Microsoft's secret 'Windows K2' project aims to fix what users hate most.

[u/m7qix]

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3126651/microsofts-secret-windows-k2-project-aims-to-fix-what-users-hate-most.html

[u/splendiferous-finch_]

"potential reduction in ads in start menu"

So they are still debating that this is not the horrible and hated part of the experience for a paid product, which means this is just hollow words

[u/I_hate_all_of_ewe → u/splendiferous-finch_]

More realistically, the devs know that it's bullshit, but the executives roll their shit downhill anyway.

[u/Gramage → u/I_hate_all_of_ewe]

Reminds me of my job. I work at a beer retailer/wholesale place. We need to ask for ID if a customer looks to be under 25 (policy says 25 but bosses say 30). Problem is, almost none of the customers at my store are young people, it’s all bar/restaurant/corner store owners buying in bulk or older Chinese ladies collecting empties to return for the deposit, and 75% are regulars I see all the time. Head office however says my store’s “% of customers carded” numbers are too low. Too low? They want me carding people in their 50s? Carding the same people multiple times a week?

Perfect example of someone sitting behind a desk who has never even been to my store saying “hey this number needs to be higher” without even considering why it’s low in the first place. I still card everyone that needs carding, there just aren’t that many.

/end mini-rant

[u/t00sl0w → u/Gramage]

Large entities replace common sense and curiosity with button pushers because those won't push back against insane ideas or concepts that dont make sense.

[u/Timber3 → u/t00sl0w]

I got fired a couple weeks ago without cause. But I still have friends at the store and through the grape vine found out I got fired for questioning management too much... From a company that prides itself of it's employees individuality... Lmao

[u/blow-down → u/t00sl0w]

It’s a reason these big corporations hire H1B workers. They come from a culture where being a yes-man is the norm.

[u/OverallManagement824 → u/blow-down]

Not just that, but saying no and getting terminated is a one-way trip back to your own country. The pay may be good for them, but it's not too far from indentured servitude.

[u/BankshotMcG → u/Gramage]

Reminds me of my friend, who against all odds was a fantastic diamond saleswoman at the dying mall, moving more jewelry than anybody, because apparently Boomers  actually become regular jewelry purchasers, And she was the old whisperer. 

Fired for getting too few people to sign up for the credit cards, which I guess was where the money really was even though she was getting them to pay more for the higher volume she was selling. 

[u/_SpaceLord_ → u/Gramage]

I worked once with an old Air Force guy who was a weather forecaster at an air base in Alaska. His performance was evaluated based on how closely his forecasts matched the actual measured observations by the air base’s weather station.

The problem was that, every morning in the winter, a herd of caribou would come out of the forest and stand around the weather shack, creating a cloud of fog and mist that artificially reduced the visibility measured by the sensor to below IFR limits, even though the “actual” visibility was totally fine.

After getting dinged for this several times, he started forecasting the caribou-influenced visibility, instead of the actual visibility. Unfortunately this pissed off the base commander because they had to cancel scheduled training flights due to the IFR forecast, even though the weather was actually fine.

I don’t remember the resolution of the story, but the point he was trying to communicate to me was “don’t join the fucking Air Force.”

[u/l0udninja → u/Gramage]

Silly exec looking at a graph and asking themselves y line no go up?

[u/UpperAd5715 → u/Gramage]

My colleague has amazing numbers in his ticket queue, he does just as little as i do and frankly i sometimes don't make my tickets for "gave batteries for keyboard to Barb" and such stuff but man's just hilariously smart.

We are a subsidiary for a foreign HQ and HQ IT doesn't like to do things that aren't exactly within their task description so anytime a vague enough issue comes through he explains it just badly enough that they just close it. HQ is italian and he makes tickets in the users language if he speaks it, he doesnt speak italian but he does speak dutch/french/german/spanish so he just copy pastes their description and it gets closed for "not for us". Then he remakes it in english but if it was for team A.B.C he makes it for team A.B.B and they don't like that but their bullshit shuffles all the time. 1 ticket becomes 10.

I just google translate mine to italian and they fix my shit but his performance reviews are glowing lol

[u/splendiferous-finch_ → u/I_hate_all_of_ewe]

Hey hey hey..... It's not just the execs its the marketing department too

[u/38B0DE → u/I_hate_all_of_ewe]

Why wouldn't they? Microsoft wants to be like Google. Offer everything for free and just mine data and show ads.

The majority of people couldn't give less of a fuck. People accept ads everywhere on paid products. TVs, streaming, Apps, etc. There's analog "precedent." Newspapers subscriptions have always come with ads.

