Windows 11

[jthompson]

The taskbar feels like change for change sake. What benefit do you get from having the start button in the centre instead of on the left where it has been for the last 20+ years?

 

I think it's so that it feels and looks more natural on a touchscreen.

 

In terms of the comparison to MacOS lifecycle, I don't see it as too much of a departure from that. It's certainly not as bad as Android in that regard (both in terms of UI changes and hardware support).

[mavhc]

You get people click the bottom left accidentally and opening bing and seeing ads.

[Gongalong]

And on the topic of ads... Microsoft has been caught testing ads in the Windows 11 File Explorer

[mavhc]

Windows is free as in ads for beer, not free as in freedom, very predictable

 

I'm on insider dev channel, on Windows Update is the download/install button greyed out for everyone?

[tmoon-mint]

I have good contacts with Microsoft employees, living in the same area as their headquarters and I can tell you that most of them were just as suprised as us about the new version of Windows. It was apparently a marketing department decision and many people were confused inside the organization as well. Marketing won in the end apparently!

 

Honestly that makes complete sense. Didn't Windows 11 start life as Windows 10X which got binned and turned into Windows 11. If memory serves it was going to be a version designed for dual screen devices.

[mavhc]

I think without 10X they had nothing to release, so invented 11.

 

Meanwhile they just used Android for dual screens, shows how much they're bothered about client OSes really, they're only focused on Azure.

[Gongalong]

I have good contacts with Microsoft employees, living in the same area as their headquarters and I can tell you that most of them were just as suprised as us about the new version of Windows. It was apparently a marketing department decision and many people were confused inside the organization as well. Marketing won in the end apparently!

Or why you shouldn't let Marketing run your company, which unfortunately happens all to often.

[MartinT]

Without marketing you won't have a company for long.

 

Simply a necessity.

[Norphy]

Granted, but your product should drive marketing, not the other way around.

[Gongalong]

It could well be a profit driven thing as well. Microsoft can't seem to make their mind up about charging for upgrades, so if they force hardware changes the manufacturers have to pay them to put it on the new machines. Not that I'm trying to excuse it

[Oaktech]

It could well be a profit driven thing as well. Microsoft can't seem to make their mind up about charging for upgrades, so if they force hardware changes the manufacturers have to pay them to put it on the new machines. Not that I'm trying to excuse it ��

 

I'm happier with the new hardware requirement than I am with ads.

[Gongalong]

For those who've not seen it: Windows 11: Microsoft approves desktop watermark for unsupported PCs

[Norphy]

To be honest with you, I think it would have been better if Microsoft didn't allow Windows 11 to be run on hardware which isn't in its HCL. At least then, things like this would be unnecessary and the situation as to what Windows 11 will work on would be a lot clearer.

[Zoom7000]

For those who've not seen it: Windows 11: Microsoft approves desktop watermark for unsupported PCs

 

Cue the registry tweaks for removal lol

[LeMarchand]

Has anyone managed to do an "in place" installation on a non-secure boot machine? I've tried various registry hacks and the dll removal method and can stop it complaining about TPM, but not secure boot. CBA to try a "start from scratch" as it's the machine I use and doesn't have a standard software build.

[mavhc]

Can't you switch to secure boot first?

[LeMarchand]

Can't you switch to secure boot first?

 

AFAICT that board doesn't support it, which seems odd. I certainly can't see anything likely in the BIOS.

[mavhc]

Won't do if it's still a BIOS and not a UEFI I suppose.

[LeMarchand]

Oddly, it says it's UEFI in msinfo32 but in BIOS misses out the "U".

[mavhc]

EFI was the previous version of UEFI, so that's probably fine. If it's EFI and not BIOS then you have a chance at least. Is it booting via EFI or MBR?

[LeMarchand]

Booting via EFI, IFAIK - though there's a chance it's worked down the list to the legacy sources. Not there until next week, but will see if I can turn off legacy.