The lengthy advertisement for Windows 11 was highlighted by Windows Latest after it installed the optional January update (in preview) on a Windows 10 machine.
Every time I’ve tried to upgrade Windows major versions in place, it’s been a terrible experience. And not on potatoes, either!
From XP to Vista, everything broke. This was long enough ago that I don’t remember exactly how it broke, just that it made my computer unusable and I had to reinstall from CD. I mean, that makes sense though, right? Vista was terrible. From Vista to 7 (on a different machine), I just did a fresh install.
I skipped 8. After that, my Windows 7 machine (a third machine now) kept begging me to upgrade to 10, so I tried it. But even though Microsoft’s own tool told me everything would work just fine, the install was absolutely trash. I was stuck at 1024x768 (on a 16:9 monitor). Performance even with no programs running was so bad—on a machine that could easily run Adobe Premiere and Photoshop simultaneously under Win7—that it took ±30 seconds to open Task Manager. Exactly zero drivers for any USB peripherals worked; I had to dig out my PS/2 keyboard to revert the install.
At this point I must just be out of my mind, because last fall I let Windows 11 install on my Windows 10 computer (a fourth machine). The installation took several hours somehow, and when it was done wifi didn’t work. There were a few other annoyances, like stealing back defaults and reverting my Firefox default on every reboot. Being in no mood to deal with the nonsense, I switched back to Windows 10. And guess what? Wifi was still broken. Windows 11 broke network connectivity on Windows 10.
These were all good computers, and I don’t do anything particularly odd or unusual with them.
I’m never doing an in-place Windows upgrade again. No way, no how. Not gonna happen.
And I’ve tried Linux and found it abysmal with way too much of the sorts of issues you’ve mentioned.
So for me Linux is obviously a no go, but I could see why it would appeal perhaps to someone like yourself. Ultimately we are directed by our experiences.
Oh, for sure. But in any case, their QA isn’t as robust as it seems. With only one such experience, it would be bad luck. Maybe even with two. But with multiple, across experiences with few common factors, it seems more like ineptitude; and what else have they missed?
And I’ve tried Linux and found it abysmal with way too much of the sorts of issues you’ve mentioned.
Right, but I think what I’m trying to communicate is, if I’m going to run the risk that I’ll have to deal with this nonsense either way, why not at least use an OS which has goals aligned with my own?
Every time I’ve tried to upgrade Windows major versions in place, it’s been a terrible experience. And not on potatoes, either!
From XP to Vista, everything broke. This was long enough ago that I don’t remember exactly how it broke, just that it made my computer unusable and I had to reinstall from CD. I mean, that makes sense though, right? Vista was terrible. From Vista to 7 (on a different machine), I just did a fresh install.
I skipped 8. After that, my Windows 7 machine (a third machine now) kept begging me to upgrade to 10, so I tried it. But even though Microsoft’s own tool told me everything would work just fine, the install was absolutely trash. I was stuck at 1024x768 (on a 16:9 monitor). Performance even with no programs running was so bad—on a machine that could easily run Adobe Premiere and Photoshop simultaneously under Win7—that it took ±30 seconds to open Task Manager. Exactly zero drivers for any USB peripherals worked; I had to dig out my PS/2 keyboard to revert the install.
At this point I must just be out of my mind, because last fall I let Windows 11 install on my Windows 10 computer (a fourth machine). The installation took several hours somehow, and when it was done wifi didn’t work. There were a few other annoyances, like stealing back defaults and reverting my Firefox default on every reboot. Being in no mood to deal with the nonsense, I switched back to Windows 10. And guess what? Wifi was still broken. Windows 11 broke network connectivity on Windows 10.
These were all good computers, and I don’t do anything particularly odd or unusual with them.
I’m never doing an in-place Windows upgrade again. No way, no how. Not gonna happen.
Ultimately it will all be anecdotal.
I’ve done plenty of upgrades without issues.
And I’ve tried Linux and found it abysmal with way too much of the sorts of issues you’ve mentioned.
So for me Linux is obviously a no go, but I could see why it would appeal perhaps to someone like yourself. Ultimately we are directed by our experiences.
Oh, for sure. But in any case, their QA isn’t as robust as it seems. With only one such experience, it would be bad luck. Maybe even with two. But with multiple, across experiences with few common factors, it seems more like ineptitude; and what else have they missed?
Right, but I think what I’m trying to communicate is, if I’m going to run the risk that I’ll have to deal with this nonsense either way, why not at least use an OS which has goals aligned with my own?