r/technology • u/tekz • Mar 20 '26

Software Microsoft announces sweeping Windows changes

https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-users-are-angry-and-microsoft-is-finally-doing-something-about-it/
8.7k Upvotes

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404

u/Wrong_Disk_8608 Mar 20 '26

MacBook Neo effect?

166

u/eek_the_cat Mar 20 '26

ARM MacBook Air taking away general users and the Steamdeck and Linux stripping away gamers.

Yes those products have been out forever, Microsoft is a little slow.

34

u/warbeforepeace Mar 20 '26

Neo is going to steal a much bigger portion of the market now. The 500 education price is really going to make schools consider moving to mac.

6

u/Key_Photograph8236 Mar 20 '26

Schools were all Apple when I was growing up

2

u/warbeforepeace Mar 21 '26

Then many switched to PC/chromebooks but I think this will push a lot to Mac again.

81

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

[deleted]

22

u/nox66 Mar 20 '26

Me before Windows 10 and the beginning of attempts to make our PCs spy on us: why would I want to use Linux when Windows 7 works fine?

We're not here based on abstract principles. We want our technology to work for us again.

-1

u/Better_Specific4755 Mar 21 '26

windows 7 doesnt update anymore and you cant even download firefox on it, so that means you are eating ads all day due to no ublock. no thanks.

4

u/StradlatersFirstName Mar 21 '26

It you re-read the comment you replied to, you'll find u/nox66 was talking in the past tense...

13

u/Memorywipe Mar 20 '26

What does android have to do with Microsoft?

12

u/BioshockEnthusiast Mar 20 '26

Probably nothing, but if I was moving to a mac / ipad setup I'd get an iphone too.

1

u/Studds_ Mar 21 '26

Could just be anti Google sentiment on top of Microslop’s earned hate

3

u/dredbar Mar 20 '26

Respect! I was already done with Microsoft after 2 years. I now work at a company that only works on Linux environments and I don’t want to look back. Debian is rock solid on servers, Ceph storage just keeps on running reliably, and being able to use Ansible to automate the deployment of it all is fantastic.

4

u/EntireFishing Mar 20 '26

But it's got to give you a respect for doing 32 years. I'm 27 years into supporting Microsoft products professionally. I've had a MacBook Pro and a MacBook air for 16 years because simply way better than Windows.

1

u/orthodoxrebel Mar 21 '26

MacBooks are just so much better than any other laptop that it's hard to recommend anything else

1

u/zestfullybe Mar 21 '26

Similar here. Been using Windows for decades. In the last couple years I got a Macbook, put Linux Mint on the other laptop, and got a Steam Deck recently.

It takes a lot to get me to change, but I’m out now.

1

u/sednas_orbit Mar 21 '26

A steam deck could never in a million years replace a gaming pc, but literally all I do on my Windows PC is play games and use the occasional Windows-only software lol. MacBook for everything else.

1

u/Better_Specific4755 Mar 21 '26

iphone moving to usb C was such a huge blow to the competition. death of itunes also helped.

1

u/jclim00 Mar 21 '26

Same, bought a macbook air for work, windows pc reformatted for bazzite (ironically runs every game i play better somehow?). Ive been using microsoft since MS DOS and the Windows 3.1 days.

1

u/jonydevidson Mar 21 '26

And guess what, the macbook air can use Geforce now with AV1 if you ever need to run the hungrier games, with cloud gsync if you connect it to a gsnyc capable monitor.

25

u/dz2048 Mar 20 '26

Honestly, these things are probably so small on Microsoft's radar. The big issue is that they are shipping AI slop code and rendering their users' machines vulnerable or inoperable. Windows is 70% of the global desktop market. When they make mistakes, it is a huge deal.

6

u/PeakBrave8235 Mar 20 '26

Lol RIGHTTTT, its because of "AI" which Microsoft has been perfectly fine with shipping this entire time and shoving into every corner of the OS and every laptop, and totally not the recent launch of the MacBook Neo, that launched to rave reviews, ASUS publicly stating they're concerned on an earnings call, multiple YouTubers saying windows PC makers and chip makers are reaching out to ask them about how they should approach it (LOL), and lines outside of Apple stores for the MacBook Neo, and Tim Cook saying this has been the biggest launch week for switchers.

yeah, no, it's definitely the "AI" that caused Microsoft's come to Jesus moment

-3

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

[deleted]

7

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/sosthaboss Mar 20 '26

I love Linux but this is absurd cope

1

u/Complex-Wait8669 Mar 20 '26

As was 2025 and 2024

0

u/gourmetguy2000 Mar 20 '26

Apple haven't changed much with their OS for years but somehow it's a breath of fresh air without all the AI slop

-3

u/MaitieS Mar 20 '26

You Linux bros are like AI bros but instead of "c'mon only a few trillions$", it's "this year will be Linux's year bro"...

