This story presents a roundup of a selection of Microsoft Windows 11 prerelease story submissions. Included are the following:
- Windows 11 To Only Support One Intel 7th Gen CPU, No AMD Zen CPUs
- Why Windows 11 Has Such Strict Hardware Requirements, According to Microsoft
- Microsoft Won't Stop You Installing Windows 11 on Older PCs
- Start or Please Stop? Power users mourn features lost in Windows 11 'simplification'
If Windows isn't your cup of tea, then please feel free to skip this story; another story will appear presently. Otherwise, please see the rest of the story below the fold:
Windows 11 To Only Support One Intel 7th Gen CPU, No AMD Zen CPUs
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Microsoft announced today [August 27, 2021] that after investigating other potentially compatible processors for Windows 11, they only found one 7th generation Intel CPU [the Intel Core i7-7820HQ processor] to be compatible, and no AMD Zen CPUs.
When Microsoft first announced Windows 11, many users were upset, if not angry, about the new and stricter system requirements for the new operating system.
[...] To make matters worse, Microsoft released a new tool called PC Health Check that checks if your hardware is compatible with Windows 11. However, this tool was severely lacking as it provided little information as to why a device was not compatible[.]
[...] In addition to the minor change in CPU compatibility, Microsoft has released a new version of their PC Health Check tool that provides more detailed information regarding why a device is not compatible with Windows 11.
Why Windows 11 Has Such Strict Hardware Requirements, According to Microsoft
Why Windows 11 has such strict hardware requirements, according to Microsoft:
Windows 11 promises to refine window management, run Android apps, and to unify the look and feel of the operating system's built-in apps after years of frustrating hodgepodge. But none of that matters if your computer can't run the software, and Microsoft has only promised official Windows 11 support for computers released within the last three or four years.
[...] Microsoft's rationale for Windows 11's strict official support requirements—including Secure Boot, a TPM 2.0 module, and virtualization support—has always been centered on security rather than raw performance. A new post from Microsoft today [August 27, 2021] breaks down those requirements in more detail and also makes an argument about system stability using crash data from older PCs in the Windows Insider program.
Microsoft says that Insider Program PCs that didn't meet Windows 11's minimum requirements "had 52% more kernel mode crashes" than PCs that did and that "devices that do meet the system requirements had a 99.8% crash-free experience." According to Microsoft, this mostly comes down to active driver support. Newer computers mostly use newer DCH drivers, a way of packaging drivers that Microsoft began supporting in Windows 10. To be DCH-compliant, a driver must install using only a typical .INF file, must separate out OEM-specific driver customizations from the driver itself, and must distribute any apps that accompany your driver (like a control panel for an audio driver or GPU) through the Microsoft Store.
[...] Microsoft goes to greater lengths to explain the benefits of using Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 modules, but the key may actually be the less-discussed virtualization requirement and an alphabet soup of acronyms. Windows 11 (and also Windows 10!) uses virtualization-based security, or VBS, to isolate parts of system memory from the rest of the system. VBS includes an optional feature called "memory integrity." That's the more user-friendly name for something called Hypervisor-protected code integrity, or HVCI. HVCI can be enabled on any Windows 10 PC that doesn't have driver incompatibility issues, but older computers will incur a significant performance penalty because their processors don't support mode-based execution control, or MBEC.
Microsoft Won't Stop You Installing Windows 11 on Older PCs
Microsoft won't stop you installing Windows 11 on older PCs:
Microsoft is announcing today that it won't block people from installing Windows 11 on most older PCs. While the software maker has recommended hardware requirements for Windows 11 — which it's largely sticking to — a restriction to install the OS will only be enforced when you try to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 through Windows Update. This means anyone with a PC with an older CPU that doesn't officially pass the upgrade test can still go ahead and download an ISO file of Windows 11 and install the OS manually.