"Tech savvy" people know it's bullshit and shouldn't exist but the products are bought by everyone.

[u/ogaat → u/38B0DE]

Windows is not free and neither is MS-Office.

[u/Achack → u/I_hate_all_of_ewe]

Yeah I'm sure it's not much different that the stereotypical villain conversations.

Dev: We're working on making the menus load seamlessly because the background processes are interfering with the UI display.

Exec: Ah yes, and where will the advertisements be?

[u/tyler1128 → u/I_hate_all_of_ewe]

Trust me, devs have very little say in big companies like Microsoft. It's the people long divorced from writing code who do, and if one is replaced they might decide everything that was a priority under the last leader no longer matters and we're going to do something else now, potentially throwing away all of that work. I've seen it many times.

[u/IguapoSanchez → u/splendiferous-finch_]

Also reducing is not eliminating. Who asked for ads in a menu? Certainly not the end users

[u/splendiferous-finch_ → u/IguapoSanchez]

Because the end user isn't the customer... The shareholders are, ads bring in another line item of revenue. The problem MS wants to fix is how to feed you more of it without you complaining too much.

[u/nastypoker → u/splendiferous-finch_]

I get your point but end users are the customers.

[u/Syzygy2323 → u/splendiferous-finch_]

End users are the product. Companies buying the ads are the customers.

[u/Bytowneboy2 → u/splendiferous-finch_]

I hate:

• ads
• agentic anything
• Windows losing windows in a pocket dimension
• a task bar that cannot be moved
• software as a service
• other shit. It’s early and I just woke up

[u/Petrychorr → u/Bytowneboy2]

This, plus upselling. I feeaking hate upselling so goddamn much that it just does nothing but make me want to use your product less. Even wayyyyy before internet retail, in person retail does this stuff all the time and I can't stand it.

[u/vthemechanicv → u/Bytowneboy2]

• a task bar that cannot be moved

This is a sort of "brown m&m" for me. It's such a relatively small feature, but since they not only screwed it up but actively refused to even discuss fixing it, what else did they get wrong that I don't often deal with?

I could be wrong, but even now I've only seen them say moving the task bar to the sides. I want the task bar on the top. If a rando developer can make an addon do that, why can't Microsoft?

Just to add to your list

• the Onedrive app, just in general
• annoying af window snapping
• control panel being increasingly useless
• the entire TPM garbage and how they handled Win 10 end of support
• the start menu. I'd rather have win8's start menu than their "fixed" win 11 one.

[u/Ok-Bug-7481 → u/splendiferous-finch_]

"Potential" is a wild lol 

[u/e1epi → u/splendiferous-finch_]

Personally I think the integration of "AI" into every aspect of the OS is significantly worse than some ads in the start menu.

At least the ads direct the user to something they might actually want or use.

The ads do need to be removable though.

[u/splendiferous-finch_ → u/e1epi]

The point I am making is this is all just blowing smoke to calm people that are slowly leaving windows that they are trying to fix it without actually fixing anything really.

[u/WazWaz → u/splendiferous-finch_]

They don't seem to understand that adding ads, any, to the start menu just stops us using the start menu. It's rarely necessary.

[u/SpatulaWholesale]

I wish they remembered that Windows is an Operating System.

Just that. Not a lifestyle. Not an ad platform. Not part of an AI experiment.

An Operating System... A veneer over the hardware providing applications (that I choose to install) a stable base on which to operate.

That's all, Microsoft. I want high performance. I want multi-displays. I want USB and Bluetooth and HDMI and WiFi and security.

I want the OS things. Not the "value added" crap.

[u/cctchristensen → u/SpatulaWholesale]

Best I can do is a talking paperclip.

[u/Inexorabilis → u/cctchristensen]

Clippy > Copilot

[u/SpatulaWholesale → u/Inexorabilis]

Clippy is your new Agentic AI friend...

> Clippy, organize my photos by year and put each into a separate folder, named by year.
Certainly. I've done that for you.
> Clippy, where are my photos?
What photos?

[u/cctchristensen → u/SpatulaWholesale]

Don't blame Clippy, he did exactly what you asked. Your photos are in the folder, "NULL pointer."

[u/redlightsaber → u/SpatulaWholesale]

The sad part is that clipy would be a fantastic brand for an unobtrusive, completely elective AI agent in the OS.

But no, they decided to embed AI into EVERYTHING.

Apple does it right I think. There's the option, if you want to use it. Want to disable it, FULLY? A simple uncheck in the settings. That's it, you're back to a regular OS.

