Is it really possible that Windows 11 came out over two years ago? Yes, it was all the way back in June 2021 that Microsoft started moving us all over to the centered start menu. I wrote about it back then, too. By Microsoft’s timeline, that means it’s almost time for Windows 12. Yet, just as I did with Windows 11, I have to ask whether anyone is really looking forward to that.
Windows 11 is finally getting good
Windows 11’s 23H2 update finally gives us some of the good stuff we’ve been waiting for. I don’t know why it took so long, but you can finally ungroup items on the taskbar much as you could in Windows 10 and earlier versions. For the last three years I’ve been running an app called Start11 to restore this function. It’s not perfect but it does what I need it to do. Finally, I can retire that app and its fairly frequent crashes.
As for the other things in Windows 11 23H2, I’m a little less interested. Microsoft is trying to roll out its Copilot AI across the OS, much as they tried to roll out Cortana and Clippy. I didn’t care for those “helpers” either, and I don’t expect to care about Copilot. It’s just going to be another annoyance that I try to disable.
On the other hand, Microsoft is finally taking steps to address custom lighting in different components. This is a tip of the hat to the gaming community, although a lot of people use stuff with custom lighting now. As it stands today you have to use a different app for every device with custom lighting. There’s an app called OpenRGB which works with a lot of stuff but not everything. When fully implemented, you shouldn’t even need that.
Will Windows 12 be a step back? You can almost count on it
It’s almost a cliche at this point that Microsoft kills productivity with every new Windows release. I remember when Windows95 came out and my CD-ROM drive was instantly unsupported (despite being less than a year old.) Generally speaking, moving to a new OS isn’t generally that painful, but there are always issues.
The only thing that makes me feel a little better is that generally speaking, Microsoft has been on an “odd/even” cycle for a while. They come up with an OS that everyone hates, then they backtrack with the next release. The almost universally reviled Windows Vista was succeeded by the much loved Windows 7. Windows 8 was the butt of a lot of jokes, and Windows 10 made it all better. (Note: There was no Windows 9.) Windows 11 pulled back the reins and got rid of a lot of things users liked. Hopefully this means that Windows 12 will be a popular move.
Is it even possible to innovate anymore?
At this point you have to ask yourself if there’s even anything left in Windows that you want to change. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but today’s Windows starts up quickly and largely does what it’s supposed to. It accommodates different needs from productivity to gaming and it’s not even terribly buggy most of the time. So what’s left?
Obviously Microsoft wants to incorporate AI features but I don’t think people want that. People want the OS to get out of the way, not be more in your face. Chances are AI is just another feature Microsoft will discontinue in a few years.
Personally I’d like it if Microsoft kept moving toward a unified cloud structure. You can log onto a Chromebook, any Chromebook, and you see your desktop, your apps, and your documents. Microsoft kinda does this but I’d like to see it be a little more comprehensive. Like, if you log into a new computer, it loads all your profile settings, asks you if you want to download apps (assuming they’d need to be on the Windows store) and then just works. Imagine signing onto a new PC with your Microsoft account and not just seeing your documents but launching an app like Outlook with all of your mailbox settings intact.
That would certainly be worth upgrading for. I guess we’ll see what Windows 12 brings in the next few months.
