{"data":{"items":[{"id":"8a843e8b-3e71-4ed0-9c33-6bd714273ca5","excerpt":"Windows can absolutely maintain its dominant position, but only if Microsoft dares to prioritize user experience over short-term profits. — It’s undeniable that Windows still holds more than 70% of the desktop operating system market share. However, that number doesn’t equal absolute satisfaction, as more and more user","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/windows/comments/1nbqrsx/windows_can_absolutely_maintain_its_dominant/","role":"pain","weight":1.5234933,"occurredAt":"2025-09-08T15:26:50.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"windows","intent":"feature_request","painScore":0.5466936,"sentiment":-0.31428573,"confidence":0.985,"matchedPatterns":["terrible","frustrating","missing_feature","manual_process"],"statement":"Lack of control over updates** Many people have lost their projects or ongoing work.","title":"Windows can absolutely maintain its dominant position, but only if Microsoft dares to prioritize user experience over short-term profits.","body":"It’s undeniable that Windows still holds more than 70% of the desktop operating system market share. However, that number doesn’t equal absolute satisfaction, as more and more users feel frustrated, even losing control over their own computers.\n\nThe things that frustrate users the most:\n\n**1. Lack of control over updates**\n\nMany people have lost their projects or ongoing work. They put their laptop to sleep to rest, or desktop users simply turn off the monitor before taking a break. But guess what? WINDOWS UPDATE WILL FORCE AN UPDATE AND RESTART WITHOUT ASKING. That’s right, there have been countless times when Windows asked me to restart for an update, but instead I chose to sleep my computer. The next morning, my programming project was gone, all my browser and Visual Studio windows had vanished, and Windows greeted me with a “Welcome back”, but the only thing left was the message “You are up to date.” in Windows Update.\n\nInstead, Windows should let users manually tick which updates they want to install, just like the Update Manager on Linux Mint. If a restart is needed, it should simply display a message saying so — nothing more. If a small, community-driven project like Linux Mint can achieve this, why can’t a giant like Microsoft?  \nTake a look at 2 pictures below.\n\nhttps://preview.redd.it/vgyectx3eynf1.png?width=954&format=png&auto=webp&s=70158436372240f64156ff9d8749e8d5b52cce49\n\nhttps://preview.redd.it/0f1nkr48eynf1.png?width=484&format=png&auto=webp&s=bd9de5daec557522425bac1ebadf3aa7b37b8fd7\n\n**2. The versatility in customization**  \n In Windows 10, you could resize the Start Menu both vertically and horizontally. You could also move the taskbar to the right, left, bottom, or top of the screen. But in Windows 11? You can’t. That’s one of the reasons many people still prefer Windows 10 over 11.\n\nMicrosoft could have easily kept these features in Windows 11 instead of removing them. Even better, they could create a dedicated section in the Microsoft Store where users can download and share custom themes (similar to the Windows XP era). From the taskbar to the icons, every aspect of the system’s interface could be personalized, giving users both creativity and joy through customization.  \nLinux Mint, a free, community-driven distro, has already managed to do this (as shown below). So why can’t Microsoft?\n\n[The add\\/remove in Themes section allows users to download other themes from other users.](https://preview.redd.it/y6a82p0beynf1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=eb47d2915a9ec03ff2f78f8d5c2b10c0663ca817)\n\n**3.Widgets**\n\nOn Windows 11, you cannot place widgets on your desktop or taskbar, they are locked inside the Widget panel at the bottom-left of the screen (see screenshot below). In contrast, Linux Mint lets you move widgets freely to your desktop or taskbar. From calendar and weather, to system resource monitors or even currency trackers, everything is flexible. Even better, most of them are created and shared by the community.\n\n[Windows 11 Widgets.](https://preview.redd.it/93zo9k1keynf1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=26a33dc3580405871e18c08515f7f8069311a2a3)\n\n[How flexble of Linux Mint to add widgets to taskbar and desktop.](https://reddit.com/link/1nbqrsx/video/mscvwu2meynf1/player)\n\n**4 .Bloatware and ads.**\n\nWhen you buy a new computer or freshly install Windows, the Start Menu is already cluttered with apps you’ll probably never use. Examples include McAfee, Microsoft News, 3D Viewer, Microsoft Solitaire Collection, and the web version of Office, which most users replace with the full desktop app due to missing features. Many of these apps and processes also run in the background, consuming system resources.\n\nThat’s why tools like Chris Titus Utility were created: to strip out unnecessary software and leave only the essential apps such as Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Store, Calculator, Your Phone, and Xbox. It also removes or disables telemetry and data collection. If users really want extra apps, they can always reinstall them from the Microsoft Store. This way, Windows becomes an operating system that serves its users instead of a resource hog. On top of that, Microsoft should also give users the option to completely disable telemetry,data collection and ads in Settings, not hiding them in Group Policy Editor which is only available in Pro/Enterprise version of Windows.  \nYou can watch the Chris Titus video from the link below to see how clean of Windows 11 is after debloating by using MicroWin:  \n[https://youtu.be/0PA1wgdMeeI?si=TxQrn3IDQG5Leuz\\_&t=753](https://youtu.be/0PA1wgdMeeI?si=TxQrn3IDQG5Leuz_&t=753)\n\n**5**[**. Security**](http://5.Security)\n\nFrom my perspective, macOS and Linux handle security more strictly than Windows. Whenever you want to make system-level changes such as installing software, updating packages, or running apps that require administrator privileges, you must type your password. This adds a crucial layer of protection against malware, since malicious programs can’t modify the system without user approval.