Microsoft announced its Windows 11 minimum hardware requirements in June, and made it clear that only Intel 8th Gen and beyond CPUs were officially supported. Microsoft now tells us that this install workaround is designed primarily for businesses to evaluate Windows 11, and that people can upgrade at their own risk as the company can't guarantee driver compatibility and overall system reliability. Microsoft won't be recommending or advertising this method of installing Windows 11 to consumers. In fact, after we published this post, Microsoft reached out to tell us about one potentially gigantic catch it didn't mention during our briefing: systems that are upgraded this way may not be entitled to get Windows Updates, even security ones. We're asking Microsoft for clarification.
Overall, it's a big change that means millions of PCs may not be left behind, technically.
Start or Please Stop? Power users mourn features lost in Windows 11 'simplification'
Start or Please Stop? Power users mourn features lost in Windows 11 'simplification':
Windows 11 users are unsure of the merits of the new Start menu, according to feedback so far.
The Start menu always seems to be at the centre of controversial changes to the Windows desktop. It was a triumph in Windows 95, improved steadily up until Windows 7, then transmuted into a chunky full-screen affair in Windows 8, to the horror of many users. In Windows 10 it became a hybrid of the Windows 7 and 8 approaches, restored to its spot in the left-hand corner, but retaining a tiled section.
It is all change for Windows 11, though. According to Microsoft, "research showed people wanted a cleaner and simpler Start," and it was redesigned (as was Windows 8) by taking inspiration from smartphones, "being able to pan different pages with touch, for instance," said the company.
[...] The consequence of "simplifying" the taskbar and Start menu is that many features have disappeared – which has not gone down well with Windows insiders, a group in which power users are no doubt over-represented.
The above article presents a list of missing features and "General lack of customization options", as well as a "large space given over to 'Recommended' content" (potential advertising space) in current prerelease Windows 11 builds.
Excited about the upcoming new Windows? Or, do you use a different OS? What's your take?
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3 Original Submission #4
Related Stories
Windows 11 Build Leaks Ahead of Launch
We've been hearing about Microsoft's upcoming major update to Windows 10 for quite some time now. Codenamed Sun Valley, information so far on the internet indicated deep changes to the OS and the UI. We have also come across news that pointed to the Sun Valley update being likely christened as Windows 11. We can now confirm that it the next version of Windows will indeed be called Windows 11.
We have managed to get our hands on a leaked build of the OS. Given that we are just about 10 days from the official unveiling, we don't expect too many changes from the current build 21996.1 to the RTM candidate, but it still helps to be skeptical till launch.
[...] Microsoft will take wraps off Windows 11 on June 24. It is possible that the company may show off a few more visual changes not seen in these leaked builds. For now, take a look at the screenshots below and let us know what you think. We are still fiddling around with the build and will update this article if we come across anything noteworthy.
Also at The Verge and Videocardz.
See also: Make way for Windows 11? Windows 10 end-of-life is October 2025
Windows 11 Look Inspired by KDE Plasma and GNOME?
The images of the upcoming Windows 11 Operating system from Microsoft resemble a mixture of our beloved KDE Plasma and GNOME. How much they are similar? We try to find out.
There's a saying which I remember – 'Good artists copy. Great artists steal'. I don't know the design team behind Windows 11, but it seems they are pretty good inspired by the Linux desktops. If you look at the Windows OS look over the years – from Windows XP to 7 to 10 – there is not much changed in terms of look and feel. Until now.
Windows OS have typically 5 to 7 years of life iterations with a new release. If you think about the options of customization Windows gives you, that remained the same over the years. Even the overall desktop experience in terms of Start Menu position, width, color – all remained constant.
But with the new look of Windows 11 – this is changing. Let me walk you through some of the screenshots I had a look at and how cunningly it is similar to the popular Linux desktop environments such as KDE Plasma and GNOME.
If Windows 11 really looks like KDE Plasma and GNOME, is this to have a more uniform UI when Windows Subsystem for Linux offers Linux GUI apps with an integrated seamless way for users to install Linux GUI apps?
Microsoft's Windows 11 Release Event: TLDR Version
Windows 11 features and significant changes
- Centered Taskbar and Start Menu.
- Taskbar is fixed to the bottom and can't be moved elsewhere (we are hoping this changes as the development process progresses).
- An improved File Explorer design (nothing radical).
- OS features glassy transitions, new animations, and rounded corners.
- New Microsoft Store, which will also go live for Windows 10.
