Re: Has the Windows 11 user interface yet caught up with that of Win10?

On 05/02/2026 16:12, Maria Sophia wrote:
> Has Windows 11's user interface yet caught up with that of Windows 10?
> <https://i.postimg.cc/V5QfgrQr/cpu-menu.jpg>
> 
> When you look at an operating system as a system that YOU use most, then
> you realize the user interface is the part you control first & foremost.
> 
> The Windows 11 user interface is, IMHO, vastly inferior to that of Win10.
> But if someone can disabuse me of that assessment, I'd like to know more.
> 
> Mainly because I don't test Windows 11. I've only installed it sans MSA.
> And that was for a grandkid (whom I taught how to organize computers).
> 
>  From the little I know of Windows 11, it appears to be a punitive 
> downgrade
> from Windows 10 at least in terms of the GUI we all interact with daily.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/2yf9Hf9v/photofiltre.jpg>
> 
> I put together systems as a living for decades in the Silicon Valley, so
> the systems I used for Windows 95 and up on corporate systems and expensive
> million-dollar (SunOS/Solaris) software was to organize EVERYTHING by what
> functionality they have. Not brand name. Not whimsical fruit names.
> Functionality.
> 
> Every bit of software "does something" no matter what the platform.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/fW38dhsX/android-windows-menus.jpg>
> Everything that is not data, fits into those dozen functional folders. 
> {archivers, browsers, cleaners, editors, finance, games, etc}
> 
> Removing the plural (unless it's required, as with 'news') makes that.
> list becomes {archiver, browser, cleaner, editor, finance, game, etc}.
> 
> This works for everything you can think of, where there is no concept of
> the catch-all of "misc" or "util" crutch we've all used in the past.
> The system is (almost) foolproof, as it does away with Microsoft's 
> idiotically polluted Start menu (both the binary tiles & shortcuts).
> 
> You can just copy the menu folder from one system to another.
> And it all just works.
> 
> You can copy a WindowsXP folder to Windows 10, and it still just works.
> It's genius.
> 
> And yet, it's trivially simple.
> I liken it to how everyone organizes their fork/spoon/knife drawers.
> 
> First, I make a software hierarchy to place the original installers
> mkdir C:\software\{archiver, browser, cleaner, editor, finance, game, etc}
> 
> Then I make an app hierarchy to install all the programs into:
> mkdir C:\app\{archiver, browser, cleaner, editor, finance, game, etc}
> 
> Then I mkdir the menu hierarchy pinned to the taskbar for a pullout cascade
> mkdir C:\menu\{archiver, browser, cleaner, editor, finance, game, etc}
> 
> Oh wait. Did I say pinned taskbar pullout menus? <https://i.postimg.cc/ 
> TPDd40Br/app-cleaner-uninstaller.jpg>
> 
> You can't use user-controlled taskbar-pinned accordions in Windows 11.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/sDWhsB18/editor-pic.jpg>
> 
> One of the strongest features of Windows is (apparently) gone in Win11.
>   <https://i.postimg.cc/PxyN9RtS/hardwaremenu.jpg> hardware
> Why?
> 
> Somebody please tell me why Microsoft removed user-populated menus?
> Q: What benefit did Microsoft get in removing taskbar pullout cascades?
> A: ?

Windows 7 was great. For me 10 was a disaster - slow and weirdly 
inconstant. 11 is better than 10 but some old software tends to crash 
the new explorer.exe. And I do wish the 11 start menu could be 
configured to work more like the Windows 7 one worked.

-- 
Brian Gregory (in England).