\n\nOn Windows, however, the system usually just prompts a simple Yes/No confirmation, which is easier to bypass. Windows would benefit greatly from requiring a password (or PIN) for these actions, along with showing the app’s file path and whether it comes from a verified developer. This would not only reduce the risk of malware, but also stop someone who borrows your computer from secretly installing unwanted programs or making changes to your system.\n\nThe picture below is users have to type the password if they want to upgrade/update or make any changes to the system in Linux Mint:\n\nhttps://preview.redd.it/b9zuy5c7jynf1.png?width=623&format=png&auto=webp&s=6adb650d0ce60d9661b47217fa5d06995b3e4279\n\n**6. Lack of stability in updates**\n\nOne of the biggest concerns with Windows is the instability of its updates. Many users have experienced cases where a monthly update breaks drivers, causes blue screens, or even prevents the system from booting, and this is not rare.\n\nFor example, the recent KB5063878 caused a critical issue where SSDs would disappear and trigger BSODs if more than 50GB was written while the drive was at least 60% full. Morever, in JayzTwoCents’s test, a simple game load froze, threw an error, and instantly crashed into a BSOD.\n\nThis instability partly comes from Microsoft laying off many QA testers and senior developers, replacing them with AI-driven automation to cut costs. While this speeds up update releases, it greatly increases the risk of breaking critical features or hardware compatibility.\n\nIf Microsoft truly wants to rebuild trust, it must prioritize stability over cost-cutting. AI can assist the process, but it should NEVER replace proper QA testers and experienced developers.\n\n**7 .Inconsistencies in UI**\n\nMicrosoft has been working on Dark Mode for over a decade, yet it is still incomplete. Even when Dark Mode is enabled, many elements remain bright white, which creates an inconsistent and unprofessional experience.\n\nhttps://preview.redd.it/9221yueg81of1.png?width=1123&format=png&auto=webp&s=e960955f5bd7ffd1dd56555c3c16708db475ebc4\n\nOn top of that, Windows still splits its settings between two places: the modern Settings app and the legacy Control Panel. This not only confuses users but also makes the system feel unfinished.\n\nBy comparison, Linux Mint, a free, community-driven distro, offers a unified Settings page where everything is in one place, with full Dark Mode support. Here is what the Settings page in Linux Mint looks like:\n\nhttps://reddit.com/link/1nbqrsx/video/8663dk1pjynf1/player\n\n**8. Context Menu**\n\nThe context menu in Windows 11 feels incomplete. There are two versions: the modern one, and the legacy one that still contains essential options such as Send to Desktop (as shortcut), Pin to taskbar and some apps such as 7zip and IObit Unlocker.\n\nPerformance is also an issue;  sometimes the menu shows “Loading” for 2–3 seconds, or delays for 1–2 seconds before appearing when right-clicking on the desktop or a file. This never happened in Windows 10, and it is the first time I have seen a context menu that needs to “load.”\n\nA practical solution is to use Nilesoft Shell (see screenshot below). It delivers a faster, more polished right-click experience; something Microsoft still hasn’t managed to do properly from Windows 11 21H2 up to the latest 24H2.\n\n[The Nilesoft Shell context menu](https://preview.redd.it/jxa5oc50kynf1.png?width=232&format=png&auto=webp&s=cc36b3b37b586f30eb4da8d1a05e901f4fcf5593)\n\n**9. File Explorer**\n\nFile Explorer has seen minimal evolution, yet it often performs slower and less reliably than Windows 10 on similar hardware, particularly for mid-range and low-end PCs, despite Microsoft’s performance updates. In Windows 11, opening a new tab or navigating between folders often lags, and large file operations sometimes freeze. Features like tabbed browsing or gallery view, which should have been polished, often feel unpolished and unresponsive.\n\nIn contrast, Linux file managers like Nemo (used in Linux Mint) are lightweight, highly responsive, and offer faster file searches with efficient indexing, all while consuming minimal system resources. It’s frustrating to see a trillion-dollar company struggle to deliver what free community projects have already achieved.\n\nIn the end, users don’t need fancy gimmicks. They just need a simple, fast, and consistent file manager like Windows Explorer used to be, but with a modern UI that doesn’t compromise performance.\n\n**10 .The web-wrappers Teams and Outlook**\n\nMicrosoft Teams and the new Outlook, built as web wrappers rather than native apps, are a major letdown. They’re often heavy, inconsistent, and resource-intensive, frequently consuming significant memory—sometimes exceeding a browser tab running the same service—especially on mid-range and low-end PCs.\n\nA communication and email client should be fast, lightweight, and seamlessly integrated with the OS. Yet Microsoft’s reliance on web-based solutions negatively impacts user experience and consumes excessive system resources. In contrast, Linux and macOS offer native alternatives like Apple Mail or Evolution, which are generally more lightweight and better integrated with their respective systems. The new Outlook is even more problematic: offline mail access has been removed, essential features were stripped out, and advertisements were added. As Chris Titus bluntly put it in his review in a video called the new Outlook is TERRIBLE : “They put ads in it and removed 80% of the features then claimed it was an improvement, and people still believe this sh\\*t.”  \nHere are the pictures of Teams and New Outlook. I didn't do anything yet, but they were consumed over 500MB at the beginning.\n\n[New Outlook](https://preview.redd.it/lch39xhmkynf1.png?width=1366&format=png&auto=webp&s=725b4c7a0e1489fd8d9637590a8dc9cb2faa24bc)\n\n[Teams](https://preview.redd.it/nalk7xhmkynf1.png?width=1121&format=png&auto=webp&s=0014396556f67ba4339d188f4dc82f44036734cb)\n\n**In conclusion, if Microsoft continues to prioritize short-term revenue over user experience, more and more people will gradually move to alternatives like macOS or Linux. It won’t happen overnight, or even within the next year or two, but over time it could grow into a wave that Microsoft will no longer be able to control.