Ask Paul: April 29 (Premium)

Well, this turned into a pretty dark week for Windows fans, but it’s Friday, and we’re going to get through it. Or at least past it.

But first…
Two quick updates
As was the case last week, I have two short updates unrelated to your questions this week.

First, we’re planning a second AMA for the second half of May. I’d like to do this sooner, but I have some scheduling conflicts, including my first-ever jury duty next week and then our long-delayed trip back to Mexico City the week after to finally close on the apartment. This one will feature Nick Tirrell, our web guy, who can answer your questions about the coming refresh of Thurrott.com now that the Petri refresh is pretty much complete. This is something I wish I could communicate myself, as I know you all have a lot of concerns about broken/missing functionality, but it’s a complicated topic and Nick is knee-deep in it and can/will do a much better job of explaining both what has to happen and answering your questions. Because this topic is so important, we’re going to open this one to everyone, but I wanted to give you all a heads-up first.

Second, and this one is all on me, really, I didn’t mean to drift off on Short Takes, but when I started doing Ask Paul on Fridays, the same day as Short Takes, it became impossible to do both. Ask Paul is usually very lengthy and I try to be thoughtful about it, but it’s also a very different tone than Short Takes, and doing both back-to-back is unfathomable. I thought about moving it to Monday originally, but now I do the Premium newsletter on Monday, which also requires a bit more work than a typical post and is likewise completely different from Short Takes. You get the idea, but I’m trying to balance my distaste for fixed schedules with my desire to not give up on Short Takes. So I will shoot for Tuesdays, I think. Hopefully that will start up again soon. (This will be on Petri, as before.)
Windows 11 and our sanity
Not surprisingly, there were a few related questions about the horrific Windows 11 Start menu video that I referenced yesterday. This is a big topic and maybe something that deserves its own post, but I’ll try to slog through this one. It’s still raw.

will asks:

I watched the "How we designed Windows..." video and I am honestly not sure what to think. On one hand I am ok with them giving a peak at the process, but on the other I do not feel this was a good way to build something. Apple seems to get design, not always, down. While they have issues with functions and limiting the use of something, they do get the design part down. Microsoft not so much. I always see Microsoft as Ford, in that we can build a box with wheels and that is what they stick with. I would love to hear your take on this?

This video has driven me to a very dark place.

It is an insult to anyone who cares about Windows. It provides a terrible insight into the lack of deep thought that went into a feature that neve...