- Android apps are finally here!
- The company says Windows 11 is built for gaming: DirectX 12 Ultimate, Direct Storage, and Auto HDR are all coming.
- Xbox Game Pass is being integrated into the OS.
- New Chat app powered by Microsoft Teams.
- Teams is integrated into the Windows 11 Taskbar.
- Snap Layouts: Windows 11 allows you to quickly snap apps into different modes.
- Widgets get a prime spot.
- Improved touch gestures for a better 2-in-1 experience.
- Quick Actions are now Quick Settings.
- New out of box experience (OOBE).
For the first time, Windows will be 64-bit only, supporting dual-core CPUs with 4 GB of RAM at a minimum. A 64 GB drive is required, probably to avoid the messy update process that Windows 10 often required on machines with only 32 GB. Recent builds require a TPM 2.0 but the official release will only require TPM 1.2. Windows 11 will be released sometime in Fall 2021 as a free update for Windows 10 users (who meet the minimum requirements).
See also: Most Modern PCs Will Have No Issues Running Windows 11 – AMD & Intel CPUs With A Minimum of TPM 1.2 Required, TPM 2.0 Recommended
Windows 11 is much more than a new theme slapped onto Windows 10
DirectStorage on Windows 11: Next-gen gaming performance, with PC requirements
Previously: Windows 11 Build Leaks Ahead of Launch
Windows 11 Look Inspired by KDE Plasma and GNOME?
Here’s how Android apps on Windows 11 are going to work:
Microsoft's Windows 11 announcement surprised us with the news that the upcoming OS will run Android apps alongside Windows apps. Unfortunately, the keynote was light on details. Will these apps use emulation? Will Windows' existing Linux support be involved? We got our answers shortly after the keynote, thanks to a follow-up developer talk that went into some details.
The feature is officially called the "Windows Subsystem for Android," which should tell you a lot about how it works. Windows currently has a "Windows Subsystem for Linux" (WSL), which uses a subset of the Hyper-V functionality to run Linux apps on a real Linux kernel alongside your Windows apps. (Hyper-V lets a second guest OS access the bare metal hardware instead of running on top of the host OS with less access to resources.) Real Android phones use the Linux kernel, and Microsoft is building an Android framework on top of WSL for the Windows Subsystem for Android. It sounds like we're essentially getting x86 Android running on Hyper-V.
Android apps under Windows should feel just like native Windows apps, with a top-level window, taskbar entry, and the ability to be pinned to the start menu. During its presentation, Microsoft said, "Behind the scenes, we actually create a proxy native app that handles the bridge between the Android app model and the Windows app model." Presumably, that means the system will provide things like a start menu shortcut, icons, entries in the app uninstall lists, and other minor Windows wrappings that will make the app feel native.
Windows 11 will officially support Intel 8th Gen Coffee Lake or Zen 2 CPUs and up, leaving behind millions of PCs that were sold during the launch of Windows 10.
[...] After much confusion last week, Microsoft attempted to explain its hardware requirements again yesterday, and it sounds like the main driver behind these changes is security. Coupled with Microsoft's hardware requirements is a push to enable a more modern BIOS (UEFI) that supports features like Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module).
If your machine does not have a dedicated TPM chip, your CPU may have an equivalent built-in. Specifically, Intel integrates Platform Trust Technology (Intel PTT) in its modern processors, while AMD uses something called PSP fTPM. Many motherboard manufacturers disable these by default, but you can enable them from within your motherboard's BIOS. Every BIOS is different, so we would recommend reading your motherboard's manual first. For example, Gigabyte stored the AMD PSP fTPM setting under Advanced CPU Settings.
In short, you do not necessarily need to rush out and purchase a TPM chip to run Windows 11 on your desktop machine. Hopefully, Microsoft clarifies this in its Windows 11 system requirements at some stage, because Intel and AMD do not readily market their PTT and PSP fTPM technologies as TPM 2.0 alternatives. Microsoft has also released its inaugural Windows 11 Insider Preview build and has updated its processor requirements to accommodate the Zen 1 and 7th Generation Core families.
