Windows 11, will be launched by October 2021

[uselessoldman]

Finally as the pandemic comes to an end (fingers crossed) Microsoft will finally release its new Windows which, wait for it, might well be Windows 11. I used to get the beta copies but I am told there are none nor will there be one in the future !!! So with their bi-annual major updates usually around end of November we will have to wait and see...

[Eddy Deegan]

I'd heard a rumour it won't be called Windows 11, rather they are dropping the number and just calling it 'Windows' but that's not certain by any means.

To be honest I'm not looking forward to it. When properly configured, and with all the privacy settings turned up to the max Windows 10 is a pretty good OS IMHO and really doesn't need much doing to it.

My concern is that this next generation will blur the boundaries further between data-hoovering applications and the OS itself.

I could go off on one at this point about lack of proper governance and enforcement of the rules by the authorities but I wouldn't achieve anything.

Cynically related; when this video was produced it seemed a less likely future scenario than it does now, sadly.

I'll be watching developments with interest however.

[S.Crow]

When I consider how farcical Microsoft have become over the last 5 years or so, Windows 'going to 11' seems very appropriate.
I hope they hold a release party at Stonehenge.

[Dynamic Mike]

Just fired up the PC & the Windows 10 nag screen popped up telling me I can get even more features I don't want from Windows. I can unlock it with a smile (probably work better if I had a camera & something to smile about), sync with my phone, set up one drive, work seamlessly across all my devices... etc. They'd also like to remove my browsing preferences & reset them to something more amenable to Microsoft. In other words Microsoft is concerned I have data that it's not collecting & would be happier if I helped them to join the dots.

Just 2 options. Do it now. Remind me in 3 days.

[Eddy Deegan]

When I consider how farcical Microsoft have become over the last 5 years or so...

I'm no Microsoft fanboy but other than the glaringly obvious trend for inserting ads and hoovering data, which is a trait shared by all the big players unfortunately, I'm curious as to why you would use the word 'farcical'.

Their Azure cloud services are right up there with Amazon's AWS, they've made previously very expensive products such as Visual Studio available for free, they support Linux in their cloud as well as their own OS and they have contributed a lot to open source projects.

They are no angels for sure, but they are distinctly better than they were in the late '90s and early naughties, nag windows aside (for which I find "just say no" a viable strategy).

[merlyn]

... they support Linux in their cloud as well as their own OS and they have contributed a lot to open source projects.

I can't imagine Bill Gates is too happy about that. Being unkind you could see that as the final admission that Windows is crap. Instead of implementing feature parity with *nix, just run the Linux kernel. I'm sure that took a huge of amount of software engineering, but evidently less than implementing the same features in Windows.

I use open source software and I don't see Microsoft moving in as a good thing.

[OneWorld]

Just fired up the PC & the Windows 10 nag screen popped up telling me I can get even more features I don't want from Windows. I can unlock it with a smile (probably work better if I had a camera & something to smile about), sync with my phone, set up one drive, work seamlessly across all my devices... etc. They'd also like to remove my browsing preferences & reset them to something more amenable to Microsoft. In other words Microsoft is concerned I have data that it's not collecting & would be happier if I helped them to join the dots.

Just 2 options. Do it now. Remind me in 3 days.

I think the issue is, Windows Whatever remains a consumer product, it does not restrict itself to any particular user group, although I believe there are 'industry versions' with all the clap trap and flotsom and jetsom removed.

[Folderol]

I use open source software and I don't see Microsoft moving in as a good thing.

Quite. Corporations think very much in the long term. We have no idea what their plans are, but they have a very poor track record.
As they say:
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.

[Eddy Deegan]

... they support Linux in their cloud as well as their own OS and they have contributed a lot to open source projects.

I can't imagine Bill Gates is too happy about that.

What Bill Gates thinks of it is irrelevant, he's ancient history when it comes to how Microsoft operates these days and in reality he's probably fine with it anyway.

Being unkind you could see that as the final admission that Windows is crap. Instead of implementing feature parity with *nix, just run the Linux kernel. I'm sure that took a huge of amount of software engineering, but evidently less than implementing the same features in Windows.

I think you're missing the point entirely. The point isn't to provide the same features in Windows, it's to actually run Linux natively within Windows which is a different thing altogether.

Windows is its own OS. Other than the POSIX-compliant features it has why would it want to provide all the features that Linux does? There's Linux for that, and Microsoft acknowledge it - 60% of Azure marketplace images are Linux-based. As for Windows being crap, no it isn't. Not by a long shot.

You might not like it (that's fine) and some of the things Microsoft do with it annoy me intensely, but these days (and for some time now) it's an extremely stable OS with a huge amount of stuff that's actually very good in it (and some open source projects could learn a lot from it if they opened their eyes a bit) so to call it 'crap' strikes me as borderline ridiculous.

I use open source software and I don't see Microsoft moving in as a good thing.