**","offTopic":false},{"id":"c7e2ad4e-dcb1-4fe4-8fd9-64320db11b65","excerpt":"It's been \"too early to recommend Linux to the average user\" since the late-90s/early-2000s — let's be honest. Year after year, it's the same: Microsoft fucks something up in Windows in some way, shape or form, people start considering Linux as a viable alternative, people try to daily-drive it, people realize that Lin","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxsucks/comments/1vuineg/its_been_too_early_to_recommend_linux_to_the/","role":"pain","weight":1.1110914,"occurredAt":"2026-08-21T14:56:21.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"linuxsucks","intent":"feature_request","painScore":0.6034061,"sentiment":-0.6363636,"confidence":0.6929569,"matchedPatterns":["why_doesnt","missing_feature"],"statement":"Why can't Linux developers standardize **at least** that?","title":"It's been \"too early to recommend Linux to the average user\" since the late-90s/early-2000s","body":"let's be honest. Year after year, it's the same: Microsoft fucks something up in Windows in some way, shape or form, people start considering Linux as a viable alternative, people try to daily-drive it, people realize that Linux on the desktop is rough around the edges, but \"hey, there's this new promising project that will fix things, and then Linux will really work on the desktop, just wait and see\". Wine will bring Windows compatibility to Linux. Cedega will do the same for Windows games. KDE will make Linux as user-friendly as Windows. Ubuntu will be a genuine contender against Windows. Linux Standard Base will bring order to the chaos. Wayland will modernize Linux's bloated, aged graphics infrastructure. Governments around the world are seriously considering Linux, and even giving tax incentives for OEMs that sell computers with Linux preinstalled. Flatpak will solve the issue of software distribution. And, now, it's Proton and the whole Windows 11 debacle.\n\nAnd yet, every year, things remain the same for Linux on the Desktop. Why? Because, for every step forward that Linux on the desktop makes (see: the aforementioned projects) the utter lack of cooperation of the Linux developers community, the pointless bickering, the never ending irrelevant discussions, sets Linux on the desktop one step back. I mean, why something so basic, something we have been doing with not much hassle since the original IBM PC, that is installing software, is still a problem on Linux? Why can't Linux developers standardize **at least** that? Like the OP said: Windows? Get the .EXE, double-click, and run. Mac? Get the .DMG and do whatever thing macOS users do with it nowadays. Linux? Well, it goes something like this:\n\nYou spend an entire afternoon deciding which of the dozens of Linux distros you want to install (don't bother asking the community: whatever distro you pick will *always* be the wrong one), and then install it on your PC. Then you go get your software. You go to the app store (which is nothing more than a cute, jury-rigged frontend for the repository) and realize that the software you want that is in there is an old, or broken version, or that the software is not there for whatever reason. \"Ok, fine, I'll go to said software's website, just like I'm used to do on Windows or macOS, to get the software\". But then you notice that, instead of providing a software installer, they provide the software in some kind of esoteric package format. You download it, you double-click on it and... nothing happens, or the OS opens the compressed file manager instead? Then, after searching Google (which, by the way, is getting more and more useless by the day), you learn that what you should have done instead is open a terminal and type \"sudo apt install <softwarename>\". You do just that and... nothing happens. Then you learn that the tutorial you read applies to Debian-based distros only, and your distro is RPM-based (\"what's a Debian? Am I not running Linux? What's the difference?\" you say to yourself). You find a tutorial that involves downloading some tarball, running UNIX commands, editing obscure files but, after all that, you finally get to run your software. Except that you try running it and... nothing happens? Then you open a terminal, try running the software from there, and the terminal pukes \"missing dependency\" errors. You ask the community what you did wrong, and they tell you that \"you picked the wrong distro\" (but, funnily enough, the community can't decide what is the \"right\" distro)\n\nAnd Linux users **still** insist that Linux is as user-friendly as Windows and that it's just a matter of getting used to a different OS, even with such inadmissbly, revoltingly unfinished user ergonomics!\n\nSorry, but the point is not that it's \"too early to recommend Linux to the average user\"; the point is that, if the community does not reach a consensus on what a Desktop Linux should be, if the community does not get together and say \"**this** is how software will be packaged\", \"**this** is how drivers will be managed\", \"**this** is what our GUI will look like\", \"**this** is what long-term support means\", in short, \"**this** is what a Linux system will be\" then Linux will be a system that will get better next year. **Always** next year. **Forever**.\n\nIf the Linux community is OK with that, if they want their OS to stay as their little sandbox where they do their experiments and test them on us, as if they were still bedroom coders who watched Matrix or Hackers or who read articles on anti-trust lawsuits involving Microsoft one too many times, fine. But, if even after almost 30 years you're still asking \"why is no one using our system?\" and \"why is no one porting their software to our system?\", then it's **way** past time the Linux community looks at themselves in the mirror. Until there, I'll stay on Windows. Despite its problems, at least my favorite softwares will run.","offTopic":false},{"id":"a7be7840-db8b-4369-9d57-1a58dff9a071","excerpt":" — I have some recent experience with this, as I used a couple Windows computers as daily drivers for a few years after my Intel MacBook broke, before switching back to Mac (via Apple Silicon) a couple years ago. I still use my Windows desktop for gaming and cross platform testing, since I can&#x27;t use Linux yet due ","url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49176807","role":"pain","weight":1.4170643,"occurredAt":"2026-08-04T23:47:59.000Z","sourceKey":"hackernews","sourceName":"Hacker News","credibility":0.7,"venue":"news","intent":"feature_request","painScore":0.69708306,"sentiment":-0.5952381,"confidence":0.835,"matchedPatterns":["i_hate","terrible","frustrating","missing_feature"],"statement":"I will also note that the lack of QuickLook was annoying, but only until I picked up a piece of software from GitHub that scratched the itch well enough, and then I never really had to think about it again.","title":null,"body":"I have some recent experience with this, as I used a couple Windows computers as daily drivers for a few years after my Intel MacBook broke, before switching back to Mac (via Apple Silicon) a couple years ago. I still use my Windows desktop for gaming and cross platform testing, since I can&#x27;t use Linux yet due to the Nvidia GPU.