasteful to need 8GB just to run an OS and browser especially after Microsoft was pushing server core specifically to go the opposite route with resource utilization on servers.
Maybe because most programs you’d use (browser, word processor, spreadsgeets, etc) requires 8+ gb, and the non-windows side of MS wanted the requirements so edge, word, excel, etc are guaranteed to actually work on every computer that ships with those programs?
It’s not that the OS needs that amount of RAM, it’s that it’s lifting the floor for what a modern PC will have, which is a good thing. I can’t wait for the day windows requires an SSD.
I mean, Windows 10+ should only be used on an SSD for the OS install, even if it’s not explicitly required.
So long as it doesn’t outright block us from doing what we choose to on our PC’s, there should be a recommended settings minimum that differs from the minimum.
with a 64-bit chip operating at a frequency of at least 1000 megahertz continuing to meet the requirements
Wrong. The requirement for Windows 11 is “processor introduced on the market after the year 2018, with absolutely no regards on its computational power” (with a single exception to the specific CPU of the $3500 Microsoft surface studio because they continued to sell the machine with the same old processor for five years)
For example an i7-7700K is “unsupported” but the much slower and with less features atom-based Celeron j4005 is “supported”.
The hardware requirements are completely artificial and clearly decided in agreement with Intel and AMD in order to sell more new computers
The i7-7700k is my exact CPU, and I was wondering why my update screen always claimed I was out of spec for Win 11. Then I did some digging and it seems that some CPUs are more equal than others in that regard. Then I got Win 11 on my work computer and didn’t want Win 11 anymore.
Is 2018 maybe when TPM modules started going on every motherboard?
No, most tpm implementation nowadays are integrated in the CPU. And Intel 6th gen onwards have tpm 2.0 in the CPU, but they’re not supported for “reasons”
Oh boy, it’ll only run on brand new hardware! Gotta make sure it can run integrated, unswitch-offable OpenClippy GPT or whatever.
it’ll only run on brand new hardware!
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/16811
Unless I missed something that $75 raspberry pi meets the minimum specs for Windows 12
You’re right!
Sorry I was just reading about how there was talk of higher minimum requirements (8gb ram, with 16gb recommended) but that was before official release info.
Tired of windows messing their UI every next monday? You will love linux!
Yes sir, until you update your video driver and never see your screen again. I jest a little bit, but watching linus do that cracks me up every time.
Yeah! There it’s you fucking up your UI every next Monday because you’re not mentally well, and you can’t let good enough be good enough
There needs to be some middle ground between so much control that simple things that should be obvious breaking your computer isn’t as possible as it currently is.
Linux has a learning curve yes, it also has several hurdles that seem to be an unnecessary byproduct of having total control over your OS.
The Gnome desktop is a pretty good middle ground in my opinion. It is in my opinion even simpler than Windows to use and allows enough customizability with extensions. People in the Linux world love to dunk on it for using slightly more RAM and not having the same amount of customizability as other desktops like KDE Plasma.
there is some immutable distros, but I wouldn’t like that it becomes the norm
“the highly anticipated Windows 12” riiiiight…
According to the source, Microsoft wants to make the taskbar appear to float above the desktop by separating it from the desktop and rounding off the corners.
…why?
To bridge the gap to Windows 13, which will put it in the middle of the screen.
The Taskbar is the screen in Win 13
I can see a few reasons for this.
-
Whenever Explorer.exe crashes, it takes down the desktop including the taskbar. They are probably trying to separate the taskbar from the desktop.
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It’s a new style and people expect to see a unique style with every Windows version change. Of course, if you really want to you can make Windows 11 look like Windows 98 with a few button presses afaik.
3 a) It potentially looks like they might start auto-hiding the taskbar by default which could be interesting. If they are and they allow applications to maximize to the full borders of your monitor, that could potentially be awesome.
3 b) auto-hiding the taskbar frees up real estate and if you put on a tin foil hat you can say that Microsoft is going to use that newfound real estate to show ads to users and will justify it because they only take up less space than you were missing before, it’s no big deal, right? (This is highly unlikely and Windows as an OS hasn’t really shown people ads yet. The most it’s done is shipped with minor bloatware apps.)
Windows as an OS has absolutely been showing ads for a long time. Ads for their own stuff for the most part, but those are still ads. They pop stuff up all over the place advocating for paid OneDrive plans or Office 365 or whatever.
Those aren’t ads embedded in the OS. Those are ads because an app is installed. It’s also fairly easy to uninstall them. Also, all over the place is a bit silly. It’s like once via the notification system when you first install the OS.
iTunes/Apple Music has joined the chat.
They are probably trying to separate the taskbar from the desktop.
I’m 99.9% sure this is only visual, without major changes under the hood.
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In an effort to make the user experience even shittier? Or maybe one of the suits saw their kid with a custom linux desktop and was like: we need to get these kids off that linux crap, and clearly the floating task bar is the clincher! *does a giant rip of cocain *
My cynical take - it’s what MacOS looks like and they’ve been throwing away their own identity to copy Apple for years now.
Key features include subscription fees, only-online capacity, baked in popup ads in every folder and directory, is slower than windows 7, and also streams your webcam to anyone who pays them enough.
/hj
Are they going to let us move the damn taskbar this time?
Maybe in 3 years. They only just brought ungrouping taskbar icons back in the beta lol
Windows 11 still feels like a beta… Have they completely given up on quality?
How does it feel like a beta exactly? What doesn’t work?
So 2025 is the year I finally move my desktop to Linux and run windows in a VM I guess. I still have a few apps that just do not play nicely in Wine that would make transitioning fully more difficult, but I’ve been full Linux on my laptop for years. Maybe I can finally make the jump on PC.
Which apps are those? Just curious - I know there are others in this situation and I’m always interested in hearing what apps are the blocking ones for a transition from Windows.
Photoshop for me. Yeah I can get it running under Linux, but it keeps crashing, or is buggy.
And no, Gimp is not a good replacement if anyone goes there.And no, Gimp is not a good replacement if anyone goes there.
This always makes me laugh when people suggest it. Like, CMYK support didn’t get introduced to Gimp until 2022 ffs, and it’s not even full support.
My last one left is PCVR with the Quest 2. I wonder whether that works through a VM.
When you’re using a Facebook VR headset and accompanying software, Windows is probably not your biggest concern
