Is there a pilot on the Windows 11 plane? A prioriwe know that there is Copilot, but the rest of Microsoft’s recent decisions regarding the direction of its star product – at least among the average consumer – are puzzling. We know the grievances well: documented with zealous regularity in the columns of Digitaland the Redmond (not Richmond) company is well aware of this. Even to the point of having published a press release on its official blog, on March 20, 2024, aimed at “analyze returns” users, with seven areas for future improvement in response.
Pavan Davuluri, executive vice president of Windows and devices, is leading this exercise. damage control rarely seen in a tech giant. Its promises address, pell-mell, recurring problems such as the slowness of File Explorer, the erratic functioning of Windows updates or even the positioning of the taskbar. “First changes” will occur in the first builds intended for members of the Windows Insider program the following month, before deployment in public versions.
However, for those who follow the recent news of Windows 11, it seems obvious that it is the tree that hides the forest: in this case, the multitude of problems which profoundly alter the user experience are in no way addressed, or even mentioned. Addressing these obvious shortcomings would call into question Microsoft’s overall strategy, including its massive investments in AI.
OneDrive integration, as pernicious as it is, is still promoted by Microsoft © Microsoft
Just read the section devoted to Copilot, where Pavan Davuluri promises a refocus on “really useful and well-designed uses” – by re-evaluating, for example, the presence of Copilot buttons in software like Notepad or the Screen Capture tool. But was it necessary to integrate them in the first place, where AI has no place? What more can we say about the default installation of the Copilot application, its hang-up pinned to the taskbar since update KB5034763 (February 2024), the Copilot+ badge and the Copilot button added by OEMs on a growing majority of laptop PCs?
Still on AI, what about the automatic translations still present in the Microsoft ecosystem – Microsoft Store, system settings, Xbox – which use basic engines for languages other than English? It is astonishing to see the world’s fourth largest market capitalization rely on such tools, revealing a lack of consideration for its non-English speaking users.
You can still use trickery to create a local account on Windows Home… For the moment © PeteNetLive
No word, moreover, on the forced integration of Microsoft accounts during a new installation of Windows 11 Home. It is impossible to use a local account without an Internet connection and without bypassing the installation (via undocumented methods), while only the Pro editions allow this option simply. This maneuver clearly aims to maximize adoption of the Microsoft ecosystem – which also explains, since version 23H2 (launched online in September 2023), the default activation of saving user folders (Desktop, Documents, Images) to OneDrive during OOBE, via a tactical provision during initial configuration.
Finally, if the post mentions a “Recommendations section more relevant” in the Start menu, we still do not know what concrete measures will be taken. Should we hope for the total removal of advertisements for Spotify or Xbox Game Pass in an operating system whose license was acquired directly (OEM/retail key) or indirectly (via the price of a PC)? We might as well be clear-minded: it is unlikely. Remember that these advertisements have been rampant since February 2022 – almost two years already – and that their persistence is a strategic choice, not of simple negligence In this context, the road to redemption looks long to regain the trust of disappointed users. In such a context, we would have been better off taking a shortcut towards slightly more… free solutions.
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