Anyone updated to Windows11 yet ?

Just been notified Win 11 is ready to download but some features of Win 10 will not be available, any info on what's missing would be helpful, also any definite benefits if updating.

Emgee

I am running win11 in a virtual machine as my £2500 8 year old pc is not capable of running 11 (Baahumbug bloxxy ridiculous) I have all the requirments except my I7 5th gen' processor is supposedly not good enough. Only installed today so not sure how much diferent it is to 10. I am going through the many videos on Youtube to find out its features. But is does run quicker than 10 also Skype is missing and has been replaced by MS Teams.

regards

Still running MSDOS 3.1.1 - super keys and all! on one computer.

But on this machine I've got Win 10 but using Shell button for old style navigation - can't stand these app based functions.

Martin

My week old laptop got W 11 updates yesterday, in relation to my old laptop, both HP machine its considerably quicker but I dont think thats because of W 11 and I dont know whats changed. I have gone from Chrome to Edge not that I can see much different yet.

Martin P

I am a little concerned regarding Win11. In the past updates have been applicable to a range of fairly recent machines (with the caveat that drivers must have been written for the new OS)

Windows 11 has moved away from this and appears to be only suitable for the very highest spec and newest machines.

We are again entering the realms of two operating systems that are developed in parallel for two different customer bases as when Win98 and NT ran in parallel.

Hopefully all peripherals will use the same drivers as otherwise we may be forced to buy products that suit the operating system and not the use they will be put to - eg if you only do the odd hardcopy printout at home will the £50 supermarket printer have drivers available for the high end laptop you have the more powerful OS installed on?

Also will development continue on the Win10 that most current machines run on?

Before anyone suggests MacOs or Linux they have already been through similar processes - one of my Macs has to have OsX10.4 and no later and while there are many many different versions of Linux if you wish to use a 32bit distro or one that loads from CD, not DVD or one for non-PAE machines your choice is quite restricted.

Anyway, other than to suggest it has already happened elsewhere discussions of other minor OSs are beside the point - we are looking at the OS that according to at least one website in September 2021 had a desktop market share of 87.56% so the impact of any problems could be huge. Changing horses midstream is something not likely to happen for most users.

My PC is 5+ years old and a high spec gaming machine. It fails the Win 11 test but am I bothered? heck no.

I see that Microsoft and their close association with Intel are possibly breaking up as Microsoft are reportedly developing their own chips for servers and the home PC market. This will probably lead to further development and end up with a complete Microsoft laptop etc. Then they are in a similar position as now, to try and force you to upgrade to a new PC

When support ceases for W10 it will be crunch time for any machine that connects to the internet and has personal data and applications you would want to be secure. The push to take everything online is inexorable and to not be connected is making life increasingly difficult. I am 65 and have almost grown up with the Personal Computer and embraced the technology, my mother in law never mastered the video recorder and a simple mobile phone was beyond her, a smart phone may as well come from another planet. Jumping in now with W11 will undoubtedly run into some problems especially with legacy software and hardware, the first service release will clear some issues and some supplier patches will resolve other issues but in the end it can be easier to replace old software and hardware unless you relish solving problems and have the ability to do so. I have just bought a new PC to run as a W11 machine and will migrate slowly over to that and see what problems arise, when it does all that we need it to do and is stable then the W10 machine can be retired or repurposed.

Mike

So microsloth has launched a new games O/S? They don't seem to get any system working fully before a NEW system escapes. What number update are they on now, system only officially released on 5th October and are they going to sort out the mess they generated on print servers due to a windoze 10 update before they cast that to the wind. My own ols XP and later doze 7 will serve me well and far from being an electronic luddite (I have an annoying cylindrical box that has nearly graced the window at times) but give us a break. Years ago, I purchased a webcam that refused to work for no apparent reason. Although NO mention in the instructions, it transpired that unless you had "Intel Inside" it wouldn't work due to a minor difference in the processor build.

Wonder how many who have been fooled into buying "Glass" will have to replace their TVs when they get fed up with being ripped off by Murdocks minions?

Regards Ian.

For the many who have unsupported processors, Windows 11 can be downloaded and installed using a straightforward registry mod. It's described in the most recent issue of "Computer Actve" . Google will also identify it.

Claimed to be approved by Microsoft.

For myself, the most irritating feature of W11 is the inability to position the taskbar at the side of the screen.

I was just on the point of getting a new laptop but will probably wait until I can get one with W11 installed. It should not be long before most are being shipped with W11.

Doug

That's it in a nutshell - if I read it right, the main difference is Windows 11 requires a Microsoft Account be set-up, whereas W10 can be anonymous. W11 intrudes further into our privacy, which is a mixed blessing. I distrust Facebook, Google and others harvesting my data, you may not care. As corporates don't like their computers phoning outsiders, it's likely the W11 Pro-version will work without the user having a Microsoft Account: corporates pay for privacy.