See also: WhyNotWin11: A tool that is much better than Microsoft at detailing why a PC is not Windows 11 compatible
Users get Windows 11 running on a Lumia 950 XL and Raspberry Pi 4
Windows 11: Microsoft's Director of OS Security explains the tough CPU requirements for Win 11
How to bypass the Windows 11 TPM 2.0 requirement
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
Damage control: Microsoft deletes all comments under heavily criticized Windows 11 upgrade video:
Windows 11 is still one of the hottest topics in the world of technology. A few days after we reported on a new video which discusses the Windows 11 upgrade in more detail, Microsoft has now dealt with the reactions from countless upset customers.
[...] Due to the large amount of negative reactions, Microsoft has closed the comment section under the YouTube video, which included the deletion of all previously posted comments. Before they were erased, users shared speculations that Microsoft introduced the overly stringent system requirements in order to sell more new devices, from which the Redmond-based software company would benefit greatly due to the included Windows licenses. Considering that the video has garnered almost 1000 dislikes and less than 100 likes so far, it's likely that this was not Microsoft's final battle in its effort to gain control over the narrative that is revolving around the controversial Windows 11 upgrade requirements.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @07:01AM (1 child)
"If Windows isn't your cup of tea, then please feel free to skip this story; another story will appear presently."
Yeah, well, get moving. Chop chop.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @07:43AM
Cup of tea? You mean like the one they gave to Socrates? Cup of Hemlock Tea? Death to Microsoft, they have traumatized me so badly, as regards software, that any thing I could do to drive them out of business is worth it. They are evil, Baddies, Nogoodnicks, and they killed my dog. And my first laptop. Evil! Bad! Yucky!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by MIRV888 on Monday August 30 2021, @07:10AM (7 children)
This OS sounds like it's going to be a giant piece of #%!* based on what's been leaked / released.
I already didn't like Windows 10. Why would a company release a phone-centric OS when they don't sell m(any) phones?
I miss Windows 7.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by datapharmer on Monday August 30 2021, @12:59PM (4 children)
It's long been known that you skip (roughly) every other version of windows. This is one of those versions best left alone.
They like to get all experimental, realize they messed up after widespread backlash, revert to something that gets a few of the benefits without going off the UI deep-end and everyone adopts. Rinse. Repeat.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Gaaark on Monday August 30 2021, @04:10PM (2 children)
It's long been known to skip EVERY version of windows.
Windows free since 1999, the year the moon left Earth's orbit! ;)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @05:43PM
September 13, 1999 was quite a day!
It's too bad that Windows didn't get blasted to interstellar space along with Moonbase Alpha. Maybe we'd all be running BeOS by now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 31 2021, @05:18AM
The amount of Nerd in that nerd humor is off the scale.
And I fucking love it!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @06:33PM
It's long been known that only morons and whores use Windows.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by seeprime on Monday August 30 2021, @03:32PM
Being a Microsoft partner for almost 30 years I have come to never believe what they say. MS still offers paid support for Windows 7. I use Windows 7 Pro with 0patch.com. It's superior to Microsoft's' patch system. 0patch often releases patches for zero days that Microsoft fails at. Windows has never been 100% perfect. Anything Microsoft puts out needs to be seriously considered as they have a poor track record with both quality and communication.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 31 2021, @04:51AM
> I miss Windows 7.
I don't miss 7, I'm using it now. Old high end laptops that originally ran 7 are cheap now, and the ThinkPads I've got (bought used) are running just fine.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Opportunist on Monday August 30 2021, @07:25AM (2 children)
As in the stuff that kills all the unwanted, useless and outright harmful weed that chokes the growth of the fruits you actually like?
Is there anything "new" left in Win11 afterwards?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 30 2021, @11:42AM (1 child)
Weeds choke the growth of your desired plants because the environment is more suitable for them. Software "weeds", much like the real ones, can only be delayed, but not defeated, through poison - the roots and nascent seeds within the soil will reemerge and continue to ply their environmental advantage against your cultivated crops. We can till and mulch and spray as many herbicides as we like, but the futility of the situation will only be overturned when the environment is made conducive to the growth of the "good" and hostile to the "bad".
