Dave Plummer worked for 12 years in Microsoft as an engineer. He joined the company in 1991, in the MS-DOScreated the Task Manager that Windows 95 incorporated the year after its launch and shaped the anti-piracy protection of Windows XP. He left the company in 2003 and is currently known for his television channel. YouTube dedicated to the history of Windows and other technological topics, which has more than a million subscribers. Your opinion about Windows is not just anyone’swhich is why it was surprising when he started a video last week saying: ‘Windows sucks’.
Plummer not only says what many of us have thought at times, but also argues his complaint, explains where you think Windows is working wrong and also how Microsoft could fix it.
The engineer defends that Windows he didn’t suddenly turn bad. In his opinion, the system is gone little by little moving away from advanced users who are the ones who use it the most and depend on it. Furthermore, he accuses Microsoft of turn Windows into a sales channel for all your products.
Usability for beginners, not advanced users
In the video, Plummer explains that Microsoft spent around two decades optimizing Windows to attract a billion people. Simplify the interface for less technical users in the hope that they will buy Windows It was a business decision.. Until then, Plummer has no nothing to object.
He does criticize that Microsoft has done it by implementing protections and hiding complex tools. This is suitable for beginners, but slows down experienced users. Plummer describes the latter as helping amateur users and shaping public opinion about technology. When they feel patronized by the operating system, they often turn to Linux either macOS.
Windows 10, the beginning of the problems
The other aspect of Windows that ‘stinks’ is the constant insistence on the user to purchase the company’s products and services. From Windows 10Microsoft adopts the Windows as a service where you install the system once and then it keeps updating periodically. Something that users can do for free and, in any case, the licenses They don’t have the prohibitive prices they used to have. who triggered piracy. This forced Microsoft to look for new avenues of income through Windows.
The company began directing users toward cloud services and subscriptions like Office 365storage OneDriveservices Xbox and of Azure. Windows 10 became the gateway to the Microsoft ecosystemfrom which the company wanted to obtain much more profit, and It stopped being just a product that was sold with a profit margin.
Microsoft also started collect more telemetry data of users since Windows 10, allowing you to get to know them better. This data can be used to improve the operating system, but also are used to flood them with app promotions and service recommendations.
Windows 11, worse
Windows 11 today is the entrance to Microsoft 365, Xbox Game Pass, OneDrive, edge, Copilot and applications of Microsoft Store. Plummer explains that wherever you go, Windows 11 is trying to get you to use a Microsoft product you didn’t order.
When opening the menu Start‘recommended’ Microsoft 365 apps appear in the foreground. When you open Configurationa banner reminds you to sign in to OneDrive. The search try to redirect you to results bing even when you’re looking for something local.
‘When the operating system suggests that you change browsers after you have explicitly chosen another, that’s not onboarding (process of accompanying or guiding a new user to understand how a product or service works). It’s disrespectful‘, says the former Microsoft engineer.
Plummer proposes a ‘Professional Mode’ for advanced users
To solve these problems, Plummer proposes a ‘Professional Mode’ that users can easily activate. I would be a clean and direct Windows, without intrusive elements. In this mode, the operating system would disable all promotional notifications, advertisements, unnecessary prompts and group all controls in one place.
It would also make advanced tools like Windows Terminal and OpenSSH were standard and would treat environments Linux on Windows on equal terms. The engineer believes that this would allow faster workflows by reducing the friction that the system imposes. Also that Microsoft should respect users who prefer to use a local account during setupinstead of pressuring them to use a Microsoft account.
It highlights that the core of the Windows platform works well for gaming, development and business environmentsthanks to features like DirectX and Active Directory. But greater control and a distraction-free environment are clearly absent elements for more advanced users. Implementing them might cost extra, Plummer says, but those who know what they want from an operating system deserve an option that fits their needs.