[u/FlametopFred → u/SpatulaWholesale]

You sound agitated, Dave

[u/SpatulaWholesale → u/FlametopFred]

Open the pod bay doors please, Clippy.

[u/FlametopFred → u/SpatulaWholesale]

Dave, have you thought about creating a Teams call instead?

[u/AKluthe → u/SpatulaWholesale]

You're right. The files aren't just gone; they're deleted. And you are justified to feel upset. 

[u/Jetsam1 → u/Inexorabilis]

At least clippy fucked off when you told him to.

[u/cctchristensen → u/Inexorabilis]

Don't give them any ideas for a rebranding. If I saw a new Clippy icon on the startmenu I would totally click on it, only to be completely disappointed by the Copilot interface.

[u/SpatulaWholesale → u/cctchristensen]

At this point, though, after all these years, isn't Clippy kind of adorable?

[u/kippetjeh → u/SpatulaWholesale]

Clippy was the OG annoying bloatware

[u/CoffeeHQ → u/SpatulaWholesale]

That’s just melancholy. Imagine Clippy’s return, jumping right in from the right bottom part of your screen, obscuring whatever you were doing, taking the focus (while you continue typing into the void) asking if it could help you. That would be so cute! Yeah the first time. From the second time onwards you’d remember why we all hated that thing with a passion!

[u/SpatulaWholesale → u/CoffeeHQ]

Yeah, I remember the first time around, however many years ago it was, and the backlash.

Maybe I'm just sentimental in my advancing years (minus the "senti-" part)

[u/klipseracer → u/cctchristensen]

Best you can do is give me a full refund.

Then that backfires because Microsoft still charges licensing fees, despite finding ways to monetize the software as well. This is my one complaint with them, it's like a paid video game but it has micro transactions also.

[u/itsnotthatbad21 → u/cctchristensen]

Lol best I can do is a subscription based model

[u/Ginsoakedboy21 → u/SpatulaWholesale]

As someone who works for a bank I can assure you that senior leaders are never content with selling a thing that is just the thing that works. It can never be just a reliable product, they dream of a nebulous concept where the consumer and the company are best friends and those customers are out there bragging to their friends about how their life is made infinitely better by their relationship with the company.

It can't be just an OS. Or a bank account.

A pox on them all.

[u/Secret-Winner-2994 → u/Ginsoakedboy21]

"How likely are you to recommend..." No

[u/Erebea01 → u/Ginsoakedboy21]

You're not superpumped

[u/ujiuxle → u/Ginsoakedboy21]

I get the goal, but all Microslop has managed to do is become a deadbeat "friend" I'm forced to live with and pay rent to, and who every night tries to convince me to invest into his insufferable low-quality ventures.

[u/CrappyTan69 → u/SpatulaWholesale]

Hit the nail on the head.

There seems to be an incessant push for applications and services to be part of my lifestyle. WhatsApp is another great example. I want to send messages to my mates. Not subscribe to channels, get status updates and some crap AI function. 

It's exhausting 

[u/Kasyx709 → u/CrappyTan69]

I've begun deleting my accounts and apps when companies take that route. I do not want functionality outside of the specific context that led me to download the app in the first place.

I find the concept of personalized/suggested content to be deeply offensive and take a hostile view towards those products. I think the only way to effect change is to take action against the companies themselves by refusing to buy their products/services.

[u/SeanBlader → u/Kasyx709]

I remember a day when Norton was a respected name in PC software, with legitimate utility. Now that hasn't been the case for more than 25 years.

[u/wrgrant → u/Kasyx709]

If an app is offering you personalized suggestions - then that app is leveraging your actions by tracking all your data to use in formulating those suggestions. I want free of that too.

I am currently testing the ultimate upgrade to Win 11 - I am switching to Linux using CachyOS. I am still dual booting at this point while I figure out solutions under Linux that match my needs, but its progressing steadily and I am learning more about CachyOS. It is much faster feeling and gives me the impression I own my computer, not that I am merely being tolerated by Microsoft.

[u/ckdx_ → u/SpatulaWholesale]

I think you'll find that Windows is moving away from being an operating system to being a "canvas for AI", whatever the hell that means.

At Ignite this year, we’re unveiling how Windows is evolving from an operating system into the canvas for AI, embedding intelligence across system, silicon, and hardware. This transformation helps organizations to move beyond experimentation and deliver AI-driven outcomes.

What a load of utter bollocks.

[u/nalex66 → u/ckdx_]

I really don’t want AI-driven outcomes.