<p>I think Windows has been getting more featureful lately, like the ability to link your phone, the ability to share files by short distance radio, and of course, some experiences entirely unique to Windows, such as Thunderbolt Share. A lot of the things you can do with macOS have some sort of Windows equivalent, even if it&#x27;s more of an alternative workflow rather than a direct replacement. I never really felt like it was <i>impossible</i> to do things on Windows that I would have done on Mac, but I felt the difference everywhere.<p>Here&#x27;s an example. macOS has had Spotlight for a pretty long time now. It can access any of my applications, or even any of my files simply by hearing the name, and nowadays (in the macOS 27 betas) it even has Siri. Maybe this counts as features. Windows does not have such a thing. Windows does have file search, but Explorer has to scan the directory tree each time, and the Start menu often doesn&#x27;t find things well. (I recently heard they&#x27;re looking to fix that, though?) There are third-party tools, like WizFile, Everything, PowerToys, now Raycast, etc. and I could perhaps look into those, but they just didn&#x27;t seem to fit right.<p>I ended up organizing all the files I needed into a folder structure I could fully memorize, so that I could just recall the location of a file. That, to me, was faster than relying on search. In my opinion, that is somewhere Windows failed me. On Mac, I don&#x27;t have to do that -- my files can be anywhere, organized however they were first created. It was such a relief to let go of all that folder structure once I moved back.<p>I will give Windows credit for allowing me to just start typing after hitting the Windows key -- that is almost entirely what allowed me to avoid the need for external tooling. That sort of thing is rare, though.<p>I will also note that the lack of QuickLook was annoying, but only until I picked up a piece of software from GitHub that scratched the itch well enough, and then I never really had to think about it again.<p>On to polish... I feel like Windows has terrible polish. I can feel every missed frame, every input delay, every animation glitch. The worst part is, it feels like every part of the OS is its own bespoke pile of hacks. The Start menu is not the Taskbar is not the modern Settings app is not Explorer is not the Notification Center is not Widgets is not the Win+Tab or ... like, fuck, dude. Then there&#x27;s the administrative tools like Event Viewer, Task Scheduler, Microsoft Management Console, Group Policy Editor -- as you progressively peel back the modern abstractions, you reach a progressively more and more primitive base system with increasingly limited functionality, but of course, a <i>lot</i> of enterprise and business stuff.<p>This old tooling often doesn&#x27;t work well on modern HiDPI displays either. Split views in those old apps are much more difficult to target because the dividers are sized in physical pixels. Lots of old software suffers from these problems, and the high-DPI scaling settings can be confusing (also, the filtering algorithm Windows uses to upscale pixelated bitmaps when you have it set to &quot;System (Enhanced)&quot; looks terrible to me).<p>To be fair, Windows has never treated high-DPI particularly well, because there are so many old low-level APIs and the way that software is rendered is simply the way that it is and it&#x27;s just. Everything is so simple and straightforward, and that&#x27;s the problem! Everything is so direct, so low-level, there&#x27;s no <i>room</i> for the operating system to do the work for you. That&#x27;s why there are all of these extra abstraction layers on top, that&#x27;s why Microsoft keeps building more and more and more, but they&#x27;re never quite happy with it and I&#x27;m not either. :&#x2F;<p>I tried making a WinUI 3 app a few years ago. It was awful! Absolutely terrible. I was supposed to make the layout in this awful XAML format, and it took me forever to figure out how to do basic things like combine a tab bar into the title bar... and it was really difficult to understand how I was supposed to render dynamic content and. It just sucks :(<p>I also looked at the WinUI 3 library&#x27;s XAML, did you know the text field widget&#x27;s appearance is fully entirely implemented in that declarative garbage including the insertion caret and everything? It doesn&#x27;t use the native OS facilities practically at all.<p>Contrast this to Mac where you can just pull in the same system frameworks that the system itself uses, hook up some objects and delegates and such and you have a fully functional user interface that supports all system-level actions and accessibility features. And because everything is object-oriented, you don&#x27;t have to constantly reimplement it all from scratch to do anything special!!<p>Oh, also, I hate rebooting Windows because it suuuucks at reopening my programs. Windows has a much fuzzier model of applications than macOS does, so you don&#x27;t even necessarily know which processes to restart and how, and also none of the applications are necessarily going to restore their state properly because they weren&#x27;t necessarily designed for it, etc. On Mac, I&#x27;m not afraid of reboots! I just close down the stuff I don&#x27;t need to stay open, then just tell it to reopen my windows after the reboot. It&#x27;s so much better.<p>As for capability... Windows is capable of a lot, especially since it&#x27;s typically the one platform for developers to support (first&#x2F;ever), and it can even do some things Macs can&#x27;t yet (like Thunderbolt Share!), but I&#x27;m more often frustrated to find something available only on Windows, than I am grateful for practically anything Windows has ever done for me.