Windows 11 is five years old today

Windows 11 is five years old today. On October 5, 2021, it was made available for purchase and upgrade. It has been a bit of a mixed bag of a release.

Windows 11 is a lot like the British monarch, it has two birthdays. There was its release to manufacturing (RTM) birthday, which took place on June 24. Now, it is having its general availability (GA) birthday, as of October 5. The RTM release is where Microsoft sends out a final-enough copy to manufacturers to install on laptops and PCs they plan to sell, while the GA is the release it is sold to users as a standalone product and offered for download over Windows Update.

Windows 11... it has been a bit jarring​

As far as popularity goes, Windows 11 has been a bit jarring for many people. With previous versions of Windows now phased out, many are just forced to use it. Compared to its predecessor, Windows 10, it includes massive changes such as a centered start menu. More recently, it has crammed AI features into every corner, which many people hate.

Windows 11 is seeing security transform massively​

Windows 11 has also had the misfortune of existing just at a time when the security landscape is massively changing. With many Patch Tuesday updates this year, Microsoft comes back telling us it is aware of multiple known issues. This is in part due to it patching hundreds more bugs each release. People have even accused the company of vibe coding updates, which they believe is the reason for so many things breaking.

Windows 11 ain't all bad​

At the same time, Windows 11 does do some pretty awesome things. For example, when it released version 26H2 at the end of September, it made the update quick to install. Despite being a major update, Microsoft has actually rolled out the new features as part of previous builds. The 26H2 update acted more like an enablement package, turning on a bunch of new features that were already buried in the OS.

Windows 11's biggest problem was mandating TPM 2.0​

Windows 11 certainly is not a bad release when you have a computer capable of running it comfortably. The design is quite nice, it has the reimagined start menu, and it's decent in terms of the updates it gets. Saying that, probably the most unforgivable thing with Windows 11 is the number of computers it cut off with requirements like TPM 2.0. This has essentially forced computers with more modest specs to move over to Linux or throw away the hardware. In a world where governments are telling us to be conscious of what we are throwing away, mothballing millions of computers was definitely a bad act on Microsoft’s part.

For the OEMs selling all these new computers to customers, it must have been great. For customers it sucked to throw away a decent computer just because it was missing a security chip.

At five years old, we are all starting to wonder how long Microsoft will keep going with Windows 11. If you remember, Windows 11 came out six years after Windows 10, and we are approaching that again now.

Conclusion​

It is fair to say that Windows 11 has definitely been a bit of a mixed bag as Windows releases go. What do you want to see going forward? A brand new edition of Windows, or should Microsoft just keep pushing yearly feature updates to Windows 11?

I guess that is the source:


Surprisingly on the positive side considering how Neowin usually click-baits readers with exaggerations and negativity.

Happy Birthday Win 11! It's be a rollercoaster ride with a little bit of Russian Roulette in some cases.

since moving back to Windows which was to Windows 11
so i cant compare with any past Windows version other then Windows 9x

i have had not too many problems with Windows 11 the operating system itself
and this seems to apply to my wifes system as well. no complaints overall.

best of luck Steve ..

Win 11 isn't too bad. But, the problems it does have are really annoying.
Most should never have happened in the first place.

Happy birthday Windows 11, I think. . Never had any problems with it until 25H2 when it turned into custard. Works fine with 26H2.

I've used Windows 11 for the entire five years. With the hardware and software I use, Windows 11 has been solid and reliable.