Humans are drawn to familiarity. Familiar means comfort and security. Many (most?) people are put off by change - especially change for the sake of change. I believe that is why so many are so put off by Microsoft’s incessant fiddling with their OS.
I finally got around to setting up a Win-11 VM so that I could take a look at it. I had to do a VM because I do not own any PC’s that meet MS’s hardware requirements (TPM 2.0).
My initial impression? BFD.
I have yet to find it capable of anything that Win-10 can’t do. It’s similar to Windows, but with everything rearranged. So most of my time has been spent searching for things I know are there, but are not in the right places.
The changes are not as radical as Win-8 (I still consider that an unpardonable sin against humanity!) but still discomfiting. And unnecessary.
So what’s my basic inclination when presented with this new OS? Change it - or more accurately, change it back. Install the browser that I like (with Windows fighting me tooth and nail). Install Open Shell so that I have a more usable (familiar?!) program menu. Tweak settings for file explorer, etc.
Did I have to make all those changes? No - but yes. I could continue to cast about, searching for stuff and being constantly irritated that it isn’t where it belongs. Or I can “fix” it by retrograding it.
This looks like where we part company, Microsoft and I.
Spot on. And that's a major reason why MacOS continues to draw users. Apple makes changes and improves (and sometimes breaks) things, but mostly under the hood. Compare the most recent MacOS default desktop/menu/dock to the original OS-X layout from 20 years ago -- it's a little fancier, but it's nearly identical in the important respects. Why? Because there's no reason to screw up something that works.
Ya know all those popular MacOS "add-ons" that revert the desktop to an earlier version? Me neither.
Apple understands the desire for familiarity. Microsoft doesn't have a clue in that regard. It's like MS's designers have an ever-changing idea of "what's cool this year" and force it on users, rather than give them something that they already demonstrably want.
> I could continue to cast about, searching for stuff and being constantly irritated that it isn’t where it belongs. Or I can “fix” it by retrograding it.
I've been doing that ever since Win2K.
It makes for some funny comments from co-workers, like "Wait, I thought we were all supposed to be using Win10 now." "This -is- Win10." "But it looks like Win2K." "That's correct."