For those of you looking at the news from this past week that Windows 11 is now generally available, you might be asking yourself if it’s the kind of thing you want to install. At this point, probably not. In fact, I’d wait a few months.
Windows 11 has a completely rewritten Start menu and Taskbar interface that isn’t ready for prime time even though it was rushed to release. A number of power user features are missing, including basics such as being able to launch Task Manager from the taskbar by right-clicking it. Or quickly managing multiple windows. Or opening a file by dragging it onto an app icon in the taskbar.
Windows 11 completely changes the workflow of many users and it’s not all good. Much of the design and layout of these elements is driven by telemetry – Microsoft’s way of looking at how much people interact with their software and using that to determine where things should go.
Included in that is a desire to inject recurrent revenue streams into the operating system. There are adverts in the new Widgets menu, in the Start menu, in the Microsoft Store, and peppered about the place if you’re not already subscribed to Office 365.
Microsoft also really, really wants you to sign in using a Microsoft account and use their services. Windows 11 Home requires a Microsoft account to set it up for first-time use, and by default you’ll have it set to sync your documents to OneDrive. If you want to get the most out of the platform, you’ll need to subscribe to Office 365, but this isn’t necessary when most of the things people do on their computers can be done with free software or an app in a web browser.
Office.com and Google Docs are two examples of decent online editors that don’t require you to subscribe to anything to make it work.
While Windows 11 will run anything you already use and own, it’s not ready. There have only been public betas for just over three months, and the operating system comes with significant changes to how drivers work and are written, how applications are run securely, and how the user interface looks and feels. There may be unforeseen bugs that affect your work.
For the moment, it’s a bit like opening your fridge and expecting your cheese to still be where you left it, and it is there… but now it’s replaced with processed cheese slices that don’t taste quite the same as the real thing. You don’t have to cut the cheese now, true, but it also doesn’t offer the same kind of versatility.
You can’t, or should not, throw processed cheese into a salad.
There are going to be issues with hardware incompatibility. There are going to be printers that don’t work, webcams that don’t show video. Some of your games and apps may have performance regressions. Perhaps your older copy of Pastel will misbehave. Maybe your workflow is the most affected because things worked the same way for over 20 years, and suddenly they don’t.
For anyone looking to use or run Windows 11 in the future, consider waiting. Wait to see if anyone you know has issues. If you needed new hardware anyway, wait until you have enough money for that.
Stick to Windows 10 as long as you need – support for it ends in 2025, after all.