I’ve already shared my thoughts on Windows 11, but that was pre-release. This is now.
WARNING: May contain language not suitable for intelligent people.
What I like about Windows 11
Pretty much the same as my previous post. The user interface is nice. It’s clean. It’s refined. It’s fresh. It’s a lot like MacOS, and I don’t even use a Mac (my son uses Mac exclusively, and loves to joke about Windows 11 now).
The new Settings app is finally what it should’ve been from day one with Windows 10. It looks like it was kidnapped in a white van from camp Linux, but it’s really nice. I like it.
The centered taskbar is not really a deal-breaker for me. I know some people hate it, but I just don’t care if the icons are in the middle or to the left/right/top/bottom, etc. But if you want some (really nice) PowerShell help with the UI, check out CustomizeWindows11 by Jaap Brasser. (Install-Module CustomizeWindows11).
“Windows Terminal” has replaced “Windows PowerShell” as the default Start menu right-click option. I like Terminal a lot.
Finally! The “Enterprise” SKU doesn’t install a bunch of stupid games like Windows 10 did early on (Candy Crush, etc.) Someone finally listened to the business customers.
What I don’t like about it
It’s still version 10.x (10.0.22000 to be exact). As if vendors can’t do the ($version -ge 10.0) math? Why?
PowerShell 5.1 is the only version installed by default. Why?
The same old prompt to run “Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -MinimumVersion 2.8.5.201 -Force”. I tweeted that this is like selling cars with 1 lug nut missing on each wheel, every single year, and requiring buyers to install the nuts themselves. This is approaching government-level stupidity. Why?
TLS is still “SystemDefault”, not 1.2. Shouldn’t it default to 1.2 and let customers downgrade if needed? I thought “security” is a major selling point of this version.
PowerShell still isn’t woven into the fabric of the UX, it’s still an add-on. For example, in some apps like SSMS, you can right-click and generate a script of a desired action (create, delete, etc.), but why not in Explorer, REGEDIT, or Event Viewer? Frivolous? Maybe. But still… aside from die-hard PowerShell geeks, how much cumulative time is spent every year by users Google searching how to update a registry value, or export event log search results.
WinGet is flaky. Yes, flaky. Consider item 1, your honor:
winget install --name notepad++ This did not work.
This returns an error that there are “Multiple packages found matching input criteria”. No, there are not. There is only one with name “Notepad++”. The other is “Notepad+” (one plus sign). You have to use –id notepad++.notepad++ (kind of like Little Caesar’s pizza pizza) for this one. This tells me that the input filter handler is flawed (defaulting to regex or something that’s not swallowing the “++” properly).
Also, silent installs are NOT the default. You will need to be careful to add –silent, and possibly –accept-package-agreements, and –accept-source-agreements. The default appears to be what MSI folks would use as /qb! (basic w/no cancel).
The winget silent install command that worked for me
winget install --id notepad++.notepad++ --silent --accept-package-agreementsI’m aware this is nit-picky, but Chocolatey (my favorite package manager so far) doesn’t have this issue. The corresponding command to run a silent install of Notepad++ with Chocolatey is
cinst notepad++ -yThe other complaints I mentioned in the previous blog post still stand. For example,
- No “Edit” option on right-click menus for PowerShell scripts. Why?
- File extensions are still hidden by default. Why?
And speaking of hidden file extensions: It’s time once again for…
Exam Question of the Day
You call a (non-technical) user to advise them to perform certain actions while troubleshooting an issue on their shiny-new Windows 11 laptop. You have to speak loudly to overcome the sounds of cats on their end.
You: “I need you to edit the PowerShell script I just copied to your Documents folder. It’s named ‘Sample.ps1′” (see Figure 1)
Them: “Ok, How do I edit it?”
You: “Right-click on it and choose ‘Edit'”
Them: “There is no ‘Edit’. Should I use ‘Open’?”
You: “No!!!!!!!!! It’s got to be modified before you run it!”
Them: “I don’t like your tone. I’m hanging up and calling HR.”
You: (starts working on resume and updating LinkedIn profile)
Try this again…
You: “No. Just right-click on the one without an extension on the name.”
Them: “What’s an extension?”
You: (rubbing your temples with a 9mm and a glass of whiskey) “It’s…. uhhh…. hold on (sips, clicking sound)…. “okay, happy thoughts…”
Them: “What? Are you okay?”
You: “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just, oh, never mind. So, I’ll need to ask you to click on “View” at the top of the Explorer window, then click on “Show” at the bottom of that popup menu, then click on “File name extensions”.
Them: “That’s dumb. So many clicks? Why aren’t these extensions turned on by default?”
You: “YES!!!! OMG! OMFG!! I love you!!!” (drops headset, and knocks over shot glass)
Them: “I’m married! You need to calm down!”
You: “Yes, I apologize. All good. Let’s continue…”
Which of the following will satisfy the requirement
A. Quit this IT job and pursue woodworking or guitar playing
B. Ask the user to marry you
C. Continue drinking and playing with your gun
D. Use a GPO or MDM policy to show file extensions, because they should have been displayed by default, from the very first version of Windows to contain Explorer. Then complain to everyone else on StackOverflow, Slack, Discord, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, Twitch and maybe even LinkedIn, then post on your blog about it.
(figures)
As with everything software, it’s never done. Windows 11 will continue to evolve, like all other software products. So I would expect some of these complaints to be remediated over time. It’s just annoying that some of these complaints have been around for a very long time (file extensions, PowerShell version), and some appear to be regressions (right-click menus). That’s a sign of one of two possible things going on:
- Internal knowledge sharing is broken (old team to new team, or product1-team to product2-team)
- The customer feedback system is broken (user feedback is not being collected and/or assessed properly)
Maybe Windows 11 22H1 or 22H2 will take care of this.