In a long post titled “Our commitment to Windows quality,” published on Microsoft’s website and sent via email to millions of members of the Windows Insider Program, Windows boss Pavan Davuluri laid out a laundry list of changes Microsoft plans to make in Windows 11, starting this month.
What’s most remarkable about this post is what it doesn’t contain. Here’s how Davuluri kicked things off:
Every day, we hear from the community about how you experience Windows. And over the past several months, the team and I have spent a great deal of time analyzing your feedback. What came through was the voice of people who care deeply about Windows and want it to be better.
That paragraph belongs in the non-apology Hall of Fame, with a cross-reference to “Friday news dump” – a classic PR technique that aims to minimize media coverage of the awkward news being released.
I agree. They’re getting attacked on three fronts - Linux for the gaming user base and now macOS for the student, education and casual user base; and all the while, the professionals and creatives get tempted by Apple hardware increasingly running faster, cooler and more energy efficient than anything in the Intel/AMD world. It’s Microsoft’s game to lose and boy they sure seem to want to lose it.
I would never have believed it a few years back, but a world where Linux and Mac collectively have a higher market share than Windows could actually be possible. It’s the perfect storm of M-series chips kicking ass, Valve investing so much in Linux, and Microsoft giving the finger to their customers.
And m$$ demanding user hardware that’s flat out unavailable because chipset cash machine go brrrrrrr