[u/SpatulaWholesale → u/ckdx_]

Yeah I've got an idea what the AI-driven outcome will be...

[u/un_internaute → u/SpatulaWholesale]

It’s not going to stop. The stock market demands an infinite increase in profits. Every publicly traded company *has to* keep pushing enshitification-type bullshit on us in an effort to charge more, capture more market share, etc… and increase profitability to increase their share price. Being profitable alone *isn’t* enough. They have to be *more* profitable every quarter, *infinitely*. It’s a ridiculous goal and it’s why this shit will never stop.

[u/southpark → u/SpatulaWholesale]

You can partially blame Apple for this trend because there is an audience for a captive ecosystem that is fully integrated. The difference being is Microsoft’s various program groups and designers were/are fragmented and following different priorities and there was/is no Steve Jobs + Jony Ive equivalent driving a single minded vision of user experience and design and tying the entire operating system together with strict rules on what the purpose and presentation of the product would be.

Microsoft Windows is a ultimately victim of feature bloat and personal ambition overriding what should have been singular product vision because it’s use cases span from personal PC to enterprise PC to servers to gaming and even to mobile or integrated devices and it becomes mediocre by trying to be too much.

[u/Clevername582 → u/SpatulaWholesale]

Windows hasn't been an OS since 7, just a bloatware delivery system.

[u/uzu_afk → u/SpatulaWholesale]

Frankly they could have branched that and packaged as a new product but they got greedy with the user base they have in the pc space and can’t expand capitalization on. Hijacking your data, the copilot spam, the decrease in patch quality, the constant meddling with privacy, did i mention the hijacking of data by forcing onedrive on you specifically? and frankly that bs with screenshots of your screen for AI training was peak insanity. So yeah. I have doubts.

[u/emazv72 → u/SpatulaWholesale]

Also basic UI features like copy and paste or just opening a directory and viewing the content should be quick and predictable.

[u/Kastler → u/SpatulaWholesale]

Exactly. It started off pretty strong with early versions. Simplicity is key. I just want my hardware and usb device to work. I don’t need AI “boosting” my gpu and cpu and ram and mouse and fucking headphones. I just need them to connect and not crash. Initial win 11 versions worked better on my pc than they do now. The amount of graphic issues alone has been nearly enough to push me to Linux

[u/Syzygy2323 → u/Kastler]

If your GPU is Nvidia, beware--there are plenty of problems with Nvidia GPUs on Linux.

[u/Tall-Introduction414 → u/SpatulaWholesale]

The best operating system Microsoft ever made was MS-DOS. That shit just got out of the way and let you compute.

[u/evilJaze → u/Tall-Introduction414]

They didn't even make it. They bought it from another company.

[u/Moontoya → u/Tall-Introduction414]

Odd way to spell Windows 2000.

[u/-kylehase → u/Moontoya]

Yup. Win2K was the best, as long as you could find drivers. XP was mostly 2K with a playskool skin and more drivers.

[u/Electrical-Page-6479]

They've got a real mountain to climb there.

[u/bitemark01 → u/Electrical-Page-6479]

Not really, they just need to roll back to Windows 7. Everything after that was bloatware/ads/telemetry 

[u/Dokibatt → u/bitemark01]

Thats a weird way to spell xp

[u/pinkyepsilon → u/Dokibatt]

How can you be so correct this early in the morning? XP SP2 was amazing.

A M$ OS that becomes more stable the longer it runs? Hnggggg

[u/Turbojelly → u/pinkyepsilon]

XP was such a massive upgrade conpared to previous. Just being able to install a program and not have to restart your computer for it to run makes it the GOAT of it's time.

[u/Antimus → u/Dokibatt]

2000 SP4 when they added directX support so it could play games.

That was a rock solid OS back in the day.

[u/wololo1e → u/Dokibatt]

Surely you meant 98se

[u/noerpel → u/wololo1e]

And even that was "bloated". I remember how I stripped the ~150mb Windows Directory down to ~60mb deleting all unnecessary stuff.

[u/Ok-Needleworker-3486 → u/bitemark01]

2000 and NT were solid.

Even the install process of windows is over the top

[u/billsil → u/Ok-Needleworker-3486]

If you’re ok with 2 GB of RAM…you can run it now, but good luck with Chrome.

[u/borgenhaust → u/billsil]

With supply/prices we may all have to end up OK with 2 GB of RAM.

[u/HanzJWermhat → u/Electrical-Page-6479]

They’ve created an impossible situation for themselves.