I consider it unlikely that change will occur before we reach a crisis level of efficiency losses akin to a computing "dust bowl".
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Tuesday August 31 2021, @01:39PM
A part of me looks forward to the news articles on that, so I can scream "I told you so!" at the top of my lungs like the angry shit I am. Not sure how to feel about that.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Common Joe on Monday August 30 2021, @09:18AM (2 children)
(Warning: Rant)
Excuse me while I throw up from laughing so hard. If they really listened, they would have seen that a user can have both power and a simpler interface for the start menu and they would have had to look no further than Open Shell [github.com] for an example.
GUI stuff is dressing on top of functionality. For years, they haven't been able to put settings all in one place in the start menu. I know they supposedly fixing that, but... years?
There are a thousand easy pickings they could have easily implemented to improve the GUI for both power users and every day users. Take scrolling for instance. Desktop mode would mean a scroll bar. (Not a two pixel sliver of screen space when you can't grab it with the mouse easily. An actual spot for scrolling. And while they're at it, they could make the size and color customizable by the user and by themes. Customizeability would go a long way for helping those with disabilities.) Tablet / phone mode wouldn't need a scroll bar. Just drag and scroll. What do they have last I checked? No true customizeability.
Installation of Microsoft Office changes the way the screen looks and behaves for that program alone. The age of an application affects how it looks and behaves. This is not a good thing. But I digress.
Their "new start menu" is a dock. I'm unimpressed. That's just window dressing. If I install Ubuntu, I get a dock. Linux Mint Cinnamon gives me a more standard Linux start menu, although I prefer to customize with dmenu because I like depth in the menus. In addition to Cinnamon, I also use i3 which has no start menu at all. (Again I use dmenu, but that's not required. The user can use anything they want to start programs.) If Microsoft is serious, they'd give the user choices for start menus.
I'm sure that means Microsoft would need a way to synchronize choices across all start menus. Fortunately, that's easily done by using directories and shortcuts... but that has be properly organized -- and their start menu directory is definitely not "clean and simple".
Making the start menu a dock is not going to fix their problems.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by driverless on Monday August 30 2021, @01:21PM
Their arguments also seem like a pile of self-fulfilling prophecy bollocks. For example they claim DCH drivers have less crashes, but that's not surprising given that by and large only a small amount of the latest, greatest hardware from major vendors has DCH drivers. Once every random piece of hardware hacked together in Shenzhen is running with cobbled-together DCH drivers cut&pasted from a Technet article, they'll have just as many crashes as non-DCH drivers, possibly even more since older drivers have had time to get the bugs ironed out while brand-new DCH ones won't.
There really isn't anything in Windows 11 that justifies its existence. When Microsoft told us a few years ago that Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows we'd ever need, they were correct (actually Windows 7 was the last version we needed, but that's another matter). Windows 11 is the UI refresh of OSes, something no-one wants or needs but that we're going to get rammed down our throats whether we like it or not.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Monday August 30 2021, @04:18PM
I am such a fan of i3: i recently trashed Ubuntu and went back to Manjaro i3, with xfce4 as my alternate desktop (which, generally, i only use when i can't remember a command to use or want my vpn up because i can never remember how to get it working with command line.
i3 with dmenu helps with remembering commands but yeah... getting old sucks.
With Manjaro, my laptop is much faster, and with i3 it is a virtual speedster.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Monday August 30 2021, @09:40AM (4 children)
a restriction to install the OS will only be enforced when you try to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 through Windows Update
FWIW, it seemed to me that updating from Win10 gives a nice, decently working Win11. All of my Windows reside on virtual machines, and I've installed Win11 a few times, then tweaked them. It's a pain in the arse to get what I consider a decent system from it. Tweaking Win10 the way you need it, then upgrading to 11 seemed to work better.
Not that any of that means anything. I thought Longhorn was a nice upgrade to WinXP - then they turned Longhorn into Vista.
