Is the Windows Operating System Going Downhill?

Windows is a very popular operating system, and most people reading this probably used it at some point in their lives. But is it still getting better these days, with the rapid adoption of Windows 10 and 11? I don't think so. Obviously, different people may have different opinions on this matter, but as I see it, the Windows system has been going downhill for quite some time. What are the reasons for that, and is Windows really going downhill? Read on to find out.

First things first, let's look at some (hopefully not nostalgic) history. I'm not here to talk about Windows 1.0 though, I wasn't even born at that time. Let's start with Windows XP.

Most people now view Windows XP as "old" or "dated". But, what did Windows XP actually have, now that we look back at it more than 20 years after its release? Well, all sorts of things that went on to get deleted in later versions.

The first and probably most classic one is the startup sound. For those of you who never heard of it before, this was a sound that will get played after the computer boots into the desktop. Just imagine turning on the work computer in your office on Monday morning and being greeted by that sound - it can certainly serve to relieve all that stress on the first day of the work week. It's a good thing to have in general, although it only has minimal impact on the OS itself.

The second one is the built-in games, with Solitaire standing out as perhaps the most widely known one. This may surprise you, but the stated purpose of those games was actually to teach users how to use a mouse. In the end, however, those games evolved into what many people think forms part of the "soul" of Windows. In fact, the game Solitaire alone has been played tens of millions of times, making it one of the most popular computer games of all time.

There were countless other nice features in Windows XP that got removed or downgraded over the years, way too many for me to mention here. Maybe you knew Windows XP before, maybe not, but at least for me, it's a very nostalgic subject. I was introduced to this classic OS at the age of 5 or 6 (I don't remember exactly), around the beginning of the 2010s decade, on the first computer I ever used. I had a lot of fun with Windows XP as a kid back then. Anyway, time to move on to the next topic - Windows 7.

I used Windows 7 for quite a long time, from early 2016 all the way to mid 2020 when my old computer broke down. Let's take a look at the bells and whistles that this wonderful OS had to offer.

Windows 7 inherited and improved on the built-in games of Windows XP, giving them a more "modern" look. It also added a few more games: a chess game called "Chess Titans", a group of children's games called "Purble Place", among others.

On top of that, Windows 7 also had a startup sound. Although that startup sound was not quite the same as the one in Windows XP, it can indeed have the same positive effects.

That's not where the greatness of Windows 7 ends, though. Most notably, an aesthetic improvement known as "Aero effect" was introduced, which was basically just a window transparency effect. This may not sound like something outstanding, but it did give Windows 7 that unique look many people miss these days.

Of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list of all the amazing features that got added or polished in Windows 7. I do miss Windows 7, and I believe many others do too. Now let's move on to Windows 8 and 8.1, where things started to go awry.

Well, this is where the sad part begins. Windows 8 and 8.1 are, in my opinion, the first signs that Windows was starting to go downhill. I never used Windows 8 or looked at it in detail, so I'm not really entitled to talk about it. Instead, let's just focus on Windows 8.1, which I used briefly in late 2015.

(By the way, from what I've heard at least, Windows 8 was even worse than Windows 8.1.)

What's the first thing that got removed in Windows 8.1? Well, no surprise, it's the built-in games. Microsoft thought those games had already completed their original mission, which was to teach users how to operate computers with a mouse. However, what they didn't know was that those games had become a part of Windows' "soul" in many people's eyes, as I mentioned earlier. A lot of people, including myself, got frustrated by the removal of those classic games. Microsoft did actually respond to this reaction by reintroducing solitaire games as Microsoft Solitaire Collection in Windows 10, although this didn't fully address the problem (more on that later).

Another thing that's bad with Windows 8.1, compared to previous versions, is the Start Screen. Yes, that's right, the Start Menu was replaced by an entire screen, with all the programs appearing in the form of tiles on the screen. I suppose this feature was introduced to better align Windows with mobile operating systems like iOS or Android, but I'm not sure. Overall, I feel that the Start Screen was definitely a step in the wrong direction, and a move away from one of the fundamental principles of Windows. Thankfully, the classic Start Menu returned in Windows 10, but it didn't last long. We will explore this later in the blog.

With Windows 8.1, Microsoft also introduced the so-called Windows "apps", with a few dozen of them already built into the system. These apps are not the same as traditional Windows applications, though. They are kept separate from the traditional "desktop" interface (which itself is also an app for some reason) and are also different in their looks and design. Not that I don't want things to change, but this was clearly too much of a departure from traditional Windows. Because of this, a lot of people apparently had a hard time getting used to the new "apps" in Windows 8.1 and wanted the traditional interface to return. Fortunately, Microsoft listened, and it (sort of) happened in Windows 10.

Other than those changes, have I mentioned that the startup sound in Windows XP and Windows 7 got removed as well? Have I mentioned that the "Aero effect" in Windows 7 also got stripped?

Finally, before we move on, I have something else to say. That is, ever since Windows 8 was released, Microsoft has been rolling out a special edition known as "Chinese edition" for each Windows version, which as the name suggests is specially made for users in China and only allows Chinese to be used as the display language. Back in 2015, I used exactly that - "Windows 8.1 Chinese edition". It wasn't a big deal to me at that time, but later I started finding it "weird" and began to wonder why special Chinese-only Windows editions had to be made for Chinese users, mainly due to increased exposure to the English language.

Anyway, before we go too far, let's dive into Windows 10.

