THIS video serves several purposes: firstly, to remedy the mistakes I made in my first.
But secondly, to ask the question: ‘How do YOU use an Operating System?’ Because
at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.
So first I’d like to correct the mistakes I made with my first video. I was wrong about
renaming files being harder in Windows 11. It’s actually better, now- I was sticking
to my old habit of right-clicking, then looking for the ‘rename’ option which now involves
the extra step of going down to ‘Show more options’ before it appears. And when I discovered
this, I reached the conclusion that it had been made harder to rename files. But, as
THOUSANDS of people have pointed out… it isn’t. I could have slowly double-clicked
on the item I wanted to rename instead- although that feels a bit approximate, especially given
the delay that I experience in Windows 11. The best solution is just to press F2, which
I really like and will be doing in future. Or, I could have clicked the new RENAME icon,
which my brain simply didn’t acknowledge as being ‘rename’! More on this later.
And I said there wasn’t support for Whatsapp on Windows, and while there IS… I’m sticking
to what I said about this, because it doesn’t exist in the manner in which I’d want to
use it. More on this later, too. I believe everything else I said about Windows
11 remains true- I tried it for 40 days, and while I know we’ll all be using it in the
future, right now I considered it to be lacking any exciting new features, and is still a
bit buggy and rough around the edges. I thought that was a perfectly reasonable
conclusion to reach, and acceptable while the software’s in beta stage. However, that
video left some people angry and upset. Some were so dismayed by my opinions that they
took to my business email to tell me that I’m a bad, bad man! Very clearly, my mixed
response to Windows 11 was deemed offensive, and triggered people, who have been left crying
and shaking. I think the most common thing I heard is that,
if a product has ‘beta’ slapped on it then it should be immune to criticism. Which
is ridiculous- it’s in beta stage where the most change to it can and will be made,
and so it’s more important than ever that I highlight where I felt it was lacking and
what I’d like to see added to it in the future!
Take a load of this guy, who is telling me that I shouldn’t test out an operating system
unless I’m going to… test it out, and, because I reached the conclusion that it’s
not as good as Windows 10, I… shouldn’t have tried it in the first place????????????????????????
Any way, in case you agree with… this, I’ll explain why I tried it out. I like to try
new stuff because it’s the best way to learn and to improve my understanding of stuff.
It’s how I discover new ways of doing things that may or may not benefit me to use in the
future. But I only know once I’ve tried it out!
Anybody with the slightest interest in technology is curious about what a new Operating System
is like. It’s something we’ve all used for countless years, so of course we’re
going to be interested in a new one. To experience it before release, and to watch it develop
over time into a polished, working piece of software. If it turns out to be great, then
it’s paid off already and I’ll continue to use it. As the case was, it’s usable
but not good enough for me to stick with right now, so I got a video out of it and will be
returning to Windows 10 until sometime in the future. And, if it turned out to be a
complete disaster, well, that would have been a great video too. And I can always reformat
back to Windows 10 again- a process that I’ve got down to about 2 hours now.
Something I’ve been curious about is: ‘who tests beta software?’ If everybody has the
mindset of this guy then I guess it’ll never be tested. An Operating System isn’t just
something you can install and click about in- testing an Operating System involves you
USING it, the way you intend to. So there is a bit of a leap into the unknown. As he
so eloquently puts it: ‘It’s for those who want to test the features and provide
feedback to Windows team’. Which brings me onto the last, and most important
bit of this video: ‘How do YOU use an Operating System?’ Because we all know how to use
one, but I don’t think we know how OTHER people use them. The only time I see somebody
else using Windows is when I’m helping them with a problem they’re having with it, so
I’m often dealing with people who don’t know the software that well. What I DON’T
normally see is experienced people using it. Because why would I. If you watched to the
end of my Windows 11 video then you’d have heard me go on about how ‘personal’ and
‘vulnerable’ it feels to be showing the world how I use Windows. Because, even though
I’ve used it to create thousands of things, even though I know the software well… I
still didn’t know that F2 could be used to rename stuff! And I wouldn’t have done
had I not made that video, and had hundreds of you explain your various methods of renaming
files to me. Amusingly a debate in the comments section
broke out over which method of renaming was best. Obviously, mine wasn’t going to win
any prizes, but it looks like I’d have been corrected no matter which option I’d have
used.