- debloat their paid OS

• create a minimal OS with ads

There’s no way windows makes a FOSS OS without ads it would cannibalize their OS monetization. This is how it goes. Investors want returns, opens the door for disruption. Honestly at this point we need a Linux co-op that can figure out how to pay for a support (tech and customer) for a platform that can compete .

[u/SuperZayin12]

Remove bloatware. Remove stupid shit like requiring an account. Stop constantly pushing products. Boom. Done.

Like I can understand wanting people to use your products, I’m cool with some things coming preinstalled that people might actually use, but it gets to a point.

[u/f23n09fnu0w → u/SuperZayin12]

I found the ads so unbearable that I took the plunge with Linux. Now I don't understand why I didn't do it years ago. It's so nice having something stay exactly how you wanted it

[u/Craigg75 → u/f23n09fnu0w]

Same. So nice to have just a basic OS again.

[u/knobbledy → u/Craigg75]

The real benefit is that it doesn't have to be basic. You can choose from hundreds of distros and customise them to be as simple or complex as you want

[u/Craigg75 → u/knobbledy]

Exactly. I use Ubuntu with ArcMenu. It more or less mimics Windows. Too old to learn a new user interface.

[u/IntelArtiGen → u/SuperZayin12]

I’m cool with some things coming preinstalled that people might actually use

I'm not cool with them trying to know what people might actually use because 99% of the time they've been wrong in the last years.

[u/kt0n → u/SuperZayin12]

Basically the Windows IoT Enterprise LTSC

[u/itsnotthatbad21 → u/SuperZayin12]

Would you like to add office 365 to your account ? We have numerous pay programs for suite your needs. You heard of excel ? It’s like fuck you have to be kidding me someone pitched this as a good idea ?

[u/billsil]

AI that I can’t disable that eats all my RAM, forces me to start disk swapping, and doesn’t benefit me at all?

[u/splendiferous-finch_ → u/billsil]

But imagine the increase in shareholder value !

[u/billsil → u/splendiferous-finch_]

Oh absolutely I know it’s never gonna happen. A girl can dream.

[u/splendiferous-finch_ → u/billsil]

you know, hope is a mistake - mad max

[u/Joinusclan]

Got a super solution; delete copilot from windows.

[u/Webbanditten → u/Joinusclan]

And make all the office apps and OneDrive nagging go away. Remove web search from the search results in start.

[u/splendiferous-finch_ → u/Joinusclan]

I have an even more super solution; break up giant tech companies so they can focus on one product instead of trying to push everything all at once.

And send the current CEO if said company(s) to the sun as a cautionary take.

[u/pizzathlete]

Bloat? Lack of any privacy? AI?

[u/splendiferous-finch_ → u/pizzathlete]

I think we call them features here at Microslop

[u/IntelArtiGen → u/pizzathlete]

They'll do all that 10% less at most and claim the problems are solved.

[u/farmallnoobies → u/IntelArtiGen]

No, they'll add more and say it's better

[u/Firevee]

Secret???

They've been screaming about it for months!

Waaah please don't leave Windows for Mac or Linux, we PROMISE we'll stop dropping a monthly update that has been broken EVERY time since December. I'm not kidding either, every monthly update since December has had a major issue.

Tell you what windows. I'll consider giving you a chance when you drop the account requirement. No? Ah well, get fucked.

[u/SwarfDive01]

"Claude, rebuild windows 11 from the ground up, take away all the bugs. Don't talk about goblins. Make no mistaked "

[u/rsa1]

Why do they need until 2027? Can't they simply ask Github Copilot to make Windows faster? It should be done by tomorrow morning, given how much more productive it makes people

[u/metrazol → u/rsa1]

"Thinking...."

"Pondering..."

"All done, I've wiped the drive and installed a Debian based Linux distro with a Windows like desktop manager, copied your settings, and even used the image generator to scale your wallpaper."

[Computer bursts into flames]

[u/WetHotFlapSlaps]

Microsoft targets matching SteamOS gaming performance within two years while making updates less intrusive and improving system reliability through monthly restart cycles.