<p>Windows absolutely has some good parts, and I know at least a few people who absolutely love the idea of the NT kernel, but the way the overall system is just seems really, stupid!! for lack of a better word. It feels dumb, maybe designed for dumb users, but... dumb nonetheless. I want to say braindead, it doesn&#x27;t feel <i>quite</i> that bad, but Microsoft <i>has</i> been screwing up a lot more lately and <i>that</i> certainly feels kind of braindead.<p>People really like to make fun of Apple for &quot;dumbing things down&quot; and &quot;treating their users like idiots&quot; but I honestly feel like Windows is worse with that? At least I feel like an idiot when I use Windows because I don&#x27;t understand how the people that made it even thought any of it up. After being exposed to the low-level primitives of Apple operating systems (I used to tweak iOS back when that was possible, before I ever had a Mac) even after growing up with the primitives of Windows, Apple just made so much more sense to me, and felt so agreeable and so much better compared to Windows that I have just never been able to understand where Windows even comes from. It literally feels so alien in the dumb way.<p>The worst part is a large part of the Internet will literally just gaslight me and say I&#x27;m an Apple sheep for agreeing so much with their software, but I just have nothing else!! Apple feels like one of my last hopes in this world for secure hardware and software that I own, and they&#x27;ve really been struggling to stay that way lately but I really hope they pull through, especially with the new CEO.","offTopic":true},{"id":"c0354d62-39aa-4179-a4c1-bb425d91aa4d","excerpt":"Why Debloat Windows? You’re breaking your OS for a 0.002ms margin of error. — I’m going to say the quiet part out loud: The obsession with \"debloating\" Windows is a mental holdover from the Pentium 4 era that has no place in 2026. As a developer, I see people running \"optimization\" scripts or installing custom ISOs (At","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxsucks101/comments/1sshv9d/why_debloat_windows_youre_breaking_your_os_for_a/","role":"pain","weight":1.0790281,"occurredAt":"2026-04-22T10:46:41.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"linuxsucks101","intent":"problem_report","painScore":0.57666665,"sentiment":-0.5416667,"confidence":0.684373,"matchedPatterns":["manual_process"],"statement":"* **Accountability:** Good luck finding a fix on a forum when you’ve manually gutted the system without knowing what you even gutted.","title":"Why Debloat Windows? You’re breaking your OS for a 0.002ms margin of error.","body":"I’m going to say the quiet part out loud: The obsession with \"debloating\" Windows is a mental holdover from the Pentium 4 era that has no place in 2026. As a developer, I see people running \"optimization\" scripts or installing custom ISOs (AtlasOS, ReviOS) that strip out core system components, and for what? To save a sliver of RAM?\n\nNow I recognize this isn't exactly a Linux topic. However, we both know the biggest advocates of Linux are the same people who push Windows debloating down our throats so!\n\nWe need to talk about why the \"bloat\" narrative is technically illiterate and how the \"performance gains\" are statistically insignificant compared to the risks.\n\n# 1. The Hardware-App Chain: Where \"Bloat\" Actually Lives\n\nThe biggest lie being sold is that a background telemetry service or a pre-installed app like News or Weather is \"slowing down your PC.\" **It isn't.**\n\nIn Windows, these services sit on the **sidelines**. They aren't part of the direct execution chain between your hardware and your application. Unlike the Linux kernel—a 40-million-line monolithic beast where everything is baked in—Windows handles its \"extra\" features as isolated user-mode processes. If a service isn't being called, it is paged out or suspended. It is not \"in the way\" of your CPU cycles.\n\nCustom OS fans point to Process Count like it’s a high score. Going from 150 processes to 40 doesn't make your GPU render faster; it just means you've removed the modular safety nets that allow Windows to fail gracefully.\n\n# 1.1. What does RAM usage actually mean?\n\nPeople post screenshots of their Task Manager showing 1.2GB RAM usage out of 32 GBs like it's a badge of honor. It’s actually a sign of an inefficient system.\n\nUnlike Linux distros that obsess over being \"lightweight\" to the point of being anorexic, **Windows is designed to stretch its legs.** When Windows sees you have 32GB or 64GB of RAM, it *uses* it to cache frequently accessed data and system files. This isn't \"bloat\"—it's a high-speed buffer.\n\nWhen you debloat and force Windows to use 800MB of RAM(or any OS for that matter), you are forcing the OS to constantly flush data to the page file. You are creating a bottleneck where the OS has to spam I/O calls to your SSD for data that ***should*** have been sitting in your lightning-fast RAM. You’re literally burning through your SSD’s write cycles and introducing micro-stutters just to satisfy a \"clean\" Task Manager aesthetic. **Unused RAM is wasted RAM.**\n\n# 2. Performance also means stability: If your apps don't launch, their FPS is 0\n\nThis is the part the debloat community ignores. True performance is the ability to actually **run the software you need.** When you run a script that nukes \"useless\" services, you are often deleting dependencies for:\n\n* **Anti-cheat systems** that expect a signed, intact kernel.\n* **DRM and Media Foundations** required for streaming or professional video editing.\n* **Frameworks like .NET or C++ Redistributables** that your next game install will desperately search for and fail to find.\n\nDebloated systems are fragile. They work until they don't. And the second you hit a \"Class not registered\" error or a silent CTD (Crash to Desktop) because you stripped out a COM+ component, your \"optimized\" machine becomes a paperweight. **A stable system at 144 FPS is infinitely faster than a broken system at 0 FPS.