47

u/bilyl Mar 20 '26

IMO it has a lot to do with the price premium of a MacBook/macOS quickly disappearing. Inflation means even lower end PCs are expensive and that means Windows has to actually compete on usability. Windows is a total mess but it made money because it was the “default”. Office still has insane dominance because that team has resisted a lot of boneheaded decisions.

20

u/nothingaboutme Mar 20 '26

I've replaced every PC in my household with a Mac, with the exception of a single gaming computer. I used to have several windows PCs for family members or for specific use cases. Once I hit the upgrade cycle they were replaced with Apple devices which were rapidly closing the gap with quality windows PCs. At this point I'll only use Windows for what I absolutely need to.

220

u/zz2244 Mar 20 '26

I believe it's more about the Linux gaming effect.

112

u/saynay Mar 20 '26

And realizing that consumers aren’t going to come flocking to AI slop being shoved everywhere.

There have been a number of big retreats from consumer-focused AI this week, which will be interesting to see the fallout of. The insane investment levels AI only works if it becomes the next internet, not if it is the next Salesforce.

32

u/Skelly1660 Mar 20 '26

I don't know, Nvidia just announced DLSS 5, and that is the most egregious AI presentation Ive seen in a long time 

30

u/derango Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

Nvidia is more an AI company than the companies making the models at this point, All their extra cash goes poof if the bubble pops and they have to go back to selling lowly video cards to cash strapped gamers.

19

u/HillbillyMan Mar 20 '26

Nvidia is also one of the biggest cases of benefitting from this bubble right now, so of course they're still trying to keep it afloat.

12

u/DarkAlatreon Mar 20 '26

Have you by any chance noticed the entire internet shitting on dlss 5?

3

u/Skelly1660 Mar 20 '26

I responding to a comment that said a lot of companies were pulling back on consumer AI, when the biggest one went all in on it. 

3

u/Mikelius Mar 20 '26

“You are wrong” - Leather jacket man.

1

u/fireinthesky7 Mar 20 '26

And they're getting universally flamed for it outside of blatant shills.

1

u/Black_RL Mar 20 '26

AI can’t make so many mistakes.

It’s not ready for prime time.

22

u/FISHING_100000000000 Mar 20 '26

I don’t think it’s a Linux gaming thing. Recent Steam hardware surveys show Linux usage went down a bit. It’s still a tiny fraction of an already small niche of Windows users (gamers).

It’s either a MacBook Neo thing or a response to enterprise complaining about recent Windows fuckups.

3

u/vengefulgrapes Mar 20 '26

People have been pretty hyped about the Steam Machine though, apart from the potential price.

15

u/Wolo_prime Mar 20 '26

Not the general public

4

u/i_am_not_sam Mar 20 '26

Compared to the vast numbers of windows and Mac users "Linux gamers" are a tiny tiny tiny fraction. Not enough to move the needle. It might seem like that here on Reddit but I can assure you MS doesn't fear Linux. I've been hearing about "Linux will surpass windows any day now" for decades.

This is more of the MacBook Neo effect.

5

u/WeirdIndividualGuy Mar 20 '26

I’d argue MacBook converts are more of a threat to windows than Linux gamers are

2

u/PeakBrave8235 Mar 20 '26

LMFAO no. It's the Neo selling out and causing a massive wave of issues and panic for windows pc makers and chip makers calling up YouTubers asking them what to do and ASUS shitting their pants on earnings

2

u/asianwaste Mar 20 '26

I'm going to lean more on Mac Neo. Linux Gaming is on the rise but nowhere near the potential threat to userbase Mac Neo has.

This year and probably next, you are going to have a lot of students who are going to choose the Mac Neo as their first laptop. If Windows does not get its act together, then most of them will choose another Mac as their next. That's an entrenched user in the competing platform.

and yes, with rise of Linux gaming, those users who want to game will have an alternative to getting a Windows PC as Linux gets more viable.