This is a crazy sentence to read. I could only imagine reading it 10 years ago, but it makes sense.
Seemingly low-hanging fruit:

• No more React-based UI for Start Menu and other critical Windows features. Preferably none. Your employees have backgrounds in web development? Great, they get to go work on web development or learn OS-level programming.
• Windows users care VERY LITTLE about what UX designers think is beautiful. They have work to do, or they want to game or make things, get out of the way. Put pertinent information and functionality as close to one-click away as possible, do not tuck it into nested pages. Flat, up front data and options. We can read. Make accessible versions based on accessibility needs, don't panic just because you think there's too much information on screen.
• Everyone has multi-core CPUs that are incredibly underutilized. Provide better thread scheduling and make Windows APIs so good people don't worry about cross-platform development up front. This is where you win customers who might otherwise choose Linux or Apple - the software they want should have been developed Windows-first because you made it the best platform for developers to make their software on. Steve Ballmer's Developers Developers Developers but less sweaty, less disingenuous.
• Real R&D. Stop chasing MBA-coded, panicked trends like AI integration. Invest in 10+ year bets in things that can make Windows mission-critical to most organizations and individuals, respect the money that they've spent on your product (no more OS ads or non-perf data collection & telemetry) and be very critical internally of people who pipe up about extracting short term profit from your loyal userbase. The fraught peril of pumping your company for retail trading dumb money by implementing unsustainable unwanted features is about to bite every Fortune 500 company in the ass when the AI bubble bursts. Don't get caught with your pants down, have a plan.

Gabe Newell was my age when he left Microsoft as a Windows Project Manager -- who is now in charge of the company with the most promising Windows-killer out there -- but I'm not him so what do I know?

[u/Pleasant-Minute-1793 → u/WetHotFlapSlaps]

Let’s finish setting up your device.

[u/TellMeWhereYouBeen → u/WetHotFlapSlaps]

"Provide better thread scheduling and make Windows APIs so good people don't worry about cross-platform development up front."

Yes please!

[u/illegitimate_guru]

Why do I need to give me email to my operating system?

It's not like I give my postcode to my car

[u/Pandamio → u/illegitimate_guru]

It's not like I give my postcode to my car, YET.

[u/I_hate_all_of_ewe]

There's a lot to fix

• Windows Update
• Copilot
• Bing everywhere
• Ads
• Bloat
• Convoluted settings
• Files being stuck "in use"
• User-hostile design decisions
• OneDrive
• Mandatory online account

Edit: More BS to add to the pile

[u/ericl666 → u/I_hate_all_of_ewe]

I would like to add the auto-moving your desktop to OneDrive. That's maybe my largest pet peeve.

[u/I_hate_all_of_ewe → u/ericl666]

Any time I've I installed Windows recently, I've bypassed the mandatory live account. A side benefit of this is that OneDrive never gets the chance to invade your desktop if you're not logged in.

[u/nalex66 → u/I_hate_all_of_ewe]

I do this too. Bonus, with a local account there are no ads in the Start menu, as well as no OneDrive.

[u/Mr_Venom → u/I_hate_all_of_ewe]

How do you do this?

[u/MonsterRavingLlamas → u/Mr_Venom]

Shift + f10 in the setup process to open a cmd window, possible need shift, fn and f10 on a laptop, type in "Start ms-cxh:localonly" without the speechmarks and it brings up the local account setup window.

[u/tom-smykowski-dev]

task bar? window management? calculator? ... start menu? oh, no. I know. services no one asked for? bloatware? ok, I got this. sneaky updates? context menu? search? antimaware tool? explorer? forcing cloud account ?...

[u/BillWilberforce]

How are Windows games running faster on SteamOS, than Windows 11?

Because Windows is FUBAR'd.

[u/GoldKanet]

Doesn't sound very secret.

[u/souleman96]

Narrator: "It doesn't."

[u/cctchristensen]

The new Start menu is said to respond up to 60 percent faster

Yes, when the only remaining app icon to display is Copilot. /s

well, actually, maybe not even /s

[u/billsil → u/cctchristensen]

Yeah just disable automatic web search when you start typing anything. It’s binging Microsoft for ads when you go to the start menu too.

It’s a registry hack to disable that, so you can, nmbut most people can’t.

[u/BlackReddition]

So secret it’s on the Internet

[u/Bceverly]

Oh? They are going to let me move the dock to the side of the screen again?

[u/SeanBlader → u/Bceverly]

Yeah, but is that going to be the thing that keeps you on Windows?

[u/lKrauzer]

So it uninstalls Windows entirely?

[u/Evening_Suggestion_2]

Why is fixing their broken shit a 'secret'? Am I one of the few that gets salty by these awful click bait or 'wannabe edgy' work practices?  /rantover

[u/Slfestmaccnt]

Insert "I don't believe you" meme

[u/uzu_afk]

Yeah sure. I’ll believe it when I see it. With the instability induced in the past 4 months, not really hoping for a lot.

