Our commitment to Windows quality

PaulHoule

"...we are reducing unnecessary Copilot entry points, starting with apps like Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets and Notepad." Great!

pndy

Nothing on limiting dependence on online account/services and forced hardware requirements. The rest sounds like every text people could read for decades during Windows installation. Sorry Microsoft, some people already transfer to a different train because you offered a crazy ride.

gzread

Listen to their actions, not their words.

nathanaldensr

"Our Commitment to Gaslighting Everyone with Corporate Marketing Language"

Someone1234

They're saying all the right things here. Fixing long-standing complaints, removing Copilot from obnoxious places, improvements to Windows Update and Windows Explorer stability/microstutter/lag, etc. I congratulate them on seeing sense, and I congratulate Apple on another victory with the Neo. Kind of frustrating that's what it took for Microsoft to finally listen to their userbase.

andrewstuart

If the people in charge of Windows have to solicit customer feeedback to fund out what’s wrong, then I guarantee you the real problems won’t be fixed. These people don’t even know their own product.

VectorLock

Big PR pushback against the Microslop sobriquet.

hyperhello

“We hear you and will improve quality” is bullshit code. It means “we figured out our strategy long ago and you’re not it”.

daft_pink

to me it went off the rails when I couldn’t get local search from the start menu in windows 8.1

ivl

> More taskbar customization, including vertical and top positions: Repositioning the taskbar is one of the top asks we’ve heard from you. We are introducing the ability to reposition it to the top or sides of your screen, making it easier to personalize your workspace. I wonder if this will include being able to put it on the non-primary display once again. It's not mentioned, but that was one of the biggest frustrations with Windows 11. It seems their focus is exclusively on single display devices. It also ruined my flow for my flight sim until I found a workaround. The fullscreen window wishes to launch to the primary display, which means losing the useful bits of the taskbar. I love what they're saying, but my faith in them is very, very is low.

paradox460

I was expecting a 404

delta_p_delta_x

This is good to hear, as someone who has used basically nothing but Windows since 2000. I haven't stepped off the Windows train yet. I use Linux at arm's length for my homelab's hypervisor and at work, but my daily driver is still Windows 10. I must be the only one to write something like this on HN, but I sincerely like Windows' technical fundamentals and architecture; its design is sensible and extensible. And very frankly I prefer the developer experience on Windows, where you can write a (relatively) high-quality native desktop application with purely first-party tooling and release a single, tiny (~10^4 bytes) executable that quite literally runs anywhere. The Windows API surface area is huge and developers can write entire multi-domain programs without ever looking for a third-party library. This probably sounds like a lot of copium, but I feel like recent events like the rising costs of memory and competition like the MacBook Neo will light a fire under Microsoft's arse. I really hope some of the AI overboard in Windows 11 is rolled back over the near future. They should migrate core Windows applications back to native and CLI technologies, actually support and maintain these without chasing the next big thing, and release frameworks for safer compiled languages like Rust, Zig, and Odin, and allocate more resources to F#.

apitman

I'm not sure these problems are solvable once a company gets big enough and incentives completely take over. It's like the hands are trying to sew a parachute while the legs are sprinting towards a cliff.

grafda

Feels like screaming "please don't leave us, we will now build what you ask for". On the one hand, this is great to hear, but on the other side I wonder how much this will matter. Apple is now winning on the hardware other than offering a better UX experience. But they also have lost their touch with it over the years!

FifthTundraG

Talk is cheap. Show me the changes.

the__alchemist

I am sus. Optimistic but sus. I am hoping for some combo of: - MS doing what they say here. (Uphill battle given the perverse incentives others have mentioned) My gut says Windows is going to be *worse* vs better, and I am willing to settle for stagnating... - Linux desktop makers taking UX, ABI/linking compatibility, and "just works" seriously. It's like you could take the good from both and discard the bad, but it hasn't happened yet.

drschwabe

Too little too late, open source Windows 7 and give it a new 10 year LTS commitment then we can talk.

albert_e

We used to be able to make any folder a popup menu on taskbar, including any subfolders. Served the need for quick shortcuts to whatever we need within 2 clicks. Sorely miss it in Win11.

bronlund

It’s Better To Ask For Forgiveness Than Permission

_fw

Something tickles me about describing the forced inclusion of Copilot as “entry points” in things like Notepad. It reveals Microsoft’s intentions SO precisely. They aren’t trying to add Copilot in useful ways for their users. They’re forcing it into Notepad when they know it doesn’t fit there, because it might be your “entry” into their slop generator. User experience be damned, these shareholders must have their value.