**\n\n# 3. FPS is a Lie; Look at the Frametimes\n\nLook at the latest 2026 benchmarks on **Windows 11 25H2**. In *Fortnite*, you might see a jump from **720 FPS** on stock Windows to... **721 FPS** on AtlasOS \\[[02:41](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOoECW6o3oE&t=161)\\]\n\nLet's do the math on the **frametimes**:\n\n* **Stock Windows 11 (720 FPS):** **1.388ms** per frame\n* **AtlasOS (721 FPS):** **1.386ms** per frame\n* **ReviOS (724 FPS): 1.381ms** per frame\n\nYou are risking system stability, breaking Windows Update, removing your ability to seamlessly upgrade between release cycles and losing security mitigations for a **0.002-0.007ms difference**. You **biologically cannot** feel nor see that. But you ***will*** feel it when your next creative suite install fails or anti-cheat flags your account because you stripped out a \"useless\" component that a script labeled as \"spyware.\"\n\n# 4. The Risk vs. Reward is Laughable\n\nWindows is a complex web of dependencies. When you \"debloat,\" you aren't just removing a tile from the Start Menu; you are often breaking:\n\n* **System Integrity:** Preventing the OS from repairing itself via SFC or DISM.\n* **Security:** Disabling services like **Windows Defender** or **Core Isolation**. \"But I'm careful!\" isn't a security strategy; it's a gamble.\n* **Functionality:** Removing non-essential yet valuable functionality like the printer service, XBOX Gaming Services or WinRE.\n* **Accountability:** Good luck finding a fix on a forum when you’ve manually gutted the system without knowing what you even gutted.\n* **Determinism:** How can you be sure the apps you run or the windows features you use won't be randomly gutted or still work in a debloated Windows environment.\n\nAre these risks really worth the extremely minimal literally undetectable performance gains.\n\n# 5. Utility Over \"Freedom\"\n\nLinux enthusiasts love to call Windows \"bloated\" because it has legacy support and background services. But that \"bloat\" is actually **compatibility and stability**. It’s the reason you can plug in a printer from 2012 or a VR headset from 2024, and they just *work*.\n\nWindows doesn't force you to be a system administrator just to play a game. Even official alternatives like **Windows 11 LTSC**—which isn't as heavily modified—consistently outperform these \"stripped\" custom OSs in latency \\[[03:28](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOoECW6o3oE&t=208)\\], proving that removing as much as possible doesn't mean you're running the most performant system.\n\n**Stop serving your OS and let your OS serve you.** Stop running scripts written by people who think disabling the Print Spooler makes them \"power users.\" Your hardware is powerful enough to handle a few background services. Whether you are a dev or user, you need a system that is **predictable and accountable**, not a fragile \"rice\" that shatters the moment a new update drops.\n\n**The \"bloat\" isn't the problem. The obsession with theoretical, unnoticeable gains is.**","offTopic":true},{"id":"08bc239a-70d3-4e7a-b02c-4512fe9c6d37","excerpt":"Microsoft admits Windows 11 is still built on 90s-era Win32, and no one saw it coming — &#x200B;\n\n\n\nLogo\n\nRemove Recall AI\n\nNew Start menu\n\nWindows 11 25H2\n\nNew Windows 11 ISO\n\nWindows 11 24H2\n\nWindows 11 AI requirements\n\nRestore WordPad\n\nHome\n\nWindows 11\n\nMicrosoft admits Windows 11 is still built on 90s-era Win32, an","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/Tech_Politics_More/comments/1t9ndgl/microsoft_admits_windows_11_is_still_built_on/","role":"request","weight":0.8451041,"occurredAt":"2026-05-11T00:14:23.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"Tech_Politics_More","intent":"feature_request","painScore":0.13367261,"sentiment":0.4074074,"confidence":0.74545693,"matchedPatterns":["missing_feature","praise"],"statement":"While Apple users enjoy highly optimized, native applications like iMovie or the dedicated Pages suite for free, loyal Windows users like me have no choice but to rely on web-based alternatives like Clipchamp that need a constant internet…","title":"Microsoft admits Windows 11 is still built on 90s-era Win32, and no one saw it coming","body":"&#x200B;\n\n\n\nLogo\n\nRemove Recall AI\n\nNew Start menu\n\nWindows 11 25H2\n\nNew Windows 11 ISO\n\nWindows 11 24H2\n\nWindows 11 AI requirements\n\nRestore WordPad\n\nHome\n\nWindows 11\n\nMicrosoft admits Windows 11 is still built on 90s-era Win32, and no one saw it coming\n\nBy Abhijith M B -May 7, 20260\n\nMicrosoft didn’t expect Win32 to survive until 2026, but their web app obsession proves why they did\n\nWhen you right-click a file in Windows 11 or launch a traditional desktop application, you are interacting with code that predates the commercial internet. The Win32 API, introduced all the way back in the Windows 95 era, is still a significant part of the world’s most popular desktop operating system. But according to Microsoft’s own leadership, this was never the plan.\n\nFirst spotted by Windows Latest, in a recent video posted by the official Microsoft Dev Docs account on X, Mark Russinovich, Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer of Azure and the legendary creator of Sysinternals, admitted that the survival of Win32 is one of the biggest surprises in the company’s history.\n\nVideo Player\n\n00:00\n\n01:31\n\n“Did anyone in the 90s expect Win32 to be a first-class API surface in the year 2026? And I think I can safely answer, no,” Russinovich explained. “Nobody, I think, would have expected that because we were thinking flying cars and, you know, moon stations by the year 2026, not Win32 that was designed back in Windows 95 days.”\n\nEven as everything in the world has changed, it baffles me that computer code, as old as me, is still relevant when nothing around me feels the same as it did just 10 years ago.\n\nDisk Management tool\n\nDisk Management Tool is a Win32 application still relevant in Windows 11\n\nSo how did a 30-year-old API outlive decades of internal attempts to replace it? According to Russinovich, it all comes down to the massive ecosystem built on top of it. “I think that one of the reasons it’s got the staying power is it’s just a fundamental layer inside of Windows that so many apps have built on… it’s kind of bedrock,” he said.