They're not 'moving in', they're co-existing as opposed to trying to destroy. I see that as a good thing, why wouldn't you, unless you're hanging on to the rather outdated notion of Microsoft as it was 20 years ago?

[merlyn]

They're not 'moving in', they're co-existing ...

I see. I didn't realise you were privy to their corporate strategy. Microsoft recently bought GitHub. I don't know how they plan to get a return on that investment. I don't see it as in Microsoft's interests to destroy open source software, but it could be in their interests to control open source software.

[Eddy Deegan]

I think the issue is, Windows Whatever remains a consumer product, it does not restrict itself to any particular user group,

There are many editions of Windows 10 ranging from Home to Enterprise. There is also Windows Server 2019, which is definitely not aimed at the consumer market (although some run it by choice).

[Eddy Deegan]

They're not 'moving in', they're co-existing ...

I see. I didn't realise you were privy to their corporate strategy. Microsoft recently bought GitHub. I don't know how they plan to get a return on that investment. I don't see it as in Microsoft's interests to destroy open source software, but it could be in their interests to control open source software.

You're not paranoid if everyone really is out to get you

[S.Crow]

When I consider how farcical Microsoft have become over the last 5 years or so...

I'm curious as to why you would use the word 'farcical'. .

It started with Windows 8.0 for me.
That reminded me of a geek at school trying to gate-crash a party that the cool kids were holding.
He wasn’t invited but figured that if he turned up in a pair of flares that he’d become hip; he didn’t even get past the door.
I used 8.1 with Classic Shell and it was fine, but that doesn’t take away the overall farcical nature.

Windows 10 is a farce for me personally as it can’t even manage the most basic task of managing windows.
The irony of a product called Windows that can’t even manage windows properly.
The issue relates to DisplayPort and multi-monitor use, although I have the same problems when I use a single monitor which is most of the time.
There is supposedly a fix due this year and might be available already to the inner/outer ring users.
I forget as I have no intention of getting involved in those programs.
The release versions are bad enough so no way I want to touch those.

Beyond the farce there is also annoyance at the issues that I have had with W10.
I’m talking about the core O/S and seemingly not drivers or 3rd party applications.
Have had more issues with W10 in the last few years than the previous 25 years combined.
Admittedly, I used to use NT right up until Windows 2000 which I used for most of the life of XP as well.
It’s been a slow downward trend since W2000.
Plenty of good stuff added of course, but the overall trend has been downwards.

[DGL.]

Talking about MS and Linux, you will support what people want to use, easier to give them a product that works with what they gave already got than try to convince them to spend more money converting their apps to your OS.
Plus until they were told to sell it off many moons a go there was a MS version of UNIX, who supposedly at the time had more users/licences than any other version of UNIX.

[OneWorld]

It is the same with any old windows, they faff around improving what must be an inferior product (it must be inferior if it needs updating every 5 minutes) then when they have got to the point that it is perfectly acceptable, they unleash a new OS on us which eventually we have to adopt because software manufacturers make software they say won't work on old OS's I can understand that when we moved from 32bit to 64bit, but I was perfectly happy with Win7 and only went to WIn10 because Cubase/Halion demanded it

[garrettendi]

I'm still running 7, and can't be arsed to pay to upgrade... I wonder if they'll do another big free upgrades kick?

[James Perrett]

I'm still running 7, and can't be arsed to pay to upgrade... I wonder if they'll do another big free upgrades kick?

You can still upgrade for free - Microsoft haven't switched off the servers. It is possibly worth buying a spare disk and upgrading to that so that you can choose which system you run by swapping the boot disk.

[OneWorld]

Will they be giving away a free copy of imaging software with it?

[Drew Stephenson]

Will they be giving away a free copy of imaging software with it?

Why would they need to? They've already got a copy of all your information?

[ef37a]

I don't understand why so many people get so much crap from Ms? This Lenovo is on several hours a day on the net, every day and yes, I get asked to install updates but they have never caused me a problem, nothing odd has appeared in my taskbar.

Re the display port? (a 'mini' DP on this T510) I bought an adapter to feed a JVC FSTV with HDMI. Did not work. Frigged about with the laptop for quite a while then had the inspiration to power cycle the telly...BAZINGA! It worked!

Dave.

[uselessoldman]

Installed Windows 11 and up and running running everything working as usual, Liquid 56 over firewire and Behringer X32. Watch out for old motherboards it likes to have secure boot v2 or else you have to copy the install.wim into a WIndows 10 boot

[Mike Stranks]

News story here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57598554

[adrian_k]

Installed Windows 11 and up and running running everything working as usual, Liquid 56 over firewire and Behringer X32. Watch out for old motherboards it likes to have secure boot v2 or else you have to copy the install.wim into a WIndows 10 boot

How old is old? I don’t have anything newer than 10 years all running quite nicely thank you. I am not PC techy I just want things to work and preferably stay the same.

I am filled with dread.

[Mike Stranks]

Hmmm....

My PC is 8 years old and came from Scan...

The Win 11 compatibility-checker tell me that it's not compatible with Windows 11...