I responded to a post that Kari made a short time ago where he expressed some enthusiasm regarding Windows 11. In my response I noted that I too was enthusiastic about Windows 11 even if a lot of the changes were small subtle things.
Since making that post I've been thinking about this a lot more. It brought to mind something that a member of the media recently said. Bear in mind, this individual is someone who covers Microsoft for a living. He basically asserted that no one really cares what the underlying operating system is, and that the operating system is just there to facilitate the apps that a user wants to run to accomplish their daily tasks.
That statement has been grating on me for a while.
However, it was the previously mentioned posting here on ElevenForum that drove this point home to me:
Windows itself IS the app that drives my productivity. In a very real way, Windows itself is why I enjoy computing so much.
Back in the old days (think DOS), I can understand that the OS was really pretty much something that facilitated the ability to run and manage your apps and handle the file system for you and the apps. The OS itself was not something you might spend a whole lot of time using.
But that has changed.
Today, many of us run many applications at once. We need sophisticated yet simple ways to manage all those applications and switch between them. The simple keyboard shortcuts and mouse clicks we use are all handled by Windows. We rely upon security protections provided by the OS, the ability to network locally and over the Internet, if you have Windows Pro or higher you likely use tools such as Remote Desktop, Hyper-V, etc. If we are working with someone else, we might guide them to use simple bundled tools like notepad to perform simple tasks because we know that whatever their choice of apps, this is a tool every Windows user will have on their system. We might provide a user a document in PDF format because we know that the capability to read that document is baked right into the OS.
Also, so many of the facilities that apps make use of are functions built into the OS. WYSIWYG is a huge example of this. Imagine if everyone implemented this differently and it wasn't a core part of the OS?
If you think about it, the sheer amount of capability built right into the OS is amazing. I've spent a couple years alone just playing with and learning as much as I can about automating Windows installation and managing and updating Windows images. But there are so many other avenues that one could explore: PowerShell scripting, Networking, storage management, encryption - and the list goes on.
I'm pretty sure that I can safely say that for a lot of us geeks, Windows itself IS THE APP that we are most interested in. It's not Word, or Adobe Acrobat, or Macrium Reflect - Windows itself is where we spend most of our time.
After all, when I look at what the true gurus like Kari, Brink, and so many others are putting their efforts into, it is Windows. Granted, you would expect that on TenForums and ElevenForum, but I'd be willing to bet that a lot more research goes into delving deep into Windows than how to make a better looking Word document :).
But maybe that's part of the magic of Windows; for those people who really don't care about the OS, it just goes about managing things for you that you don't even think about, letting you use those apps most important to you to complete the work that you need to get done.
I sit in front of and interact with a computer for many hours. Every day. So for me, seeing changes that will improve security, enhance how Windows interacts with and manages other apps, and generally makes my work more enjoyable, that's a pretty big deal.
I'd be willing to bet that a lot of you who have joined ElevenForum already feel the same way.
Since making that post I've been thinking about this a lot more. It brought to mind something that a member of the media recently said. Bear in mind, this individual is someone who covers Microsoft for a living. He basically asserted that no one really cares what the underlying operating system is, and that the operating system is just there to facilitate the apps that a user wants to run to accomplish their daily tasks.
That statement has been grating on me for a while.
However, it was the previously mentioned posting here on ElevenForum that drove this point home to me:
Windows itself IS the app that drives my productivity. In a very real way, Windows itself is why I enjoy computing so much.
Back in the old days (think DOS), I can understand that the OS was really pretty much something that facilitated the ability to run and manage your apps and handle the file system for you and the apps. The OS itself was not something you might spend a whole lot of time using.
But that has changed.
Today, many of us run many applications at once. We need sophisticated yet simple ways to manage all those applications and switch between them. The simple keyboard shortcuts and mouse clicks we use are all handled by Windows. We rely upon security protections provided by the OS, the ability to network locally and over the Internet, if you have Windows Pro or higher you likely use tools such as Remote Desktop, Hyper-V, etc. If we are working with someone else, we might guide them to use simple bundled tools like notepad to perform simple tasks because we know that whatever their choice of apps, this is a tool every Windows user will have on their system. We might provide a user a document in PDF format because we know that the capability to read that document is baked right into the OS.
Also, so many of the facilities that apps make use of are functions built into the OS. WYSIWYG is a huge example of this. Imagine if everyone implemented this differently and it wasn't a core part of the OS?
If you think about it, the sheer amount of capability built right into the OS is amazing. I've spent a couple years alone just playing with and learning as much as I can about automating Windows installation and managing and updating Windows images. But there are so many other avenues that one could explore: PowerShell scripting, Networking, storage management, encryption - and the list goes on.
I'm pretty sure that I can safely say that for a lot of us geeks, Windows itself IS THE APP that we are most interested in. It's not Word, or Adobe Acrobat, or Macrium Reflect - Windows itself is where we spend most of our time.
After all, when I look at what the true gurus like Kari, Brink, and so many others are putting their efforts into, it is Windows. Granted, you would expect that on TenForums and ElevenForum, but I'd be willing to bet that a lot more research goes into delving deep into Windows than how to make a better looking Word document :).
But maybe that's part of the magic of Windows; for those people who really don't care about the OS, it just goes about managing things for you that you don't even think about, letting you use those apps most important to you to complete the work that you need to get done.
I sit in front of and interact with a computer for many hours. Every day. So for me, seeing changes that will improve security, enhance how Windows interacts with and manages other apps, and generally makes my work more enjoyable, that's a pretty big deal.
I'd be willing to bet that a lot of you who have joined ElevenForum already feel the same way.
My Computers
System One System Two
-
- OS
- Windows 11 Pro 22H2
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Manufacturer/Model
- Home Built
- CPU
- Intel i7-11700K
- Motherboard
- ASUS Prime Z590-A
- Memory
- 128GB Crucial Ballistix 3200MHz DRAM
- Graphics Card(s)
- No GPU - CPU graphics only (for now)
- Sound Card
- Realtek (on motherboard)
- Monitor(s) Displays
- HP Envy 32
- Screen Resolution
- 2560 x 1440
- Hard Drives
-
1 x 1TB NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD
1 x 2TB NVMe Gen 3 x 4 SSD
2 x 512GB 2.5" SSDs
2 x 8TB HD
- PSU
- Corsair HX850i
- Case
- Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
- Cooling
- Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black cooler + 10 case fans
- Keyboard
- CODE backlit mechanical keyboard
- Mouse
- Logitech MX Master 3
- Internet Speed
- 1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
- Browser
- Chromium Edge
- Antivirus
- Windows Defender
- Other Info
-
Additional options installed:
WiFi 6E PCIe adapter
ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 PCIe adapter
-
- Operating System
- Dual Boot Windows 11 Pro 22H2 and Windows 10 Pro 22H2
- Computer type
- Laptop
- Manufacturer/Model
- HP Spectre x360 15-BL012DX
- CPU
- Intel i7-7500U
- Memory
- 32GB
- Graphics card(s)
- Dual Intel HD 620 and Nvidia GeForce 940MX
- Sound Card
- Built-in Realtek HD Audio
- Monitor(s) Displays
- 4k 15-inch
- Screen Resolution
- 4k (3840 x 2160)
- Hard Drives
- 1TB Seagate FireCuda 510 NVMe SSD
- Internet Speed
- 1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
- Browser
- Chromium Edge
- Antivirus
- Windows Defender
- Other Info
- RAM Upgraded from 16GB to 32GB WiFi Upgraded from WiFi 5 to WiFi 6 SSD upgraded from 512GB NVMe SSD to 1TB Seagate FireCuda 510 NVMe SSD