\n\nRussinovich pointed to his own Sysinternals tools as proof. Founded in 1996, he noted that he would have “bet a million dollars” that his earliest tools wouldn’t be relevant in 2026. Instead, they are more relevant than ever. Sysmon, which became an inbuilt feature with the March 2026 update, is actively being integrated directly into Windows, and Zoomit, developed in the early 2000s, remains an incredibly popular utility inside PowerToys today.\n\nMicrosoft has a graveyard of Win32 replacements\n\nSeveral years ago, when I came to know about Win32, the first thing I was told was how robust it was. So, if Win32 is such a capable bedrock, why has Microsoft spent the last twenty years trying to kill it?\n\nLike many of you, I have more Win32 apps on my PC than web apps or apps built in a modern framework. Yes, they are incredibly fast and deeply integrated into the OS hardware, but the fact is, they are notoriously difficult to modernize visually. To keep up with modern user interface expectations, Microsoft desperately needed a new framework.\n\nWhat followed was a decades-long graveyard of abandoned app frameworks. Microsoft tried MFC (a C++ wrapper), followed by WinForms for .NET developers. While these aren’t really Win32 replacements, they were abstractions on top of Win32.\n\nThen came Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), which was when the actual effort for replacement started and it introduced XAML and hardware-accelerated rendering.\n\nWPF was supposed to be the definitive future of Windows apps, until Silverlight briefly took the spotlight as a cross-platform bet, only to be eventually killed off by the rise of HTML5.\n\nMicrosoft Silverlight\n\nThe most aggressive push to replace Win32 came with Windows 8 and the introduction of WinRT. Microsoft wanted developers to build secure, touch-friendly, full-screen apps.\n\nWindows 8 start menu\n\nWhen the Windows 8 UI failed, they redirected to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) in Windows 10.\n\nUniversal Windows Platform (UWP)\n\nBack in my Windows 10 Mobile days, the one thing I used to tell everyone about the app situation in Microsoft’s mobile OS was that UWP would enable a powerful unified platform for apps that work across phones, Xbox, and PCs. Well, that didn’t age well.\n\nAlso, UWP was too restrictive, heavily sandboxed, and completely alienated traditional desktop developers who needed deep OS access.\n\nAs Russinovich noted in his video: “There’s been various times in Microsoft’s history where we thought we’d reboot the Windows API surface like WinRT that actually didn’t play out the way that a lot of people expected it to, given there’s still the separation between thick client and Win32 and the browser, which is HTML and JavaScript.”\n\nDevelopers still prefer WebView2 for Windows amid the RAM crisis\n\nI asked multiple developers why they continue making RAM-hungry web apps for Windows. That, too, was Microsoft’s fault.\n\nBecause Microsoft kept introducing and subsequently abandoning native frameworks, developers simply lost trust in the Windows platform. I explained this in detail in a Windows Latest report, where a developer told me why Windows 11 keeps getting web apps instead of native apps.\n\nWhatsApp stuck in the loading screen\n\nWhatsApp web app stuck in the loading screen\n\nI was told that building a native Windows app started to feel like a massive liability. And they can’t be blamed. Why invest years into a framework that Microsoft might deprecate tomorrow?\n\nFunnily enough, it was Microsoft that pivoted to the web. Microsoft introduced WebView2, a developer control that essentially embeds the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge engine directly inside desktop applications. Suddenly, the entire OS was flooded with web apps, including Microsoft Teams, Clipchamp, the new Outlook, OneDrive, the Windows 11 Widgets board, and even the latest version of Copilot is a web app.\n\nCopilot in Task Manager\n\nCopilot in Task Manager\n\nWhile web apps are cheaper to build and much easier to maintain across multiple platforms, they are fundamentally flawed for desktop computing. Embedding a full browser engine into every individual application is a recipe for disaster when it comes to system resources.\n\nWindows 11 Web crap\n\nThis love for WebView2 and Electron is the reason Windows 11 has become such a memory hog. I use the WhatsApp desktop app every single day, and it is an absolute disaster. In my testing, WhatsApp consumes an absurd amount of RAM when doing absolutely nothing, entirely because it uses heavy web wrappers instead of the lightweight native code it used to use in the UWP era.\n\nMicrosoft’s Clipchamp is another web app that I had to use for basic video edits, but I later left it because Microsoft’s built-in video editor now needs OneDrive sync to work!\n\nMicrosoft Clipchamp open in Windows desktop\n\nMy frustration is compounded when I compare Windows to macOS. While Apple users enjoy highly optimized, native applications like iMovie or the dedicated Pages suite for free, loyal Windows users like me have no choice but to rely on web-based alternatives like Clipchamp that need a constant internet connection, lack deep OS integration, and eat through system memory.\n\nMicrosoft Clipchamp is a WebView2 powered video editor\n\nMicrosoft Clipchamp is a WebView2 powered video editor\n\nFortunately, Apple’s success with a sub $600 budget laptop forced the Redmond giant to rethink their app development priorities.\n\nMicrosoft is pivoting back to native apps with WinUI 3\n\nThankfully, the tide is finally turning. Microsoft has realized that making Windows into a glorified Chrome OS is alienating power users and actively destroying system performance.\n\nA few months ago, Rudy Huyn, a Partner Architect at Microsoft, confirmed he was hiring a team dedicated specifically to building “100% native” apps for Windows 11. The focus has aggressively shifted toward WinUI 3, the latest native UI framework built under the Windows App SDK umbrella.\n\nWinUI 3 is exactly what Microsoft needs to win back developers. It allows them to build gorgeous, modern, Fluent-designed applications that still have full, unrestricted access to the underlying Win32 “bedrock.” Just recently, Microsoft released a massive Windows App SDK 2.0 update, equipping developers with semantic versioning, a refactored Windows ML stack, and much-needed drag-and-drop support for bridging WebView2 content seamlessly into native WinUI 3 shells.