In the previous section, I said that certain things removed in Windows 8.1 were brought back in Windows 10. Yes indeed, Windows 10 is better than Windows 8.1 in many ways. But, did it manage to bring back all the nostalgic things in Windows XP and Windows 7? I don't think so.

Let's start with the positives. First of all, solitaire games came back in Windows 10. They are no longer separate games, however. Instead, they've been grouped together into a game called "Microsoft Solitaire Collection". The game includes all the solitaire games built into Windows XP and 7, namely, Klondike, FreeCell and Spider. It also contains two new solitaire games, Pyramid and TriPeaks.

Secondly, the classic Start Menu made its return in Windows 10, although it's a bit different from what we had in Windows XP and 7. Microsoft decided to keep the "tile" design on the right-hand side of the menu, and included a list of all programs on the left-hand side. Even though one can still pick up the "feel" of Windows 8.1 from the Windows 10 start menu, it's obviously much better than the "Start Screen". Therefore, many people praised this feature. Apart from that, Windows apps were also made to run within the desktop interface, bringing them much closer to traditional applications. Also, I find that directly accessible list of all programs in the Start Menu extremely convenient, and it's one of the (very) few improvements of Windows 10 over Windows XP and 7.

With all those classic features returning, has Windows 10 managed to reintroduce everything Windows XP and 7 had to offer? Well, not really. The number one thing that remains absent from Windows 10 is the startup sound. Apparently, Microsoft has decided not to include a startup sound for all Windows versions after Windows 7, which of course only has minimal effects on the system, but nonetheless disappointed many people.

Moreover, some of the built-in games in Windows XP and 7 failed to make it back into Windows 10. The most notable one is perhaps Minesweeper, a classic puzzle game that many people have lost hours to. Another one is Hearts, which is an exciting trick-taking card game played by four players. Those games are nowhere to be found in Windows 10, despite the fact that solitaire games returned.

There are many other negative changes in Windows 10, in addition to the ones mentioned above. For instance, the "Settings" app started to include more settings and is showing potential of replacing the classic Control Panel, which has been around for over 30 years; Windows apps for media playback also emerged, threatening to replace the classic Windows Media Player; Windows updates were made compulsory as Microsoft turned Windows 10 into a service...

(Note: As you may have noticed, I am using the word "app" to refer to the new Metro UI programs, and the word "application" to refer to traditional Windows programs. This is intentional, as I don't want to mix them up like Microsoft does.)

You may argue that Windows 10 is better than Windows 8.1 overall, and I totally agree. However, I don't think this really changes the overall trend of Windows going downhill. Indeed, in my opinion at least, Windows 10 is not as good as Windows 7, and Windows 11 is a further downgrade from Windows 10. In other words, if you remove the anomalous point of Windows 8/8.1, you'll still get a trendline with a negative slope on your graph. That brings us to the final topic - Windows 11.

Before I start talking about Windows 11, it should be noted that I never really used it, although I did read some articles about it and watch a few videos of people using it. Therefore, my opinions on Windows 11 should be taken with a grain of salt.

What's the number one thing that changed in Windows 11? The Start Menu, of course! Microsoft appears to have a constant desire of altering classic things in their OS, which isn't inherently bad, but in the end they (almost) always do it the wrong way, at least in the modern times. In Windows 11, the Start button is moved to the middle of the taskbar instead of the left, something I'm sure many people are struggling to get used to. The Start Menu itself simply shows you a list of "pinned" programs; the "tile" design got stripped, although that's not necessarily a bad thing. To view all programs from the Start Menu, you have to click the "All apps" button. Needless to say, this change made it harder to access installed programs from the Start Menu, compared to Windows 10 at least - it effectively undid that improvement.

Another thing that got worse in Windows 11 is the right-click menu. In previous versions, you used to have a "Refresh" option in that menu when you right-click on your desktop. In Windows 11, the option is - well, you guessed it - gone. This feature could very well become a subject of nostalgia before long, as many of us have had an episode of spamming the right-button and the "Refresh" option repeatedly on the desktop, either to pretend we're actually working on something or just for fun. In fact, the "Refresh" option has become part of the "soul" of Windows as many people see it, just like the built-in games.

However, the list doesn't end there. Perhaps the biggest change in Windows 11 is found in its general design. Don't get your hopes up though - it's not something as good as the Aero effect in Windows 7; it's quite the opposite. The overall appearance of the system resembles that of a mobile OS. The only explanation I can think of is that Microsoft is (again) attempting to align Windows with something like iOS or Android, after trying to do it in Windows 8/8.1 and being met with criticism. Come on, there's a difference between a PC and a phone, everyone knows that.

Overall, as far as I know, lots of things changed in Windows 11, most of which would classify as downgrades by my standards. But again, keep in mind that my knowledge of Windows 11 may not be 100% accurate, because I haven't really used it.

So, is Windows really going downhill? I think it depends on your perspective. Admittedly, Windows has gotten better in some ways over the years. For example, Windows 10 is known for its support of PC gaming, and therefore it's a popular choice among video gamers. This is undoubtedly something unmatched by earlier versions of Windows, as well as Unix-like operating systems such as Linux.

However, I am of the opinion that, after reaching its peak with the release of Windows 7, the Windows operating system has been downgraded more than it has been improved. Most noticeably, we've lost many of the classic built-in games in Windows XP and Windows 7, the startup sound, the classic Start Menu, parts of the Control Panel, among other things. These things may not be big, but they do play a role in shaping one's reception of an operating system.

Thanks for reading, and let's hope Windows 12 will bring some genuine improvements.