Can someone enlighten me on why Windows 11 exists? Or why would anyone even bother using it?

[Heliian]

20 minutes ago, cmndr said:

On balance each version of windows pushes forward a bunch of new technologies.

Yes, like the magical win8 when tablets took off.  Now win11 to emulate the simplicity of macos.  Tpm is another control to lock you into.   

[cmndr]

58 minutes ago, podkall said:

Like based on past OS experience and these thoughts and comments.

OS developers sound like Game developers that launch game too early and then constantly release patches for bug fixes, stabilities, etc...

More QA can always be done. 

There are tradeoffs between timeliness, feature set depth and QA depth. 

[Zando_]

48 minutes ago, Termater said:

Might be beating a dead horse here but.. Better multi-core CPU usage, refined UI, additional settings, and new security features

And most importantly: dark mode Task Manager. No more flashbanging yourself trying to troubleshoot things at night. 

[podkall]

7 minutes ago, cmndr said:

More QA can always be done. 

There are tradeoffs between timeliness, feature set depth and QA depth. 

And source code quality determines how many bugs it likely produces, how easy to find, big and how often security holes appear.

 

[GoodBytes]

4 hours ago, podkall said:

To me and others Windows 11 just looks like Windows 10 with slightly different UI and many, many, many simplified features. (or buried deep options)

Not to mention that there is a list with "supported hardware" and the possibility of not being able to upgrade due to "unsupported hardware".

 

"Here's a new OS, it's the same thing, lot of options are hidden or buried deep, and some systems will have to use USB to update because they aren't supported."

 - Microsoft for some reason.

 

What useful featuers/things does it offer?

 

Is it faster or more efficient?

 

Is there some new tech hidden in new Alder Lake Intel CPUs that can be only utilized by Windows 11?

Let's see....

• New scheduler system for supporting CPUs with cores of different performance.
• Considerable security improvements.
• Bluetooth AAC codec support (Prior Windows only supported SBC codec... so, you now get to enjoy a notable audio quality boost).
• Bluetooth quick connect/manage panel. No need to go to Settings panel each time.
• Bluetooth Music and Communication auto-switch mode (like on Android/iOS devices). No longer need to switch between modes manually.
• Quick Audio output source selection
• File Explorer Tabs.
• WSLg (GUI + Audio + GPU graphics acceleration support for WSL2).
• Android apps on Windows. Powered by Android 12.
• ARM64EC support, allowing ARM64 based applications to use x86-64 libraries, allowing this mix universal application translation, allowing devs to port their app to native ARM64 with greater ease and gain notable performance gains as a result, and as libraries and other components are converter to ARM64, things will just accelerate and be more responsive.
• Windows Terminal default command console/terminal
• Window placement memorization based on screen configurations. Allowing people to undock their laptop and dock it back in without having all their applications lose placement when the monitors were disconnected. Also, allows DisplayPort Deep Sleep feature to work properly where applications won't all move the primary monitor and at some random location when the monitor wakes up from sleep.
• Improved DirectStorage performance
• Improved Dark theme
• Improved GUI consistency
• Significantly improved touch experience
• New, much improved, touch keyboard (customizable too)
• Improved window snap, with portrait monitor support, and ultra-wide monitor support. Also allows 2x2 layout, not just side-by-side.
• Focus Session, allowing you to mute all notifications and play Spotify music, and track your tasks needed to be done that you set and what has been completed.
• Significant accessibility improvements, including but limited to system wide Voice Control and Captioning
• Based on your region, Windows Update will auto-magically download when your region uses the most-renewable/green electricity 
• Improved Windows Sandbox feature, making it easier to use it to test things that you feel suspicious.
• Improved wireless file sharing between systems (Nearby Share), allowing not only Bluetooth for file transfer but also Network.
• Improved Clipboard History (Win+V)
• Re-worked Settings panel, reorganizing everything and improved performance.
• Re-worked right-click explorer menu... No more long wait times for menu to show up due to an unresponsive application entry.
• New views in Device Manager to better know which drivers are linked to which device or hardware type.
• Webcam control under Settings panel (control zoom, saturation, contract, sharpness, brightness, and anything else the camera drivers allow).
• Battery consumption meter section under Settings, allowing you to track your device battery life, and which application consumes the most.
• Drive Health is now known in the Settings panel. No need to get some third-party app, unless you want details.
• Improved Windows Hello performance.
• Improved windowed mode gaming performance. The performance impact over Exclusive Full Screen Mode is now marginal, great for multi-display setups as well.
• HDR support with variable refresh rates display with a game running in windowed mode
• Improve Game Bar
• You can now launch a game with the Xbox button from your Xbox Controller
• HDR Calibration
• Improve HDR monitor support.
• AutoHDR.