Restrictions . . . WTF does Microsoft have a right to enforce restrictions, anyway? Oh well, they can't enforce any restrictions when you upgrade to Linux.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Common Joe on Monday August 30 2021, @10:25AM (2 children)
Well, it's their program so they can do anything they want... /s
No, I agree with you, but "restrictions" do have a purpose. There should be a block for users that don't know what they're doing. And, of course, it would be nice to have the ability to unlock for power users or those who don't mind nuking their machines if they mess up a setting.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Monday August 30 2021, @01:00PM (1 child)
There should be a block for users that don't know what they're doing. And, of course, it would be nice to have the ability to unlock for power users or those who don't mind nuking their machines if they mess up a setting.
Penguinistas like you should be ...
Promoted?
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 31 2021, @04:58AM
There's a song about that,
https://users.cs.duke.edu/~brd/Music/Harmful/songlist/promoted.html [duke.edu]
(Score: 1) by tavares on Tuesday August 31 2021, @04:17AM
To expand on your post, upgrading to Win11 retains your preferences and settings from Win10, including goup policy. Win10 is easier to configure than Win11 is. Working within virtual machine environments, it is easier to install Win10, configure Win10, clone the machine, then upgrade to Win11, than it is to configure a fresh install of Win11. This may or may not remain true when Win11 is officially released. There is little reason to believe that these observations will apply to any version of Win11 aside from Pro or Enterprise. Home and other editions are always shipped without the tools that Pro users are accustomed to using.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday August 30 2021, @02:33PM (1 child)
Not even the business user, they're catering to whomever is managing those business computers.
Instead of being the ubiquitous OS, they're trying to be like Apple / Android. You're using it / touching it wrong. Also, we only support Intel, thanks. Please see the complaint department for further help → 5000 miles.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 01 2021, @06:01PM
Most large organizations use Windows to run THEIR APPS and run mostly the same apps for years if not decades. They are not paying their employees to play/dick around with the OS. They don't want to spend extra time, resources and money to retrain staff to handle new versions of windows. Or to roll out new versions of Windows.
So they don't need Windows to change, they don't want Windows to change. They just need security and bug fixes.
If you want Windows to actually improve you'd limit copyright to say 14 years. Then Microsoft will have more pressure to make newer versions of Windows significantly better than the older versions...
Too bad copyright terms are getting longer and longer even though distribution speeds are faster and distribution costs are lower.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by requerdanos on Monday August 30 2021, @02:38PM (3 children)
Let me see if I catch on to this math. Devices that meet the requirements were 99.8% crash-free, meaning approximately that they crashed 0.2% of the time.
Those devices that didn't meet requirements crashed hugely more often! 52% more! So, 52% more than 0.2% is... 0.2*1.52 =~ 0.3% of the time. The crashy nonconforming devices apparently had only a 99.7% crash free experience compared to 99.8% for conforming devices.
Either Windows 11 is really, really good at not crashing, or something's wrong with the numbers here. But either way I suspect that "52% more" figure is (designed to be?) misleading.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday August 30 2021, @10:19PM (1 child)
Can you even remember the last time you had a Windows kernel crash? Do they still do BSODs anymore?
Because I know it's been years and years since I've seen one.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Monday August 30 2021, @10:59PM
I switched 100% to Debian when the Windows 10 technology preview ate one of my laptops years ago, so I have not personally had a windows kernel crash. But my other family members run Windows, and the BSOD with its little frowny face [tomshardware.com] is quite familiar to me; I've seen it in the last couple weeks, anyway. We just sent a laptop back to the Newegg seller because it bluescreened all over the place. Before that, it was a forced windows update that borked an AORUS X570 motherboard-based system [tomshardware.com]. BSOD is alive and well. Just one of those things like death and taxes, I guess.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 01 2021, @06:04PM
Maybe people nowadays are so used to the crappiness of Windows 10 that they think 0.2% is low.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday August 30 2021, @04:43PM (1 child)
...well, KDE Plasma has you covered, and htop showed well under 600MiB of RAM usage for this setup: https://imgur.com/a/SBWyBA5 [imgur.com]
At this point the only thing you really need Windows for is gaming or certain "professional" apps, and that's not that Windows is good so much as that Windows is the only supported platform. If you need something in Windows that doesn't need 3D acceleration, just run WinXP or Win7 in a VM -- I do this for Anvil Studio, my MIDI sequencer -- and you're set.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday August 30 2021, @10:05PM
In some use cases the game just isn't supported in current Windows versions. WINE on Linux is usually a much better alternative in those cases. They generally, "just work" on WINE, unless it's a DOS game in which case, DOSBox is the way to go.
