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WINDOWS 11

By Lance Whitney • Comment about this article

With Windows 11 now three years old, where does it stand today?

I’ve been running Windows 11 almost since its debut in 2021. At first, I limited it to just test environments. Slowly, I expanded its reach to my two main laptops and a couple of virtual machines. Only my desktop PC is still on Windows 10, mostly so that I can still easily access and use it. But when I replace my desktop next year, the new PC will be running Windows 11.

Here’s my take, based on my own experiences with it — and how I think Microsoft has handled it.

So if I’m using Windows 11 on almost all my main PCs, that must mean I find it a worthy upgrade to Windows 10. Hmm, not necessarily. Like most Microsoft products, it’s a mix of good and bad. There are new and improved features that I appreciate, and there are others that frustrate me.

I do like the Copilot AI integration, the snap layouts, the Snipping Tool, the tweaks to File Explorer, Phone Link’s iPhone support, the improvements to apps such as Photos and Paint, the built-in support for passkeys, and the Voice Typing. That last one came in handy this past summer after I fractured my wrist and needed voice dictation to help me work.

On the flip side, there are several things I don’t like. The Start menu is first on my hit list, which is why I typically use a Start menu replacement. The Taskbar is less flexible and customizable than its Windows 10 counterpart. Want to adopt a local account instead of a Microsoft account? Good luck with that. Certain tasks in Settings and elsewhere require more steps than they do in Windows 10. And Windows 11 imposes strict hardware requirements, forcing you to buy a new PC if you can’t upgrade your current one.

Over time, Microsoft has gradually improved Windows 11 in small and subtle ways. And I appreciate those efforts. But at this point, it still feels raw and unfinished to me, at least compared with its predecessor. Maybe it needs a few more years to mature. Or maybe it just got off to a bad start.

Right from the get-go, Windows 11 felt like it had been rushed out the door. Back in 2015, a Microsoft developer tossed off a line saying that Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows. Whether or not that statement was accurate at the time, Microsoft did roll out its new OS a few years later, much to the surprise of many Windows watchers.

And did Microsoft release Windows 11 for our benefit? No, I don’t think so. Windows 10 was — and remains — a reliable and effective operating system. Rather, I think Microsoft felt the need to rejigger PC sales and rev up users, especially in the midst of the pandemic. And by imposing such strict hardware requirements, the company knew that a lot of people who planned to upgrade would have to buy new computers.

So I have to confess that the whole push behind Windows 11 has always left a bad taste in my mouth, striking me as something consumers weren’t asking for and didn’t really need. Sure, Microsoft contends that the new security requirements were necessary to protect us against more dangerous and deceptive threats. I can’t argue with that point. But does that really require a whole new operating system?

There are ways to bypass the hardware demands through Registry tweaks and third-party tools such as Rufus so that you can upgrade an unsupported PC. But Microsoft doesn’t want you doing that. And we shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to run a version of Windows that Microsoft is essentially forcing on us in the first place.

Despite its hurdles and idiosyncrasies, Windows 11 has grown on me. With the ongoing improvements and my reliance on third-party utilities, I’m able to comfortably work and manage the OS across all my PCs. If not, then I’d still be running Windows 10 on all my systems.

However, the new flavor of Windows hasn’t quite caught on with everyone. Based on the latest stats from market researcher Statcounter, Windows 10 remains far in the lead with a 62% slice of the desktop PC market. That leaves Windows 11 with just a 35% cut. Yes, the new version has slowly been gaining traction — that 35% is up from just 27% a year ago.

I expect more people to jump to Windows 11 as we get closer to the October 2025 support cutoff for Windows 10. Still, if the new version were more widely embraced (and able to run on older PCs), its market share would be considerably higher at this point.

There are other reasons to explain the lack of enthusiasm for Windows 11. Even after three years, Microsoft can still create problems for faithful users.

Released in early October, the latest update known as Windows 11 24H2 has been saddled with a host of bugs. Microsoft’s webpage Windows 11, version 24H2 known issues and notifications keeps a running tally of the known flaws in this update. Many have forced the company to block the update for affected PCs, while several remain unresolved — even after two months on the list.

So far, Microsoft has issued two patches- — one in October and another in November. The October update resolved some bugs but created new ones. The November update fixed many, but certainly not all, the major glitches. Since then, further issues have popped up.

I installed the 24H2 update on one of my Windows 11 test laptops. I didn’t run into any of the major bugs acknowledged by Microsoft. But I did bump into a few of my own. A calendar and contact-syncing program I use called Sync2 Cloud refused to run. Two driver updates from Intel kept failing when I tried to install them. Connecting to the PC via Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection didn’t always work the first time around. Though this was a test PC, I decided to roll it back to its pre-update stage.

I’ve been installing each major Windows 11 update since 2022. I don’t recall an update with as many bugs as the 24H2 edition. That could be because this is a major OS overwrite, which means the entire operating system is overwritten with a new version rather than just receiving new features on top of the existing OS.

As they say, your mileage may vary. You may be able to install and use Windows 11 24H2 without any hiccups. But I think it’s going to take Microsoft some time to stabilize this update for all the people and PCs affected by the bugs. Until that happens, I advise you to stay away from this version and stick with your current flavor of Windows 11. I must say that this whole buggy debacle with the 2024 update has soured me on Windows 11 as of late. It still seems like Microsoft continues to mismanage the rollout.

And what about the future? Come October of next year, Windows 10 will be persona non grata as far as patches, bug fixes, and other updates from Microsoft are concerned. I don’t recommend running an unsupported and unprotected version of Windows, so I do urge people to upgrade to Windows 11 before that deadline hits.

My hope here is that Microsoft will refine and enhance Windows 11 to the point where the bugs are less frequent, the OS is less raw, and the things we currently don’t like are more likable. And though a Windows 12 would certainly give me a lot of new things to write about, I hope that Windows 11 sticks around for a while.

With the Windows 10 October support deadline in mind, I’d like to see Windows 11 get the chance to grow and flourish into something that more people will want to use — and not just have to use.

Contribute your thoughts in this article’s forum!

Lance Whitney is a freelance technology reporter and former IT professional. He’s written for CNET, TechRepublic, PC Magazine, and other publications. He’s authored a book on Windows and another about LinkedIn.

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