Microsoft explains why corporations and IT pros can switch to Windows 11 with confidence

A

Alfonso Maruccia

Posts: 1,143   +337
Staff
TL;DR: Nearly three years after its debut, Windows 11 isn't exactly the most popular (or loved) operating system among PC users. As such, Microsoft is now trying to market the OS to IT professionals and enterprise organizations, which should have a more effortless transition from Windows 10.

Windows 11 isn't selling well, and Microsoft desperately needs new ideas to bring its latest OS to more customers. According to a recent post by Windows senior product marketing manager Harjit Dhaliwal, switching to Windows 11 is one of the easiest upgrades IT professionals can give a company's PC fleet.

Dhaliwal tries dispelling some myths about the cloud-native management paradigm while addressing common questions about Windows 11. He offers IT pros first-hand information to help them mitigate the risks of the seemingly daunting task of switching to the latest edition of Windows company-wide and going full cloud.

The post discusses five "misconceptions" about Windows 11 and the cloud, starting with the idea that Windows 11 deployment can only be done from a cloud-native position. Administrators can quickly deploy Windows 11 with "minimal effort" and limited impact on employees. Microsoft even offers tools like Windows Autopatch to make the transition to the cloud highly enticing to organizations.

Obviously, Dhaliwal wants to sell the idea that managing an organization using Microsoft's cloud services is the best way to enjoy a modern Windows experience, with custom levels of controls on patches and updates. Moving an entire organization to the cloud can take time, but it shouldn't keep admins from transitioning Windows 10 clients to Windows 11.

Another misconception Dhaliwal points out is the big, scary "name change" from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Moving from Windows 10 to 11 is a different experience than transitioning from XP to Windows 7. Microsoft built Windows 11 on the bones of Windows 10. Application compatibility is a non-issue, so admins can treat the upgrade as a simple, quick, and secure Windows 10 feature update.

Microsoft noted a 99.7 percent compatibility level for applications, meaning that software designed to run on Windows 10 will most likely keep running without issues on Windows 11. Companies can be "confident" that IT staff will not endure the pain they experienced during the upgrade to Windows 10.

Dhaliwal also downplayed the most common complaints with Windows 11, primarily the new user interface, the Start Menu, and the Taskbar. He said the revamped interface provides a much better experience on widescreen monitors, and the feedback from business customers has been "fantastic." Managing different Windows versions while switching to Windows 11 can increase costs, but there are ways and (cloud native) tools to minimize the expense and productivity loss.

Permalink to story:

Microsoft explains why corporations and IT pros can switch to Windows 11 with confidence

 
"Windows 11 isn't selling well, and Microsoft desperately needs new ideas to bring its latest OS to more customers."

Easy: remove TPM requirement. That will bring over lots. I have hundreds of 6th & 7th gen Intel Core computers that aren't going to work with Windows 11. While I am planning on replacements since we'll NEED to upgrade to Win11 next October, it totally sucks because these computers still work totally fine for what the users need (checking email, browsing the web, running office apps). Also, I know there are workarounds to this requirement, so it shouldn't be a requirement, but also I've tried these and had problems with Windows updates. So... it's dumb.
 
  • Like
Reactions: koohansen, J95qRP7, daffy duck and 8 others
antiproduct said:
"Windows 11 isn't selling well, and Microsoft desperately needs new ideas to bring its latest OS to more customers."

Easy: remove TPM requirement. That will bring over lots. I have hundreds of 6th & 7th gen Intel Core computers that aren't going to work with Windows 11. While I am planning on replacements since we'll NEED to upgrade to Win11 next October, it totally sucks because these computers still work totally fine for what the users need (checking email, browsing the web, running office apps). Also, I know there are workarounds to this requirement, so it shouldn't be a requirement, but also I've tried these and had problems with Windows updates. So... it's dumb.
Click to expand...

I was about to say the same, but you beat me to it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: brucek, Theinsanegamer and BlueSkyGuy
They make lots of improvements and cancel out the benefits with bugs and poor performance. Just look at file explorer, MS finally added tabs but it doesn't refresh the file list, it's slow, and it crashes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: seeprime and Squuiid
He admits its basically the same software while ignoring that it artificially doesn't support the hardware the enterprises already own and see no need to replace. Was he also on the same team that was surprised by the less-than-enthusiastic reception to Recall?
 
  • Like
Reactions: J95qRP7, daffy duck, Godel and 2 others
Alfonso Maruccia said:
Microsoft built Windows 11 on the bones of Windows 10. Application compatibility is a non-issue, so admins can treat the upgrade as a simple, quick, and secure Windows 10 feature update.
Click to expand...
So Microsoft can develop security and feature updates to Windows 10 simply and quickly, too. They won't for no good reason other than $$$, and everybody knows it.

Ditto to what the other commenters have said.
 
UI in 11 is still painfully slow. No way to put spin on that. Even some of their old devs are surprised by the extremely poor UI performance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sir Sparkles
antiproduct said:
"Windows 11 isn't selling well, and Microsoft desperately needs new ideas to bring its latest OS to more customers."