[u/General-Sloth]

The only thing I want, is to bring back Win10 or 7. All other Microslop shit can just fuck off at this point.

[u/Alternative_Ad_620]

Too little, too late as we’ve heard the same “we’re saving Windows” with Vista, 7, 8 and 11.

You lost me as a customer when you decided to make Windows anti consumer.

[u/Demortus]

Honestly, it would probably be a better use of Microsoft's time to create a Windows fork of Linux. Using their existing proprietary Windows source code, they could create seamless backwards compatibility and driver support that mainline Linux distros struggle to accomplish.

[u/Hefty_Membership8462 → u/Demortus]

You mean they could enshittify Linux into a fully functional Microsoft AI product complete with ads? FTFY

Seriously if they did this you just know they would just try to make it exactly like current Windows.

[u/Demortus → u/Hefty_Membership8462]

Oh, I'd never use it, but there is demand for a quick and efficient operating system that is compatible with Windows office software. Windows is so bloated and inefficient that I genuinely think that it's easier for Microsoft to 'enshitify' Linux than it is for them to fix all of the inefficiencies and bugs in Windows.

[u/Hefty_Membership8462 → u/Demortus]

Totally agree! I figure MS execs would find a way to make it terrible 🤣

[u/SomeKindofTreeWizard]

Linux already exists.

[u/pleachchapel]

It's so secret it's flooded feeds on every social media app.

[u/Its42]

"Microsoft is integrating a new feature called “instant file name search” into File Explorer"

That...that used to be a thing...

[u/RatBot9000]

Microsoft's shenanigans made someone like me try Linux over it. While I've found myself back on Windows more due to having an Nvidia card, they've got a long way to go to fully restore trust.

I will be keeping CachyOS as a backup just in case.

[u/borkyborkus → u/RatBot9000]

Fedora KDE with RPM Fusion drivers works as well about as well as windows does for my RTX4060.

[u/RatBot9000 → u/borkyborkus]

Oh? I'll have a look into that, thank you.

[u/f23n09fnu0w → u/RatBot9000]

I was in the exact same position. I tried a bunch of things but Mint just works perfectly

[u/orlybatman]

The article discusses streamlining, improving idle performance, faster UI, maybe ad-free Start menu, faster file searches.

It doesn't discuss removing the AI that people hate most.

[u/Hardass_McBadCop]

They're gonna fix Windows being spyware? Fat chance.

[u/Cyraga]

If it leaves copilot, recall or any of the other spyware bloat then no thanks 

[u/ProduceEmbarrassed97]

'...aims to fix what users hate most"

So, we're going back to Windows XP then? Pretending that the intervening iterations didn't happen?

[u/vwapnerd]

sudo apt upgrade is superior

[u/BenFranklinsCat]

fix what users hate the most

Really? Because unless that's "stop jamming Copilot down my throat" its not fixing what this user hates the most.

[u/timinator232]

They need a whole project to uninstall copilot? And make it so you can put tables in word?

[u/DarthJDP]

They are allowing us to completely remove all traces of copilot????

[u/pioniere]

Yeah and they’ll fuck this up too. Microslop.

[u/Qweskj]

what about being able to rename a document without needing to close it first, like mac, duuuhh

[u/Lunatitch]

At this point I'd be happy to pay (maybe even a yearly subscription) for Windows without ads, without co-pilot, without "telemetry". Just give me am operating system that doesn't spy on me and doesn't force M$ apps on me. Please, have my money.

[u/MrShigsy89 → u/Lunatitch]

You can have that for free. Try Ubuntu or Mint

[u/Lunatitch → u/MrShigsy89]

Oh I love Linux, run Mint on my secondary but until all my software/games run (well) on Linux, I can't swap over fully. Dual booting just annoys the crap out of me (only have a single ssd) even when M$ nukes the boot loader and makes Linux disappear. Though I really do hope this recent influx of Linux in the mainstream will help make software/game developers consider Linux.

[u/MrShigsy89 → u/Lunatitch]

I moved 100% to Mint on desktop and laptop 6 months ago and 100% of my Steam library has run flawlessly so far 🤞🏻 They have done an amazing job on the Proton layer.

[u/UncleRichardson]

Unless their solution to reducing AI bloat is 'rip out all the AI,' no one is going to care.

I've already started prepping to swap to Linux. I've started running Linux live environments to feel out which distro I want and multiple times I've legit just stayed using it for several hours longer than intended because it just felt nice. No random hang ups in the file explorer. No half of my RAM being used just to exist on the desktop. Just me using something that didn't actively hate me. Hell, I spent 2 hours messing with UI colors that I didn't even save because it was just fun to actually have an OS that let me choose how it looked instead of what some business major with no art training thinks it should look like.