 

[WWicket]

2 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

 

• Window placement memorization based on screen configurations. Allowing people to undock their laptop and dock it back in without having all their applications lose placement when the monitors were disconnected. Also, allows DisplayPort Deep Sleep feature to work properly where applications won't all move the primary monitor and at some random location when the monitor wakes up from sleep.
• Improved window snap, with portrait monitor support, and ultra-wide monitor support. Also allows 2x2 layout, not just side-by-side.

 

These two were by far the biggest improvements for me - as someone with portrait displays that docks and undocks a lot with a lot of monitors and uses snap placements heavily, these two features were enough life improvement to be worth switching on their own. 

[GoodBytes]

1 hour ago, WWicket said:

These two were by far the biggest improvements for me - as someone with portrait displays that docks and undocks a lot with a lot of monitors and uses snap placements heavily, these two features were enough life improvement to be worth switching on their own. 

For me it is:

• All the Bluetooth stuff without exception. I use wireless earphone for music listening and meetings
• WSL improvements (not really WSLg)
• Android app support (work)
• Windows Terminal (while it can be acquired under Win10, it is a bit annoying of interacting with the old Command Prompt when running as Admin)
• HDR stuff once I get a GPU that supports HDR. I use a GeForce 680, which is equivalent in performance to a GeForce 1050 Ti and a 1630, give or take a few fps differences
• Improved History Clipboard (Win+V)
• Nearby Share improvements
• Focus Session which is nice, I use it a few times here and there.

And DirectStorage, the day we will have games that will use it... in 2035 or 2040... or whatever...

[Mark Kaine]

my guess is win 10 became too cluttered so they wanted a "fresh start"...

 

also someone in their design team *really* likes boring themes and drab colors...

 

alternative reason: win 10 became to cluttered and they wanted to remake the "scheduler" for multi core and specifically for intels new big little design.

 

or a mix of all of the above.

 

23 hours ago, Holmes108 said:

My only complaint is I haven't liked the direction the settings screens have been going, but that's a Windows 10 problem too

kind of, but since it has a control panel, its actually pretty straightforward once you learned where everything is... but also a lot of settings that seemingly don't do much, if anything,  or are kinda broken / buggy (like hdr, or snap) 

 

best windows was xp and vista, fully customizable (color wise at least) and Vista had a few nice tricks to make it feel more like a gaming console (specifically Xbox "blades")

 

a mixture of that and the windows 10 windows phone(tm) look would be best (also throw in kinect support, or an upgraded version ala google lense or similar... its not the tech why ar isn't yet standard, its lack of innovative designers and ideas)

 

^ this can also be seen by current vr solutions, which outside the professional sector, completely miss what vr is actually good at (hint: its not first person shooters...)

 

 

22 hours ago, Zando_ said:

And most importantly: dark mode Task Manager. No more flashbanging yourself trying to troubleshoot things at night. 

while i get it, that's a preference thing and we don't have to agree on this at all, to me this is somehow never an issue and i think it's because of my monitor settings (its simply not very bright, even during daylight) 

 

here's a photo of taskmanager in a dark room... sure the white is kinda bright, but not annoyingly so imo?

 

 

for me, dark mode is "too dark" especially in a dark room, it's like looking into a void. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