Easy: remove TPM requirement. That will bring over lots. I have hundreds of 6th & 7th gen Intel Core computers that aren't going to work with Windows 11. While I am planning on replacements since we'll NEED to upgrade to Win11 next October, it totally sucks because these computers still work totally fine for what the users need (checking email, browsing the web, running office apps). Also, I know there are workarounds to this requirement, so it shouldn't be a requirement, but also I've tried these and had problems with Windows updates. So... it's dumb.
Click to expand...

Unless those mobo's you used don't have the TPM socket on them why not just buy a bunch of TPM2.0 plugin devices for those PC's from this list https://www.tomshardware.com/news/where-to-buy-tpm-2.0-for-windows-11
 
I don't "hate" the UI in 11, but I PREFER the 7 UI. Using programs like open shell
and a few reg tweaks, it's more like 7, which I think was the better interface.
 
I'm going to experiment with a no TPM check version of 11 Pro lite on my second PC. Time is ticking on 10 which is causing me angst as I don't really believe Linux is the answer as so many of the photo apps I use are not supported natively and I'm not using emulation full stop.

Switching to Apple is not an option outside a laptop, I will never buy into a system where I can't build my own PC or use a discrete gpu. ARM is not the answer either for same reasons.

Microsoft really makes me sick at the moment and why we should never allowed such a giant monopoly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LimyG and Underdog
antiproduct said:
"Windows 11 isn't selling well, and Microsoft desperately needs new ideas to bring its latest OS to more customers."

Easy: remove TPM requirement. That will bring over lots. I have hundreds of 6th & 7th gen Intel Core computers that aren't going to work with Windows 11. While I am planning on replacements since we'll NEED to upgrade to Win11 next October, it totally sucks because these computers still work totally fine for what the users need (checking email, browsing the web, running office apps). Also, I know there are workarounds to this requirement, so it shouldn't be a requirement, but also I've tried these and had problems with Windows updates. So... it's dumb.
Click to expand...
fyi, tpm 1.2 uses vulnerable sha1 hash.

tpm is used to store important encryption keys, such as bitlocker keys (to allow non password unlock), private keys of corporate client certificate, etc.

some people may say bitlocker is not secure but it's much more secure than not having storage encryption at all.
unless you use opal ssd (which usually more expensive than regular ssd), bitlocker is the feasible free alternative
 
  • Like
Reactions: antiproduct
umeng2002 said:
Odd. He didn't mention any of the real concerns like spying and data privacy... odd...
Click to expand...

And the fact that they are transitioning away from self publishing on windows and that you will have to go through MS to get verified. Very soon they will block you if they do not like you.

Wonder where we saw that previously?
 
  • Like
Reactions: LimyG
Athlonite said:
Unless those mobo's you used don't have the TPM socket on them why not just buy a bunch of TPM2.0 plugin devices for those PC's from this list https://www.tomshardware.com/news/where-to-buy-tpm-2.0-for-windows-11
Click to expand...
If it were like that there would be a lot less frustration towards Windows 11's hardware requirements. What is actually happening is MS is only giving a list of CPUs rather than a list of features as requirements for W11. As a result there is no way of knowing that a system with a hardware tpm 2.0 module won't suddenly become unbootable after an update. There are infact some non-tpm ISA differences between the supported and unsupported chips but they are only used in niche Windows features that have not impacted any who has bypassed the CPU check. Features which by the way are also in W10 and work with the older CPUs there. Plus there are a handful of chips not on the supported list that are feature identical to ones on the list (Ryzen 1600AF is feature identical to the 2600) and because they have been using whitelists we don't know if they will work in the future either. So M$ is basically forcing companies to replace PCs, potentially with all the capabilities W11 will ever actually need, because of FUD regarding whether half their PCs will just stop booting all at the same time.
 
antiproduct said:
"Windows 11 isn't selling well, and Microsoft desperately needs new ideas to bring its latest OS to more customers."

Easy: remove TPM requirement. That will bring over lots. I have hundreds of 6th & 7th gen Intel Core computers that aren't going to work with Windows 11. While I am planning on replacements since we'll NEED to upgrade to Win11 next October, it totally sucks because these computers still work totally fine for what the users need (checking email, browsing the web, running office apps). Also, I know there are workarounds to this requirement, so it shouldn't be a requirement, but also I've tried these and had problems with Windows updates. So... it's dumb.
Click to expand...
Agreed. We're in the same situation except that we're planning to switch to an Ubuntu distro for all production machines. MS has lost our trust. No way we're letting them force our capital decisions.
 
1. Security. 2. Security. 3. Trust. 4. Data collection.

Seems they pretty much ignore the most important fundamentals. Keep all this Recall, and other pretty bells and whistles.

A solid, secure OS as the foundation is what's needed first. It's what they don't seem too concerned about.
Pathetic company.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

midian182
Microsoft pauses rollout of Windows 11 24H2 preview build after announcing Recall changes
Replies
3
Views
93
ZedRM
ZedRM
midian182
AMD drops Windows 10 support for new Strix Point Ryzen AI 300 chips
Replies
14
Views
169
Maythesuneshine
M
D
Microsoft keeps testing new features for Windows 10 ahead of its scheduled end of life next year
Replies
7
Views
156
Gezzer
G

Latest posts

Back