Have you upgraded to Windows 11?

[defcon42]

How old are your laptops? I updated 4 machines from 2010 and 2012 last year and there is no difference in performance whatsoever. The 2010 machine even still has only a HDD.

[serpro69]

No and don't plan to. I'll probably stay on Windows 10 LTSC until it reaches end of support. I might consider 11 when the LTSC version comes out, provided it's more or less same as Win10 LTSC when it comes to "LTSC specific features".

[Aaron44126]

8 hours ago, HexagonWin said:

After that I should probably go on to LTSC 10s which would probably be supported until 2029.

Windows 10 LTSC 2021 (IoT Enterprise, 21H2) is supported until January 2032.  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/release-information

I'm curious what a LTSC version of Windows 11 will look like, but that's what I'm waiting for before considering an upgrade.

[toastofman]

Naaaaah.  Got a ding on my laptop that my Win 11 was ready for download and upgrade, and I thought about it.  Still might do it to just check it out, but honestly Windows 10 isn't broken.  I know Microsoft needs more money, but I just don't see switching as necessary right now.

My guess is that they will trim the 2025 Win 10 support date back to 2023 or 2024 due to slow adoption, because many people don't really care about switching to an OS with (what seems to be) more intrusive ads and less user control.  But that's just my anti-corporate mindset being negative, probably not true!

[serpro69]

1 hour ago, toastofman said:

My guess is that they will trim the 2025 Win 10 support date back to 2023 or 2024 due to slow adoption, because many people don't really care about switching to an OS with (what seems to be) more intrusive ads and less user control.

They have already been doing that with some of their apps. For example, native support for GUI apps in WSL was initially promised for Windows 10 and was available in "insider releases", but then they apparently changed their minds (which of course they deny) and wen't with "sorry, not sorry, only on Windows 11..." So I wouldn't be too surprised if they did cut Win 10 support

[Sandy Bridge]

They're not going to end Windows 10 support early.  If they operated like that, they wouldn't still be supporting 8.1, with its much smaller market share.  Besides, they've got a reputation to uphold.  Businesses care a lot about long term support, and ultimately most of Microsoft's money comes from businesses, and they cater to that market.

Pre-release previews of graphical WSL is a completely different category.  That was never released outside of "insider releases", and previews are no guarantee of future support - look at all the features of Longhorn that never made it into Vista or its successors, or only did in very different form.  But once something is released, especially if it's a business feature or Windows version, Microsoft does an admirable job of supporting it long-term.  Windows 1.0?  21 years.  Windows 9x?  Was going to be discontinued in 2004, they extended it until 2006.  Windows XP?  Extended until 2014 for free, or 2019 for the Embedded edition, 18 years.  Compatibility for 16-bit Windows applications from the 80s?  Still exists, if you're okay with running 32-bit Windows 10, which means there will be support for roughly 44 years from when you may have first developed them.  And Raymond Chen has written about some patches that Microsoft made in the 2010s to fix compatibility for some of those ancient '80s programs.

They might send out a few notifications saying, "Hey, you can upgrade to Windows 11", and might not make the "No thanks" button very prominent.  But they're not going to drop support for Windows 10 early.

[Mr. Fox]

I did and got it all tweaked so that it very closely resembled Windows 10, but I was very displeased with it for numerous reasons and went back to only using Windows 7, Windows 10 LTSC and Linux. I have no plans to give it another chance.

I get idiot trash like this in an email and I can see why Windows 10 and 11 both suck. This kind of stupid crap is what they think is important and valuable, LOL!!!! Give me a break.

[solidus1983]

Nope after testing Windows 11 on a VM and on my Lenovo R61e, its not touching any system in my house at all. If its forced i have my Linux OS ready and waiting for me to jump ship.

[Aaron44126]

24 minutes ago, Sandy Bridge said:

They're not going to end Windows 10 support early.

+1.  I'll be the first one to say that Microsoft is taking a bit of a "shady" direction with Windows lately, but they've never reneged on their support timeline commitment for Windows and I do not expect them to in the future.  Aside from the business considerations as @Sandy Bridge mentioned, there's also the fact that there are a number of systems out there that are running Windows 10 but don't meet the "requirements" to upgrade to Windows 11.  Support for those systems will be dead after 2025 and cutting support off early would make things even more sour than they already are on this point.