Don’t think you’re immune to it. I’m sure there are simple things that YOU don’t
know about the software you’re using. Even software you think you’re super familiar
with! I have reasons for why I didn’t know about F2. Believe me- I’ll be using it in
future. But looking at my time with Windows, I don’t think it’s too absurd that I didn’t
know about it. Because, until Windows 11, right-clicking
on something and selecting ‘rename’ wasn’t quite enough hassle to force me to find a
better alternative! It’s annoying to rename bulk files, but I seldom had to do that, and
in general I only have to rename 1 or 2 files at a time- which doesn’t take long enough
to REQUIRE a better method of doing it. It’s only because they hid the option I’m used
to behind an extra click that it reached the point where I became frustrated enough about
it to mention it. So that’s great. And you can call me an idiot for not recognising this
icon as being the ‘rename’ one, but… that’s testing for you. And it’s good
feedback for Microsoft that I, some one who IS experienced with Windows, I still didn’t
notice the new renaming icon, even after 40 days.
I acknowledge I was doing it wrong, and I will be doing it right in future. But it’s
helped show ME how I use an Operating System, and the shortcomings of my methods.
Whatsapp is another example. You won’t believe this, but I DID know about the web app. I
didn’t know you could download it, but even now I have, it still isn’t fit for purpose.
I think some people use a PC just to browse the internet. For those people, having Whatsapp
open in a tab might be a good solution. I do a lot of desktop stuff, and I want as little
distraction as possible while still being notified about things.
So I downloaded the Whatsapp desktop app from the website and set it up. And it looks like
it’s one of those programs that closes when you close it. And it doesn’t show up in
the bottom right hand corner of the screen. So for those reasons, it doesn’t do what
I want it to. I don’t want it taking up space along the bottom of my taskbar. I instinctively
close things there when I’m not using them because that’s how I like to use Windows.
So yeah, I use this space for viewing what I’m currently doing, I like to only have
the programs I’m currently using along the bottom, and then for notifications from discord
and Whatsapp to be quietly shown down here. I think this way of using Windows goes back
a long way, back as far as XP or possibly earlier still. Younger people may not have
these habits. I’ve noticed a trend in newer versions of Windows to want to show programs
along the taskbar even when they’re not in use, which I greatly dislike. And I’m
resistant to that sort of change.
So that’s how I use my Operating System. I’ve never had to think about this before-
and now I am, I can see that the way I use Windows is messy- it’s common for there
to be 2 different icons for the SAME program, at the same time, but in different places
on the screen! I have discord here, AND here. There’s got to be a more elegant solution!
Maybe I don’t mind unopened programs being visible along the bottom- I just have issue
with them being on the left, which mixes them up with the programs I DO have open. It would
be cool to have a system where, when discord’s running in the background, the icon shows
up in the bottom right corner, then when I click on it and it opens up Discord, it moves
from the right-hand side of the screen and to the left, joining the rest of the programs
I have open in the taskbar.
I think that would be cool. But I try to give the systems in Windows 11 a chance. I try
to be patient about change. Because I don’t want to become one of those old people who
complains about how everything used to be better. And because I see the benefit of becoming
more productive IF the new way of doing things is objectively better. I just don’t want
change for the sake of change- or worse still- to copy Apple. But getting used to new stuff
is HARD! Because, having made my own games, I know how STUPID people are! Even the smart
ones. Having made it, I go into the game with hundreds of hours of experience, and an excellent
knowledge of the game’s mechanics. But I only have to watch somebody playing it for
the first time to see how bad they are- and more specifically, how unintuitive my game
is! Players won’t understand that thing over there is a save point. They won’t understand
that a certain weapon is good against a certain foe. They might not even notice that door
over there that they’re meant to go through. Watching people play a game for the first
time is INFURIATING. With Windows 11, I am now that stupid person bumping around and
missing obvious stuff. It’s just that, with the renaming of files, I just happened to
miss a particularly obvious thing, then still managing to make progress, assumed I was doing
it the way I was meant to.
