Quo vadis, Windows?

I used to use Windows. I believe the first version I used (as a launcher for Star Wars Episode I: Racer) was Windows 98. Then, we had a computer with Windows XP (this time, Star Wars Battlefront I & II were in), and that was about time I started to notice such things as an operating system and its version. When we moved to Windows 7, I was fully conscious. And I have to say, I had no problem with Windows 7. Overall, I liked it.

When I got my first laptop, it was running Windows 8 with the horrible Metro UI. It was a bit downgrade, but it served well. It was just ugly. Then Windows 8.1 came with little changes, but I still maintain that it was the most stable and reliable Windows version I've ever used (even though I ran it on a low-end laptop with 4 GB of RAM and slow ultrabook dual-core Pentium). And then it came...

In 2015, the world got Windows 10, the last version of Windows. Unfortunately, they've never got to the level of Windows 8.1 or older Windows 7. UI-wise, it was an upgrade from 8.x versions because it dropped the Metro UI (more or less), but it was far from consistent. What was more important to me, Windows 10 were less stable across machines at my disposal, and that annoyed me. It was around the time I started at university, so I swapped Windows for a better operating system – Linux, more precisely, Ubuntu.

Unfortunately, that does not mean I separated from the Windows world because all of my relatives still use Windows, and as a programmer, I'm often doing IT support. And that brings us to Windows 11...

In the past months, I had several chances to install this newest version. And I was amazed. How bad it was. From Windows 10, I was already aware of the Microsoft push of its accounts. In Windows 10, during the installation, you had to disconnect the computer from the network in order to create a local user account. Now, this option is completely missing. You WILL use our online account! Or will I?

I couldn't believe it, so I started searching, and I found two ways how to bypass it. The first one is to open a terminal on the create account page (press Shift + F10) and enter oobe\bypassnro, then continue with I don't have internet & Continue with limited setup. The second option is to fill in some random Microsoft account email and enter some random password multiple times. After several unsuccessful attempts, Windows will give up and give you the option to create a local user account. You can then complete the installation.

Upon completing the installation, you will see a bunch of stupid prompts, such as Getting things ready for you and others, and also, you'll experience several restarts. Why? In 2023? Why do I have to spend approximately an eternity setting up Windows and then wait for another one until everything takes effect? When installing Linux, I configure everything, start the installation, wait a bit, and restart once everything is installed and voilȧ, a fully functional non-randomly-restarting system. I understand that system installation is not an everyday thing, but how can it still be so bad?

And as a small bonus, you'll have Firefox installed by default, so you won't have to start Internet Explorer Edge in which you have to click No four (4!) separate times so that Microsoft won't collect everything (ehm).

When I was a kid, I wanted Windows because of video games. Now we have Steam with integrated Proton and Lutris. Is there any reason to stay on Windows?