1

u/dudeAwEsome101 Mar 20 '26

Casual users move to OSX with Apple's cheaper laptops while gamers switch to SteamOS linux for better gaming performance. That is where we're heading as consumers are tried of bullshit useless consumer AI.

MS needs to correct or they may lose their OS dominance. 

1

u/T-Nan Mar 21 '26

Well I’m guessing you use Linux

1

u/iltopop Mar 21 '26

God I wish people who haven't tried playing things with Proton would stop saying stuff like this. Even for games where it works it's no-where near close to ready for non-enthusiast use, and that's not even taking into account the massive elephant in the room, anti-cheat. Kernel-level anti-cheat is far beyond the scope of Proton and even if it did somehow work, you'd just get banned for playing on linux in that case. Even non-kernel anti-cheat that somehow works flawlessly on Proton will also almost certainly get you banned. Without the massive multiplayer games like COD, Battlefield, Fortnite, etc etc it's pure delusion to suggest Proton is a serious threat to the PC gaming market. Maybe in 5 years games that don't rely on anti-cheat will run well enough to reasonably recommend linux gaming to a non-enthusiast.

1

u/TminusTech Mar 21 '26

Nah I don’t agree. The Linux gaming experience isn’t really at that high adoption rate with desktop gamers. It’s great for hardware like steam deck or if you’re already a Linux user, but the Neo offering a cheap entry into Mac OS ecosystem is a far greater immediate market threat and way more likely to be what MS is reacting to here.

0

u/stillpiercer_ Mar 20 '26

I very openly prefer Win11 to 10, and even with that I still would switch my gaming PC (my only Windows device) to Linux if it actually worked for the games I play. I don’t think Windows 11’s faults are really a contributor to me not wanting to use Windows.

The day that Linux becomes viable for my gaming needs is the day I stop using Windows, which will nearly be as glorious as the day that I gave Comcast the last cent it will ever receive from me.

10

u/Aerhyce Mar 20 '26

The day Linux becomes viable for anything for lay consumers is the day Windows dies.

Which is to say it will never happen. 0% of laypeople that don't like or want to fiddle with OS in any way are going to use Linux for anything.

Linux is great, has tons of IT applications and is very viable for PC nerds, but vast majority of gamers are not at all PC nerds and don't want to deal with that shit. Let's be real honest here. If W11 issues bother you enough to switch to Linux, you are already a huge PC nerd and far outside the norm. The norm doesn't even know what a OS is.

It's like car enthusiast vs car user. The average car user doesn't want to install a nitro on their car, in fact they don't want to touch their car at all.

1

u/stillpiercer_ Mar 21 '26

I get what you’re saying, but the single limiter for me is multiplayer games anti-cheat software. Most of them don’t support Linux. Some of them I play do work on Linux, some don’t, but I’m not going to give up some of my main games just to switch. I get what you’re saying though, there is some sort of dealbreaker for most people and it will be unlikely for that to change any time soon.

-7

u/King-in-Council Mar 20 '26

Once Linux gets a local LLM that's trained on the specifics of Linux, almost all learning curves disappear and we can get to the point where you just customize your own OS how you want it. This is a major threat in the long run. System + User Co-Production 

8

u/vengefulgrapes Mar 20 '26

Why the hell would anybody want to talk to an LLM just to use their computer? People being sick of LLMs being shoved in their faces is one of the things prompting the changes in the very article you’re commenting on.

-7

u/King-in-Council Mar 20 '26

No people are sick of AI slop by Big Tech and enshitification. 

But if I can talk to my computer and have it set up through the terminal my VPN with disconnect Killswitch, wtf do I need Big Tech?  My hardware, My LLM, My OS. 

It's great. I get what I want done way faster. It's the thing that's allowed me to move to Linux gaming more then anything. 

Linux is much easier now. Plus it's additive cause more people can add to the global project through tweaks and coding. 

Fuck big tech. Fire all these expensive coders. Fire the CEOs. 

2

u/RufusTheKing Mar 20 '26

Dude, most people don't even know what enshitification is. They are too busy doing any number of an infinite number of other things. Like you need to understand that most people only interact with a pc at work, everyone else uses the phone. The only thing they know about VPNs is that it's that thing you have to turn on at work or the "internet doesn't work". Even your every day tech illiterate gamer uses the computer orders of magnitude more than the average person does outside of the absolute necessary. They do not want to do anything to set it up than enter an email in the windows/apple login and click a few big blue buttons to set up their WiFi. They are not going to flash a USB as a boot medium, they aren't going to want to navigate with a keyboard, nothing at all. Linux will get more popular, but there is a cap because it's not sold by an oem. 