\n\nMicrosoft is retiring legacy Win32 the right way\n\nMicrosoft is finally eating its own dog food and cleaning up Windows 11.\n\nRather than forcing a hard reboot as they did with WinRT, Microsoft is carefully etching out the oldest, ugliest (some might disagree) Win32 UI elements in Windows 11 and replacing them with highly optimized WinUI 3 native code. We recently discovered that the Windows 95-era File Explorer Properties dialog box is finally getting replaced with a modern WinUI 3 version, complete with full dark mode support.\n\nFile Explorer Properties Dialog box\n\nThe legacy Run dialog (Win + R) has been completely rewritten into a blazing-fast WinUI 3 application. After using both versions, I can confidently say that the new Run dialog is as good, if not better, than the old Run dialog, especially considering how beautiful it looks.\n\nNew Windows 11 Run dialog\n\nCompiled with .NET AOT, the new Run dialog achieves a staggering 94ms median time-to-show, which is surprisingly faster than the old Run dialog, and it proves that modern WinUI 3 frameworks can absolutely match the raw speed and efficiency of legacy Win32 code.\n\nAs Microsoft continues to replace heavy WebView2 wrappers with native WinUI 3 components, Windows 11 will inevitably stop consuming so much unnecessary memory. We may not have flying cars or moon stations in 2026, but after decades of missteps, we might finally get a fast, native, and consistent Windows operating system that respects its own legacy.\n\nAdd as preferred source\n\nSupport independent blog\n\nAsk a question (Forum)\n\nWL Newsletter!\n\nStay ahead with the latest Windows, IT, and AI updates. Trusted by 50,000+ subscribers.\n\nEnter Name\\*\n\nEnter Email\\*\n\nJoin for Free\n\nAbout The Author\n\nAbhijith M B\n\nAbhijith is a contributing editor for Windows Latest. At Windows Latest, he has written on numerous topics, ranging from Windows to Microsoft Edge. Abhijith holds a degree in Bachelor's of Technology, with a strong focus on Electronics and Communications Engineering. His passion for Windows is evident in his journalism journey, including his articles that decoded complex PowerShell scripts.\n\nRELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR\n\nMicrosoft VP Scott Hanselman defends the Windows 11 Low Latency Profile on social media\n\nMicrosoft denies Windows 11 CPU boost trick is a lazy fix, says Apple does this and you love it\n\nMicrosoft's 1 million USD sweepstakes rewards is still live and ending soon\n\nMicrosoft is giving away $1 million to Bing users, and that says everything about Google’s monopoly\n\nMicrosoft is upgrading Windows 11 touchpad with four new gestures\n\nWindows 11 startup sound designer rejoins the team\n\nWindows 11’s iconic system sounds may be getting a refresh, Microsoft drops a hint\n\nWindows 11's upcoming Low Latency Profile feature makes opening apps faster\n\nI tested Windows 11’s hidden Low Latency Profile, and budget PCs are about to feel premium\n\nMicrosoft reveals why some Windows 11 updates can take a while to install, even after a quick download\n\nWindows 11\n\nMicrosoft VP Scott Hanselman defends the Windows 11 Low Latency Profile on social media\n\nMicrosoft denies Windows 11 CPU boost trick is a lazy fix, says Apple does this and you love it\n\nAbhijith M B - May 11, 2026 0\n\nMicrosoft's 1 million USD sweepstakes rewards is still live and ending soon\n\nMicrosoft is giving away $1 million to Bing users, and that says everything about Google’s monopoly\n\nMay 10, 2026\n\nMicrosoft is upgrading Windows 11 touchpad with four new gestures\n\nMay 9, 2026\n\nWi","offTopic":true},{"id":"aebf3453-b02f-4c24-8714-fb270c85f8e0","excerpt":"Windows 11 is Microsoft trying to be Apple without doing Apple’s homework — Just tried to map a network drive. Simple, right? Clicked “Browse” in the Map Network Drive dialog and got “Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service.” Opened cmd. Ran net use \\\\SERVER\\\\Share. Worked instantly. The G","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1pfx0mp/windows_11_is_microsoft_trying_to_be_apple/","role":"pain","weight":0.75434214,"occurredAt":"2025-12-06T18:59:44.000Z","sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","credibility":0.62,"venue":"sysadmin","intent":"other","painScore":0.23157895,"sentiment":-0.57894737,"confidence":0.6125,"matchedPatterns":[],"statement":"Windows 11 is Microsoft trying to be Apple without doing Apple’s homework.","title":"Windows 11 is Microsoft trying to be Apple without doing Apple’s homework","body":"Just tried to map a network drive. Simple, right? Clicked “Browse” in the Map Network Drive dialog and got “Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service.” Opened cmd. Ran net use \\\\SERVER\\\\Share. Worked instantly. The GUI is literally a broken wrapper around functional tools. In 2025. This is Windows 11 in a nutshell.\n\nMicrosoft is having an identity crisis:\n\n* They want Apple’s clean, idiot-proof aesthetic\n* So they keep making the Settings app prettier while half the options still dump you into Control Panel from 2009\n* They removed easy access to adapter settings, group policy, proper right-click menus - power user stuff\n* But the underlying system still NEEDS those tools because it’s the same janky foundation Apple gets away with “simple” because they control everything and will burn legacy support to the ground without hesitation. When Apple simplifies, the complexity is actually gone. Microsoft wants the Apple look without doing the work.\n\nSo we get:\n\n* Rounded corners on top of Win32 spaghetti code from the 90s\n* TWO settings apps (neither complete)\n* Ads and Bing in the Start menu of an OS we paid for\n* Copilot shoved everywhere while File Explorer still chokes on basic network operations\n* Features removed “for simplicity” but the complexity is still there, just hidden behind extra clicks\n\nIt’s the worst of both worlds. A dumbed-down interface that pretends everything is fine, while the same old demons run underneath. Power users get gaslit by a pastel UI while troubleshooting problems that shouldn’t exist. We’re not asking for much. Just stop hiding the tools we need while failing to fix the problems that require them.\n\n/rant","offTopic":false}],"breakdown":[{"sourceKey":"reddit","sourceName":"Reddit","count":5},{"sourceKey":"hackernews","sourceName":"Hacker News","count":1}],"total":6}}