One source describes Windows 11 as Windows 10 with Windows 10X slapped on top. More a rebranding exercise than upgraded technology. You get new wallpaper, icons, themes and a dark mode. The Start Menu is centred, Search and Start are separated, Application Windows are now consistent, and Windows Terminal is installed as standard, not an optional download. Superficial changes to look and feel but mostly still W10 under the bonnet. Thus W11 should be highly compatible with anything already working on W10.

That said, there are a number of bundled applications that require specific hardware. It's not clear what happens if W11 is installed on an incapable machine: my guess is that a few affected features won't work but everything else will be fine. By saying your hardware is inadequate, Microsoft are warning they won't support any problems encountered on that machine: if W11 doesn't work on your old banger, don't ring them!

Dave

IIRC, I think I read that with Win11, Microsoft threw away the kernel and now base the OS on either Linux or Unix, a very sensible decision. Apple chose Unix way back when OSX came out; Android uses Linux under the hood.

I rather like it , having been using it in the insider program for about 6 weeks. I have put together a second desktop with new motherboard, processor and ram which comply with Microsoft's minimum requirements which has W10 pro 64 and having the TPM and secure boot running, it is now waiting for Microsoft to get around to offering the update. It would be possible to update a standard desktop pc for about £180, maybe a bit less. There are firms selling Athlon 3000G with A320 chipset motherboards for about £120 and there is plenty of cheap DDR4 2400 ram on the market being sold by people who are installing faster ram. If your copy of Windows started life as a full version, then you should be able to put a downloaded ISO of W10 64 bit on the new system and get it activated. Then the TPM and secure boot can be activated in the BIOS and when Microsoft get around to you, the update to W11 should go ahead. For those using high end systems, updating would be more expensive. I found that the low end Athlon 3000G actually runs faster than my Phenom4300. I don't think W11 is available in a 32 bit version, which may be a problem for some users.

There is a lot more information on the W10 and W11 forums.

Edited By old mart on 02/11/2021 14:34:44

Edited By old mart on 02/11/2021 14:36:21

"I think I read that with Win11, Microsoft threw away the kernel and now base the OS on either Linux or Unix, a very sensible decision"

John I can clarify this some... Win11 can run some (maybe many?) android apps,, it has a post compiler using "IBT" which converts the machine level instructions from an Android compiled software to an intel x86 based instruction set... It's a lot smarter than an emulator, a lot easier than having a dual boot machine but it's still (all) windows underneath (not unix)

We wondered about why they spent so much effort on this, till you realise how much more attractive it would make a windows tablet device... For the guys with a desktop and no touch screen? possibly less useful but then you are possibly less interested in native android apps anyway...

Other than that, and a new more Mac/Tablet look user interface most Win10 (and win7) compiled software will run on it (we write a lot of cad software and it all ran out of the box). We (actually the computer science geeks we employ) think it's pretty much win10.1

Is there anything a normal person want to do now that they couldn't do 5 years ago on whatever was the standard then? It seems to be more about pushing you to spend more buy more.

I'm one for waiting several weeks before updating windows just to see what bugs are lurking and I really do not understand the rush to update.

H

You could word process on a Sinclair ZX81 forty odd years ago using Tasword and a parallel port adaptor and I knew of one BBC Master that was connected to a laser printer but in this interconnected age being non-standard can be a problem.

Depends who you think a normal person is!

The over 55s are the largest single group of desktop owners, but the group is only slightly bigger than owners aged 16-24. As 64% of desktop owners are under 55, they influence the market more. What's their normal?

Although old and young are both keen on desktops, I guess their reasons are different. Being heavily into games and streaming the yoof want fast machines with lots of storage and multiple screens. Grandad probably doesn't need anything so sophisticated. It's the youngsters who push for smaller faster better machines and complicated software, whilst older folk are generally happy in the slow lane.

Whilst keen on desktops, the over 55 group are also least likely to own a laptop, which is interesting. It takes us into the burgeoning market for tablets and smart phones. They're the greatest threat to desktops because they support mobile computing, which is incredibly profitable. I haven't the slightest desire to socialise on the move, but everyone under 50 is my family is online almost permanently. I'd rather spend money on my workshop and as a result won't influence the future of computers much.

Dave

If you have a pc which qualifies for the update to W11 from W10, it will be obvious from the message when you go into "settings- windows update". Unfortunately, older generations of processors and hardware cannot be updated to the higher level of security to combat the ever growing problem from internet attacks.

I like W11 because it runs quicker than W10, but it has differences which do take some getting used to. My laptop is compatible with everything except the processor, an Intel i3 is only 6th generation and lacks something in the security area. That one will be staying with W10 which has another 4 years of supported life.

From my limited W11 needs, there have been fewer bugs than when W10 was in its infancy.

Edited By old mart on 02/11/2021 17:28:30

The problem with Linux in a nutshell.