Speaking of Windows, here’s something I’m pretty sure many of you will be very happy about:
In March, we exclusively confirmed the tech giant’s plan to restore classic taskbar features in the fall as part of the Windows 11 version 23H2 update. One of the features set to return is “never combine” for the taskbar. As the name suggests, this new toggle would let you ungroup icons/apps on the taskbar.
Microsoft has finally added the early bits of the functionality to the taskbar with Windows 11 Build 23440, which is available in the Dev Channel. In the update, Microsoft has reintroduced the taskbar show labels feature and the ability to ungroup app icons on the taskbar in Windows 11, addressing user demands for these popular legacy features.
I prefer the more dock-style approach to managing and opening applications, but I know a considerable number of you prefer the more traditional taskbar-based approach.
I’d love to see the return of the small task bar toggle, as well as a Windows 7-like Start Menu without using third-party addons like Start11.
GNU/Linux is also not immune to such approach. With GNOME 3 a lot of features were removed. Years later they occasionally reintroduce some. But the damage was already done. Negativity doesn’t go away and i feel that the same can be said about Windows. Although they might return some useful feature. The removal of it in the first place did too much damage for some of the negativity to not continue on that account.
Yes, this is very exciting to me. It’s been my single biggest frustration with Windows 11 – so much that I’ve spent the last month working on my own taskbar:
http://www.malsmith.net/yori/yui_explorer.png
Since my workflow ends up involving a large number of command prompt windows, having a single application-wide button is unhelpful. I’m sure the current behavior is fine if there’s only one window for each application.
I of course love it that it is comming back, but there are already ways to have the Old Taskbar in Win10. https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher
I’m lucky. I’m retiring on May 9th. Health wise I’m not so lucky. Oh well.
My happiest feelings are that I NEVER, EVER, E V E R will have to fix anymore #$*(@# Windows computers in my life. I will not have to see Windows 11 or 12 or any of their other crappy (the nicest word I could think of) operating systems ever again.
I DO feel sorry for all the people that don’t know there are other operating systems out there. Or are too afraid to try something new. Or they do for a few hours and for them I say, “How long did it take you to learn how to drive? How long did it take you to get used to the second you ever owned if it was a different brand than the first? Switching takes 100 hours or more within two months to REALLY get used to how a different brand of car, a different brand of operating system, a different microwave, a different brand of TV.
Humans are literally wired to get used to things and for the *most* part keep doing that same thing until it is obvious that isn’t going to work and we *have* to do something different.
No operating system. is perfect for everyone. It all depends on what you like doing. But I don’t know anyone that wants their OS to get in the way more with untimely demands for updates, for errors or crashes or it being hard to figure out how to do different things OR taking 12 steps when on other OSs it takes 3 or 4.
One of the people I became friends with at work came over to my house and I showed them pictures (not photographs) of different cars, different microwaves, etc., and asked them if they had ever switched brands or any of the things that I showed them. Of course the answer was yes. We are not using the same thing 20 years later (in most cases).
Did you survive through the first month? Did you die? Did you get a horrible disease? Did you … well did anything horrible happen BECAUSE you switched brands or models and they were different? No.
Then I showed them six different operating systems. I showed them what it was like from a clean install and how each of them updated programs and the OS and I asked them to rank each of the OSs.
I asked them to count the number of steps it took to perform different functions (which we kept in a spreadsheet) and I asked them if they had any kind of faster way to do those things and for the most part I had shown them faster ways than they knew about.
In the end, Windows was literally THE WORST OS for them based on THEIR opinions of how things worked on each OS. I asked them about the worst cars or **anything** that was the worst that they had ever owned and I asked them if they had ever bought another one of those things.
Of course not, they said.
Then why do you keep buying Windows?
I’m afraid of change.
You weren’t for those other products.
They sighed and nodded. But I don’t have to use those other products at work.
One day the ice burg will crack and shatter and people will stop using Windows just like people stopped using other OSs in the past. An operating system doesn’t just have to be better. It has to be one thousand percent better before companies will move to something else. Which is unfortunate as it wastes a LOT of time and money that could be better spent on something else.
But changing takes lots of time and money! They say. How painful was it to go from. Windows XP to Windows 7? To Windows 8.1? To Windows 10? (Do you know why there isn’t a Windows 9?) and Microsoft is adding horrible **** to Windows 11. There are other options but “Nobody gets fired for buying Microsoft!”.
Well not yet.