This difference captures so much...

I recently setup a minecraft server on an old windows machine and had a hard time setting it to never restart automatically. After reading some support forums I found the menu to control when it restarts but still didnt see an option to completely stop it.

Eventually I found a way that I can't even recall at this point.

I find the idea of people upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 7 sad and hilarious in equal measure.

Now they have no incentive to make good upgrades. Instead, they are only incentivized to add privacy-compromising services that nobody wants or asked for.

I can't tolerate windows. I put up with 10 for a while then went back to 7. 7 was good. Then some stuff wasn't supported so I moved to 11. Couldn't do it. I'd get random garbage like a notification for some "grand prize giveaway". I legit thought I'd gotten adware installed somehow. Nope, official Microsoft notification! Want to configure the system at all? Keep defender from trashing your CPU for fifteen minutes after you compile something? Stop auto-restarts that close everything? Use actual sleep not the weird "connected sleep" nonsense? Tough, you don't get to. If you do it anyway it will revert after your next update (mandatory btw!) or sometimes just at random.

I can't remember a version since 7 that doesn't make me feel like I'm in a bazaar being accosted by freaking rug merchants.

I used to hate macs. I switched to a macbook. I am much happier now despite the occasional annoyances.

I think it was windows 8 or 10 that introduced the new menus which I found somehow both too simplistic and harder to navigate. And then sometimes you get lucky and figure out a way to open the old menus to do what you actually want.

I think Windows 7 was my favorite as well.

I use macOS now and basically hate it.

(but to be honest I have never used Windows 11 and barely used 10)

(EDIT: Actually maybe it was Vista that introduced the inexplicable massive installation size bloat? My memory is fuzzy there)

This was fixed in 2010, about 15 years ago. And it's still the nicest looking UI of any desktop OS to this date:

https://www.deviantart.com/zainadeel/art/Shine-2-0-for-Windo...

It's what "liquid glass" wishes to be.

Unfortunately, some of us have to be able to actually get work done in our corporate environments.

The initial trigger was their Telemetry you cannot switch off. That stuff had a huge extremely negative press exposure for many months.

W11 is basically burned.

There's the obvious telemetry, MS account requirement for home editions, and other MS dark patterns for one.

But, Windows 11 performance is still crap compared to 10, and even 7. The right click menu in explorer is still high latency, and if you have a lot of extensions, you see "loading..." and it can take a good full second for all menu options to show up. Also, you still can't move the task bar, search is as garbage as ever (but honestly that's expected from Windows at this point).

Windows 11 does have some nice features, especially once combined with PowerToys. I still prefer the way Windows manages Windows compared to my mac which I need 3 third party apps at this point to make usable, and WSL2 is neat, windows has native SSH now, etc.

It could be a great OS if Microsoft could get their heads out of their rears and fix the performance issues, and stop with the advertising, telemetry and dark patterns.

Also just lack of attention to detail. e.g. if you start to search in the start menu and then delete what you typed, you don't get the base menu back; you get "suggestions". So e.g. if you search for "power" or "shutdown" to power off, don't see it as a result, and delete your search, the power button won't be there anymore. You have to close the start menu and open it again to find it. Completely ridiculous design (KDE by contrast has the button and finds the action as a search result with both of those search terms).

No serious effort went into consumer desktop Windows in the past 10 years, most of the upgrades are for Windows Server, Azure and Xbox OS. Windows 8 was their last real attempt and they gave up immediately.

The right click menu in explorer is oversimplified garbage that's missing most of the important options without an extra, unnecessary click.

The settings systems still aren't unified, meaning you have to check AT LEAST two places before you find the right settings menu half the time. Sometimes 3.

It takes double the memory it should for something so simple.

Windows explorer in task manager still needs to have the special "restart task" option, specifically because they know it's going to crash a high percentage of the time you use it.

It spies on you with over-intrusive telemetry.

It advertises to you, even though you are (ostensibly) the customer.

It tries to force the Microsoft account.

It tries to force OneDrive.

It tries to force Edge.

Every update resets half my settings that I spent hours configuring.

The updates are often forced on you. I'm not a child. Let ME decide my risk appetite.

It forces their crummy AI into EVERYTHING, and makes you opt out if you don't want all your data hoovered up.

Everything is named poorly and confusingly on purpose. How many damned things are named "Copilot" now? What is Office even called these days?