Even then, so long as your game doesn't fall into the "Needs X Anti-Cheat system" to work, it'll likely work on Linux. In the event that your game is a Steam game, those "Needs X Anti-Cheat system" games may work when the Steam Deck is released. Steam has done a great job at getting "Windows Only" games working on Linux. Using a WINE like system may actually be beneficial in the future as X game won't be supported indefinitely by the publisher. While a system setup to work by having it's own environment variables for each game, WINE+Play on Linux and/or Steam's Proton could "just work" indefinitely. So long as said game doesn't rely on Servers provided by the publisher.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Informative) by SomeGuy on Monday August 30 2021, @07:30PM
Sigh. I remember the old days when hardware requirements were fairly clear cut. You want to do X and you need Y hardware to reasonably do that.
If your software required a FPU, you knew exactly why it needed it, and you could clearly see the difference if you tried to squeeze by with emulation. Requires 12mb of ram? If you know what you are doing you can make it run with 4, although it is not pretty. Needs 80mb of hard drive space? Less and it just won't fit, but perhaps you have a workaround like compression or a network drive. Easy to evaluate if those solutions are not sufficient. Might keep you from using the software. Might not. Still very clear cut.
Now Microsoft are just pulling random requirements out of their assholes. They don't even know what they need themselves. I get the impression Microsoft honestly didn't even plan on releasing "Windows 11" until Apple magically upped their version number. Unfortunately for Microsoft, desktop PC users are not as wasteful as Apple cell phone lusers.
I still don't even know what that TPM-nazi shit is all about. If I were to yank it out while Windows 11 was running, what would stop working? Probably nothing at all.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Monday August 30 2021, @08:34PM (1 child)
Has Microsoft finally come up with a version of Windows so dreadful that they will lose significant market share on the desktop? Imagine not even supporting AMD Zen CPUs! That's madness.
Will the decline of Windows be irreversible? Or will Microsoft hurriedly release a Windows 12 which fixes some of the issues enough that people will still use it? Remember Windows Vista then Windows 7. Then Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 10?
As for the start menu, this is a very small part of the system. It's only a widget on the GUI. Surely it should be configurable by the user? In fact, shouldn't the user be able to replace it easily with 3rd party software? On other less restrictive operating systems we have a wide choice of GUIs and window managers. Why can't Microsoft ever get this right?
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Monday August 30 2021, @10:07PM
Apparently, Zen2+ is supported, I think? I'd have to look at another article I found. Still, Zen 1 gen is good stuff, not supporting it is kind of bonkers.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday August 30 2021, @11:47PM
Every time I think maybe I should buy a second computer to run Windows, perhaps for peripherals that have only Windows drivers, perhaps for Windows-only software that isn't adequately handled by the emulation facilities available on Linux, Microsoft does something like this to convince me that anything I do will soon be thwarted.
I continue to do without.
-- hendrik
(Score: 2) by r_a_trip on Tuesday August 31 2021, @12:27PM
I am looking at all this Windows 11 hubbub with bemusement. Peculiar hardware requirements. Huge Backlash. Microsoft squirming to be able to eat their cake and have it too. Saying Windows 11 will install on unsupported hardware, but you can't be sure of getting updates (at all), is the most idiotic thing MS can do. Who in their right minds will shell out cash for a system that might not work properly.
If Windows 11 really works better with a current crop of hardware, assisted with secure boot and tpm, Microsoft should have made it exclusive to new hardware. Just say Windows 11 is only available on new hardware carrying the "Desiged for Window 11" certification. The deliniation between "old" Windows 10 and "new" Windows 11 would have been crystal clear. No fuss, no muss.
Anyway, all my personal machines have been running Linux for over two decades, so I am mostly unaffected. I do fully enjoy the fact that my employer has to maintain Windows on company equipment and I can just be a dumb luser.