5 hours ago, toastofman said:

My guess is that they will trim the 2025 Win 10 support date back to 2023 or 2024 due to slow adoption

Windows 11 hasn't really seen slow adoption.  They have a 16% install base (counting just Windows 10+11 PCs) and I think that's pretty decent, given that it's only been out for a few months and are still in a phase where they aren't "forcing" it on users yet.  (That'd be when they start doing popups and stuff with not-so-obvious "No thanks" buttons.)

[ssj92]

I have Windows 11 on a few computers now:

Alienware M14xR2 (unsupported by microsoft but you know how much more that makes me want to run it =D everything working fine)

SR-2 desktop (2x Xeon 5675 CPUs, 48GB RAM, 4 GPUs, 2 PSUs, 2xSSD RAID0, no UEFI support, but everything works well LOL)

Alienware Area-51m R1 (officially supported, all runs well)

Alienware Aurora R4 desktop (officially supported [ see sig for specs] and it works well)

 

My other laptops are still running 10. 

 

I use startisback on 10 and startallback on 11. No other way I'd use either OS. I'd love to dual boot 7 on some of these computers but most of them have ax200/ax210 wi-fi cards so I'd have to wi-fi. 

[serpro69]

11 hours ago, Sandy Bridge said:

But they're not going to drop support for Windows 10 early.

Yeah, I know, I'm exaggerating of course. As much as I hate Windows, "I'll only believe it when it see it" when it comes to them dropping OS support prematurely.

[Mr. Fox]

On 1/31/2022 at 2:34 PM, John Ratsey said:

I let Windows 11 install itself a few days ago to see what it looked like, discovered that I couldn't dock the task bar on the left side of the screen (which I've been doing for years to maximise the veritcal space), tried registry hacks found by Google but they didn't work and then restored Windows 10. If Microsoft fix the task bar problem then I might try it again but this may mean waiting for Windows 12. History shows that Microsoft have a habit of making a mess of alternate versions of Windows.

If you haven't rolled back already, using StartIsBack for Windows 11 will fix a few of the unforgivable aesthetic atrocities associated with the taskbar, Start Menu and context menu. Rolling back to Windows 10 is probably the better solution though. I use StartIsBack for Windows 10 as well, because I don't like the Windows 10 Start Menu.

[Mr. Fox]

9 hours ago, ssj92 said:

I use startisback on 10 and startallback on 11. No other way I'd use either OS. I'd love to dual boot 7 on some of these computers but most of them have ax200/ax210 wi-fi cards so I'd have to wi-fi.

For $20 or less, a USB micro-dongle would fix that for you in a jiffy. If you can disable the WiFi 6 hardware in the BIOS it will also free up some system resources that the inconspicuous USB solution doesn't require.

[Vasudev]

I think none of my family members have compatible laptops/PCs. I might buy new BGA this or next year.

[GeekBear80]

I am mostly leaning on running Windows 11 for smartphone replacement purposes (WSA) and in tablet mode on a 2-in-1 system paired with Windows 7 Ultimate in a VM for desktop mode with external monitor, keyboard and mouse. The changes in 11 isn't appropriate for such a use case and the more I look around, the more I realize that it is the most optimum setup going forward, especially on Alder Lake/Big.Little systems. 

What I really like with Windows 11 is WSA since it enable the dreadful electronic waste called "smartphone" to be eliminated in most cases, while it also provide a decent tablet mode for those specific purposes while Windows 7 take care of the rest including the fact that I very much prefer older applications that have the "ribbon" Aero styled UI (I insist on using Office 2010 for that very reason). Windows 11 LTSC is what I really want to see before feeling relatively "comfortable" using Windows 11.

[KING19]

No and i'll never will unless i buy a new desktop/laptop later down the line. Until then im sticking with 10

[duskw4lker]

No, and as Captain America said, I don't think I will. why? because W10 just works, and I barely tolerate how intrusive Microsoft is with W10, that's why I used Sledgehammer for several months to stop Windows Update from shoveling updates down my throat. In the end I gave up and allowed the updates to come (mainly to let HAGS work, and it turned out that HAGS sucks), but still it bothers me that Windows feels more like a dumb terminal connected to a mainframe that tells you what you can and cannot have/do. I imagine that this will get worse with each edition of Windows.

[ratchetnclank]

I use windows 11.  I dislike the removal of the right click on the taskbar to bring up task manager but apart from that it works. The settings menu is kinda shit but i can find my way around. It works well enough for me not to care tbh.