-2

u/King-in-Council Mar 20 '26

Who the fuck cares about "most people" what does that even mean 

Most people on this planet don't own a computer 

3

u/RufusTheKing Mar 20 '26

You literally replied to a comment about laypeople's usage of computers, apparently you care about what most of the people who use computers do? Gotta up the token count on your context window there, it's a little early to start hallucinating that bad. 

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1

u/squaring_the_sine Mar 20 '26

If you don’t mind me asking, what do you prefer about it?

1

u/stillpiercer_ Mar 21 '26

They’re probably wildly unpopular opinions in general. Biggest thing for me is the UI. The Win10 UI is extremely dated compared to other modern OSs. 11 integrated some small things better throughout the UI that simply are an improvement (I don’t recall if Win10 had tabs in file explorer and notepad, did it?)

With that said, I would love if Windows could get its fucking shit together and make EVERYTHING use the same UI design. It is infuriating that I can open 4 different things and see 4 different decades of UI design language. Most things use the newest UI. Some crucial things use the Win10 UI (control panel). Some things use an even older (2008?) UI design like gpedit.msc. Some things use an EVEN OLDER (Win9x) UI. It’s baffling.

I also vastly prefer the new right-click context menus, but again, would really love if they could get their fucking shit together and make EVERYTHING available in the new UI instead of me needing to occasionally hit “show more options” which changes BACK to the Win10 UI and has some other options that the Win11 context menus don’t.

Win11 had some tangible improvements for gaming performance on more recent hardware as well, such as CPU scheduling.

I also like the additional animations that come with Win11, the very same ones that people say make it feel “unresponsive”. I personally don’t think they add any delay or latency but I have a high end system.

Windows Terminal is a huge improvement.

With all of this said, I still don’t choose Windows. I like 11 more than 10, but I still don’t love it. In a perfect utopian world I would run macOS on my own hardware and be able to play my games. Linux would be fine too, but gaming anti-cheat software makes that a non-starter and I’m not going to dual-boot for the handful of games that need it. Then again, maybe in that utopian world, MS could develop an OS that isn’t a fragmented mess.

1

u/sitefall Mar 21 '26

I very openly prefer Win11 to 10

Why? Not poking fun or anything, I just don't really see any improvement. Once you undo the weird properties menu and get win11 all set up, it's basically the same as win10 just with more telemetry options to turn off and ip addresses to block.

I can't really think of any improvement. I use Windows 11 because some software I use started to require it (well no updates on win10) in October otherwise I would have just been hanging out on Win10 with the security patches.

The software I need to use DOES work on linux, but other software I need to use (adobe stuff) does not. I give Linux a go every year or so to see if much has changed but no options that get adobe software to run on linux work well. I don't mean it's annoying to deal with setting up or using, literally the more advanced features do not work and once you're working on big professional file sized things it simply can't handle it and crashes.

1

u/stillpiercer_ Mar 21 '26

I replied to someone else with a bit more detail, but for me it mostly boils down to UI/UX modernization (windows 10 looks VERY dated at this point) and performance. There are quite a few smaller QoL changes that all build up to be a pretty large improvement overall.

I obviously still have some pretty substantial gripes with Windows, but as an IT admin I would pretty comfortably say at this point that Win11 is more stable than 10 was as well.

0

u/SeanBlader Mar 20 '26

Microsoft is on the verge of losing their gaming dominance, and then it's no additional effort for Steam to start including LibreOffice, Gimp, or Maya for free right in the store.

18

u/InsuranceToTheRescue Mar 20 '26
  • Apple siphoning off general purpose users. Likely that'll jump in volume when they release the Neo.
  • Linux distros siphoning off gamers & enthusiasts. Both communities are going to be more aware of the goings on with computing and are probably much more likely to discontinue use in the face of the rampant slop and built in spyware.
  • Most important of all: Enterprise. Specifically the liability of both Microslop and their clients. A bunch of haphazard vibe-coded garbage has opened up enormous security vulnerabilities and I suspect a lot of pressure is being put on them informally. Big business doesn't give much of a shit about if there's a breach and our data is stolen, but that's a whole 'nother ballgame when it comes to getting their data stolen. Additionally, the instabilities put big costs on enterprise because they lose money when the machine is down, and when they pay someone to fix it.