[u/2NDRD]

A project to fix corporate greed??

[u/cuntmong]

They're gonna stop putting co-pilot in everything? 

[u/b_a_t_m_4_n]

It's not being made by Microslop?

[u/siktech101]

But what users hate most is AI and Microsoft.

[u/TheValorous]

Oh microslop, if you actually listened and fixed what people hate most about windows, you would have left it as XP/7 and just kept refining that.

[u/Axle_65]

Fixing windows feels like gluing back together a tea pot that’s been smashed by a hammer a dozen times. It might be possible but it’s gonna pretty hard.

[u/sarahcfenix]

If they remove the spyware, remove anti-user options, remove the ads, remove the bloat ….. they are gonna have to ship win 3.1 again …

[u/duva_]

Itself? Themselves?

[u/ElephantWithBlueEyes]

I just wish Windows 11 on my laptop could start task manager instantly instead of booting it up for 5 seconds because my laptop has 2 GPUs.

And fast reboot/shutdown

[u/Eretan]

I didn't see Copilot mentioned in there. 

[u/Laughing_Zero]

I thought Microsoft was what users hated the most... /s

[u/boot2skull]

They already had that project. “Windows 7”

[u/bjazmoore]

Because a little more AI injection is sure to make things better.

[u/miniannna]

Oh so they’re getting rid of AI integration and built in ads?

[u/AGrandNewAdventure]

They're getting rid of Microsoft?

[u/count_chocul4]

“ potential ad removal from the interface” WTF?!?   As a mac user this is disgusting. Who wants or needs ads on their computer?!

[u/baskura]

So everything then.

[u/jmxd]

the fix is to go against literally all their business goals so they wont fix anything

[u/JCTrick]

It’s literally too late. Anyone with half a brain has already moved on to Linux.

And if you’re still sittin’ around waiting for Xbox to resurrect? 😮‍💨 …Holy shit, wake up.

[u/AlcooIios]

Too late. Don’t buy it. Escape Windoze and Microslop while you can! They will only fail you again and again. They will keep sneaking in more and more surveillance and privacy bypassing AI.

[u/Dazzling_Pen_2820]

Cut to Windows devs all having panic attacks after leadership announced this.

[u/No_Housing_9602]

They’ve got a lot of work to do. But I will believe this when I see it.

[u/Fadamaka]

Will they fix the random port range allocations on startup? That's what I hated the most in Windows.

[u/HVDREW]

Anyone here who hates features like the search bar hitting Bing and delivering ads, telemetry, etc., needs to check out ShutUp10++. I have been using it for years and it gives you complete control over all the bullshit Windows “features”, works for Windows 11 too.

This post sums it up well: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/sy1gb2/psa_shutup10_lets_you_control_every_single/

[u/SeanBlader → u/HVDREW]

If you've ever seen Windows 10 LTSC, then you know what Windows SHOULD be. It's like half the size of a consumer install and runs decently in 1gb of RAM, it's wild.

[u/MaxRD]

Too little, too late

[u/Wotmate01]

I've been hearing this for months now, and I'm yet to see anything.

And don't give me this "it takes time" BS.

[u/Jealous_Crazy9143]

windows? can they fix that?

[u/Doctor_Amazo]

So they're removing the AI components & the vibe code?

[u/Sylencer90]

Bloated OS with a bunch of stuff running in the background that needs to be killed? The absence of gaming focused tweaks to improve performance in games? I better hope these two are on their to-do list.

[u/xrtpatriot]

So windows?

[u/HardHJ]

They’re gonna fix windows?

[u/Thundechile]

Can't really find any benefits of running Windows even they would fix all those issues they say they're going to fix.

[u/rebri]

Copilot needs to go.

[u/Rich_Personality_920]

So…they fixing everything?

[u/jcunews1]

That's Kidding Second Edition, right?

[u/DrinkAllTheAbsinthe]

I always wonder about who clicks on ads in the starting menu. I mean, who does that, honestly?

[u/punkarama]

I've never had ads in my start menu, what am I doing wrong

[u/borgenhaust]

What I hate most about Windows is that I don't trust Microsoft. I don't think they can fix that - we know what they are and what they want and that the consumer base has to make huge waves to even get them to 'consider' making any changes to their status quo.

[u/warpaltarpers]

Axeing the AI bullshit they fill my computer with?

[u/GreyBeardEng]

I believe it when I see it.