 

I'd go linux fully if gaming was better on linux. Hopefully with the steam deck being a thing it might get better.

[Aaron44126]

55 minutes ago, ratchetnclank said:

I dislike the removal of the right click on the taskbar to bring up task manager but apart from that it works.

Takes some muscle memory adjustment but you can still open Task Manager by right-clicking on the Start Button.

[Jarhead]

Personally, I'm staying on Win10 just out of a lack of interesting features/updates in Win11 and that Win10 is supported for a few more years.

[Katja]

19 hours ago, Jarhead said:

Personally, I'm staying on Win10 just out of a lack of interesting features/updates in Win11 and that Win10 is supported for a few more years.

That's my hope to do for the time being, given LTSC 2021 has been good to me so far, but I'm looking to switch back over to full-time Linux again given I finally got a proper install set up. I could switch over now, but I wouldn't have some key games I play ready, so that's my problem (it's really just Phantasy Star Online 2, but still, that's my one thing holding me back at this point).

Given I don't usually have persistent OS installs (I keep my data disposable courtesy of a good connection and a second data drive), I can easily dump an OS install at a moment's notice if need be. It's usually why I can't stay on one Windows version for a long, long time. I just need something new sometimes.

[Jarhead]

For me it's less of my data being decupled from any particular computer (though that does play a factor), rather it's an unwillingness to spend the time required to switch operating systems and reinstalling all the applications back onto the computer. That's a few hours work or so for (imo) no benefit from upgrading to Win11 vs just staying on Win10 and not lifting a finger for the next few years.

[Steerpike]

I just received my new Dell XPS 17 with Windows 11 Home.  I guess I'm pleasantly surprised, so far. I've documented some specifics about 'modern standby' over in the Dell XPS forum, so I won't cover those here.  First off, the initial setup felt very refined and quick. And I don't see too much annoying bloatware (yet) from Dell; they seem to be relying on windows drivers for key things like wireless adapters, which is refreshing (or at least, they aren't providing Dell-specific items in the 'tray' area).  

I did get tripped up by the whole 'Microsoft Account' thing. I've never logged in with one before, but decided to bite the bullet with this install, at least initially (I know I can create a local account once setup is complete, and then delete the MS Account, which I'll probably do soon). Since I have TWO MS Office 365 accounts, I figured I'd just use one of those as the 'MS Account'. However, windows rejected both of them. A bit of research revealed that the 'MS Account' that is required for Win 11 Home has to be a 'personal' MS Account, not a 'work' or 'business' MS Account. My two Office365 accounts are both 'business' class, and they are not compatible with win 11 Home login. So I reluctantly created a third, throw-away MS Account in order to log in. 

I then installed Office 365 (which required me to activate using my MS 'business' account). I then tried to get access to my 'OneDrive' files. This was a mess. OneDrive is already pre-installed in Win11, and it wants to 'authenticate' using the login MS Account. But I have 'OneDrive for Business', as part of my Office365 subscription. 'OneDrive for Business' is not the same as 'OneDrive' (something MS have never really resolved, branding-wise). I ultimately had to uninstall the pre-installed 'OneDrive', then locate the correct 'OneDrive for Business' setup file, which I eventually found but can't even remember where now - it was a hard thing to find. So now I have my 1TB of OneDrive files available. 

I long-ago accepted the idea of grouping documents on the taskbar (that is - one application entry on the taskbar, with multiple open documents revealing themselves when I hover over the entry), so this aspect of Win11 didn't bother me at all. I was pleasantly surprised to see all my 'recent documents' on my Win10 machine magically show up on the new laptop - without any action from me at all. This must have somehow synched through Office365 (since no other laptop of mine uses an 'MS Account'!). This is what I see on my new machine - all those 'recent' files were NEVER opened on this machine! 

I'll play around with it some more tonight and see if there's anything else worth noting .... 

[Steerpike]

On 2/9/2022 at 4:33 PM, Aaron44126 said:

Takes some muscle memory adjustment but you can still open Task Manager by right-clicking on the Start Button.

Thanks for that tip!  And once running, you can 'pin' it to the taskbar which I just did! 

[ryan]

im on windows 11 but im using startisback and its basically turned windows 11 into windows 7 huge difference but I'd say without it I'd just revert to windows 10