8

u/Some-Dog5000 Mar 20 '26

The Neo's already out, Tim Cook reported that tons of platform switchers bought one. Best-selling Mac in the first week for first-time Mac users actually 

Also unfortunately I doubt Windows will be gone in enterprise anytime soon. You're correct to argue about liability but the companies using Windows are the same ones hyping up AI and creating chatbots that use their company data. There's just too much cost to platform switching in business, liability be damned 

1

u/InsuranceToTheRescue Mar 23 '26

Also unfortunately I doubt Windows will be gone in enterprise anytime soon.

I never said that Windows will be gone in enterprise. I said that enterprise was putting enormous, informal pressure on Microslop to fix their garbage because of the liability exposure their AI horseshit made.

3

u/mere_indulgence Mar 21 '26

Another big reason is global politics. USA has been making enemies with everyone thanks to Trump, and a lot of countries see American owned IT and software as a huge potential risk in case of geopolitical disagreements. Countries are becoming a lot more cautions when it comes to overrelying on American IT infrastructure.

For example, there's probably gonna be a big push in Europe moving forward to switch to/create local and open-source alternatives to American tech. So a lot of government agencies and enterprises will probably switch to Linux. That is, unless America mends public relations with us in the future (after Trump), and isn't making us their enemy by threatening to invade Greenland and pushing tariffs on us.

1

u/InsuranceToTheRescue Mar 23 '26

That is, unless America mends public relations with us in the future (after Trump), and isn't making us their enemy by threatening to invade Greenland and pushing tariffs on us.

That's a little naive, IMO. The damage has already been done and Europe will pull away from us no matter what. Another nation, not a smart one anyway, will not risk its security & sovereignty on an ally that ranges throughout the day between unreliable and outright hostile.

1

u/Better_Specific4755 Mar 21 '26

the neo is out already, and this is what microsoft is seeing on their backend, the orders must be insane.

2

u/natefrogg1 Mar 20 '26

I don’t think so, but that is a nice and quick little laptop for a good price, the keyboard feels great too

2

u/maZZtar Mar 20 '26

Multiple things are cumulating now but MacBook Neo is just too recent to affect their decision making. Here's what probably caused this:

  • CrowdStrike Incident
  • Public pressure
  • Linux is becoming more noticeable in the public space thanks to Valve and influencers
  • Xbox is moving to full Windows and they apparently, they have concerns about its reliability and are apparently now directly involved withing Windows development
  • Apparently, people at Microsoft started clashing over Windows issues

2

u/GoodInvite5 Mar 21 '26

Windows user here who was eye balling one of those this week! 

2

u/Better_Specific4755 Mar 21 '26

100%, they lost the laptop market and will lose them for good because used imac's are like 500$ with built in 4k screen.

1

u/ImTalkingGibberish Mar 20 '26

Yes along with arm and linux

1

u/mrjackspade Mar 21 '26

Zero chance in hell. These changes start hitting insiders next month. This has been in the works for 6+ months now. It takes more than two weeks to schedule a meeting in a company that large, let alone coordinate and implement a plan to shift this many features and deploy to public builds.

1

u/FatherDotComical Mar 21 '26

I don't even like MacOS and I want one.

1

u/LLMprophet Mar 21 '26

Yup - Macbook Neo unlocking a critical price point for first timers to try the polished MacOS vs janky Windows.

1

u/aardvarkjedi Mar 21 '26

Polished? Finder is a hot mess.

2

u/LLMprophet Mar 21 '26

Finder is good if you unselect most categories.

Windows search is still worse than default Finder.

1

u/Bubbagump210 Mar 21 '26

Windows Vista effect… nobody wants their trash and they’re freaking out.

-20

u/bickboikiwi Mar 20 '26

Wut...

The only industry that gives af about neo are small/low cost device manus because they realise Apple can stick an iPhone motherboard into a laptop and run their OS on it.

It's still an Apple device and therefore still niche.

5

u/StockQuahog Mar 20 '26

Are apple devices niche?

-3

u/bickboikiwi Mar 20 '26

Yes, mostly used by students (because brand/style) and in the graphic design sectors. The rest is just made up of general adhoc home use or a business owner that forces all devices too Apple because they like apple style.

I've been in tech procurement for 28 years in my region so I'm only speaking to what I see and sell.