No, no, no on Windows 11

by philg

Today is the official launch of Microsoft’s Windows 11. How’s my $2,500 state-of-the-art-in-2015 PC doing with the new software? Here’s the report from PC Health Check:

I thought that I had filled out all of my TPS reports, but apparently there is no Trusted Platform Module in my PC. This is because the idea is new? I think it goes back to 1986 when IBM Watson developed ABYSS (1990 paper), in which a secure coprocessor decrypts software before it is run, first checking to see if the user has the right to execute the code (the ultimate copy protection hammer!).

Who here is actually running Windows 11? Is it a whole new world of awesomeness that would justify days of pain to set up a new PC, transfer applications from the old PC, move hard drives, etc.? And how many kidneys would I have to donate to get a GPU? Just one? Or two and then go on dialysis?

16 thoughts on “No, no, no on Windows 11”

  1. I am not running it yet, but I guess I’m eventually going to be forced to. Back on August 2, ZDNet ran the following article:

    “Microsoft tried to explain the joys of Windows 11. Customers weren’t happy.”

    https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-tried-to-explain-the-joys-of-windows-11-customers-werent-happy/

    I commented thusly (and it was apparently “liked” by someone who has been around the block a few dozen hundred times):

    “OldEngineer liked your comment on Microsoft tried to explain the joys of Windows 11. Customers weren’t happy:

    “Microsoft always looks like a high-functioning Asperger’s company when it rolls out questionable new products – some things never change, even when they have blondes doing the spiel. What I wish *would* change, though, is the practice of using the word “took” with “decisions” in writing intended for an audience in the United States. We say *made.* Microsoft *made* these decisions, and they *made* you live with them, and they are *making* you spend the money. Over and out.”

  3. For personal computers, updating an OS on existing hardware has always been more pain than the benefit. It will be (perhaps a lot) slower, you’ll find software incompatibilities with your existing software, you’ll run into driver issues.
    Not everyone agrees on this, but that’s my take, as someone who doesn’t enjoy fiddling with computer setup.

  4. Well, at least the upshot is that there should be a ton of great deals on new-ish laptops and PCs available through reman. and recycle sites, at least until everyone is forced to upgrade. Win10 End of Life is October 14, 2025 and the near future should hold some great hardware deals – unless you must run programs that require TPM 2.0 through an auto-update, etc. My guess is that the *gamers* will be forced to use it first, but maybe also people running Adobe Creative Cloud and higher-end software for graphics, CAD and so forth.

    • And I’ll show my ignorance: I don’t understand the need for TPM 2.0, especially on SAAS software like Adobe Creative Cloud -every time you use it, you have to be logged into Adobe’s servers and with a bit of clever programming the unique “fingerprint” of the end-user’s machine can be established – but maybe Microsoft is telling everyone: “That’s already been subverted.”

      Maybe someone here has a good explanation of why MS thinks TPM 2.0 is necessary going forward?

    • During all my recent experiences with doctors and hospitals in various places, I have noticed that most of the PCs they use are Win10 boxes that are probably not Win 11 compliant, and they’re all running software like EPIC and so forth where patient records and treatment are managed. Modern doctors and Nurse Practitioners and even the folks who schedule the appointments and take your blood pressure are all using Win10 PCs that are probably are not Win11 compliant. I guess this means that every health care facility in the United States is going to have to rip out all that hardware, sell it through government auction websites, and install new boxes with meticulously wrapped cables on expensive carts and mounted to the walls, etc., etc., etc. at astronomical cost.

      Sounds like a plan to me!

  5. Nobody here has run Windows 11?!? Surely at least someone must have beaten the Bitcoin miners to the graphics card supply and obtained a PC within the past few years.

  8. I’ve been running the beta of Windows 11 on my Surface Pro X, an ARM-based two-in-one, for three months. No issues, but I won’t be home to update to the release software for a few weeks. This is circa-2019 hardware.

    It’s pretty, and seems more coherent with fewer vestiges of legacy Windows. Would I buy a new PC for it? At this point, no. Once they get the subsystem for Android apps fully implemented, probably.

  9. So far, i cant think of a Windows operating system I could call appealing after the year 2000.
    Havent enjoyed any changes. Consistantly their is loss of user control and functionality.

  11. You probably have TPM on your PC (at least a firmware based TPM if not a dedicated module). You need to go into BIOS and enable it. For your intel based processor, it is possibly under PTT section.

  12. I tried Windows 11 briefly when it was offered through Windows update. I figured why not give it a try. I lasted a couple days with it going through the paces to see how well it worked. I honestly felt like I needed more effort to work within Windows 11 then 10. In several ways Microsoft has dumbed down and stripped out a lot of features in Windows 11. Not so much it is irritating but still it makes you question why Microsoft did it?? After a couple days I decided it wasn’t worth it and moved back to Windows 10. Maybe at some point Windows 11 will have a compelling reason to upgrade. But right now its just not that impressive.

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