With hindsight, I appreciate what Microsoft has done here- they’re working to improve
the right-click menu, but are keeping the old one as a backup JUST IN CASE something
goes wrong with the new design. I just hope, when they see me completely ignoring the new
‘rename’ icon, they know it’s because I didn’t notice it, and not that I stubbornly
stick to my old methods despite it. In case you’re listening, Microsoft, perhaps
you could swap out the old style of right-click menu for a radial system so you can do the
most common shortcuts in a simple right-click flick instead of having to click, aim and
click again.
I was wrong about some of the stuff in Windows 11. But that video still stands. It remains
my first impressions of Windows 11, and my thoughts about it. I still think I was fair
and objective with what I said. I acknowledged it was a beta. I knew what I had signed up
for, and the points I made weren’t intended as damning criticism of Windows 11, but just
my impressions about it, in this early stage. I try to be open and accepting of improvements
and changes!
So onto the future! I will not be impressed if the taskbar icons remain condensed because
that is negatively impacting my experience, even after trying them for over a month. I
eventually installed a third-party program to return it more to how it was in Windows
10, and when those taskbars became stretched again I felt considerable RELIEF! That’s
not good. That shouldn’t be how I feel when I return to the older way of doing things!
Of course, there’s no point in trying the beta if I’m just going to throw a third
party program over the top of it, which is why I’ll be returning to Windows 10 for
now. I still don’t understand the need to get
emotional about what I said in my main Windows 11 video. It was me, reporting on my first
impressions of the new Operating System. And while I wasn’t the most positive about it,
it was far from being an angry rant. I think I was quite objective about it, even if I
did get it wrong about the renaming of items, which I hope this video has addressed.
Please, take these videos for what they are. I’m not calling Windows 11 a disaster, I’m
just disappointed there isn’t more to it at this early stage. Like I said in my main
video- you’d think, for a new version of Windows, that there would be some key, core
change to it- if the benefits of Windows 11 are going to be added later, with just months
to go before official release, they why couldn’t they just have added these new features to
Windows 10 instead? Windows 11 was alpha when I started with it, and now it’s in beta.
I will stress again that there will be more polish and fewer bugs to it as time goes on,
but at this point, I’m yet to see why a new version of Windows was required. And normally
I can find a reason, even if it’s a flimsy one.
For instance: I saw the move to Vista as being one of the
biggest leaps for Windows ever. I always saw it as being when they did away with ancient
code that was starting to creak under the weight of everything that had been built on
top of it. With Vista, the foundations were replaced and re-written to a modern standard
to be a lot more secure, going forward. Of course, such a big change came with HUGE bugs
and compatibility issues, and its bloated user interface caused it to perform poorly
on many older or slower systems. I always saw Windows 7 as being Vista, but
with years’ worth of updates and patches. Windows 7 was their way of distancing themselves
from the Vista name and reputation, though in practice I felt little difference between
that an a mature build of Vista. Windows 7 was kind of like the new XP, where Microsoft
had finally got their Operating System to a polished and reliable standard, compared
with that which came before. Windows 8 was a mis-step, designed too closely
around mobile devices and nobody liked it. So Windows 10 was them moving away from the
disaster that was 8, by returning back to what worked with Windows 7, but with a slightly
different (darker) look, and a better start menu. I didn’t notice much else about it
if I’m honest. But Windows 11? I don’t know what this is
at the moment- or what separates it from what came before. I’m still waiting for a reason
for this to exist. I’ve noticed them shifting to a subscription model with their other software,
so I’m worrying that Windows 11 is them realising that Windows 10 was too good a deal,
and that this new version of Windows will push for an annual subscription model or something
like that. Again, too early to tell, but this is just something I’m keeping an eye on.
Because I hate subscriptions. So what do you think? And how do YOU use Windows?
Comment below and don’t forget to SMASH