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[Opinion] Windows 11 has made the “clean Windows install” an oxymoron
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
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They need to make sure users will have a good reason to upgrade to Windows 12.
They don't need any reasons at all anymore. Microsoft won the PC wars a long time ago and has been able to coast ever since. People will upgrade because Windows is the only thing supporting whatever apps they use in the workplace, because Macs are too expensive, and because Microsoft (for all its flaws) still cares about backwards compatibility.
Just because a new Windows version is available doesn't mean that Windows users will upgrade. My work computer is Windows, but I have still not touched Windows 11 at all to this day. But if the latest Windows is far better than the other available versions, then users and enterprises will likely want to upgrade.
Enterprises will have to upgrade once security support for 10 is dropped. Microsoft can even charge them extra to extend that maintenance window if they wanna squeeze more life out of the OS but it's so crazy expensive that Microsoft clearly has the upper hand here.
Through their OEM deals, you'll have a hard time finding a new computer with anything other than 11, and software developers can only support so many versions of Windows so they'll have to drop older releases to be sure they can keep up with all those new computers people are forced to buy.
No one wanted to upgrade to 10 either, yet here we are. Microsoft knows exactly what they're doing and have no qualms about how insidious it all is.
So true. Just a reminder that alternatives exist the next time someone tries to recommend a Thinkpad or Dell:
My HP came with FreeDOS.
https://blog.tmm.cx/2022/05/15/the-very-weird-hewlett-packard-freedos-option/ is a good read on what this option really is. It's clear that the intent on HPs part is to give you an option to buy the laptop without Windows garbage on it. Even if it's a bit janky on it's own.