22H2: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Premium)

With Microsoft finally releasing Windows 11 version 22H2 today, it’s a good time to step back and consider what Panos Panay and his crew have wrought after a more acceptable development timetable than with the first go-round. The cynical view, of course, is “not much,” especially when you consider how much time has gone by and how few big features there are. But a more nuanced view can find some wheat among the chaff.

For background, please refer to my original Windows 11 review—which I accurately described as “fresh, familiar, and incomplete”—and my Windows 11 version 22H2 review, which, despite being published almost two months ago, is very much accurate to the finished product. This article is based on my months-long experience of using 22H2, the 225+ pages I’ve written of the Windows 11 Field Guide so far, 22H2 review materials provided recently by Microsoft, and an on-the-record discussion about 22H2 with Microsoft’s John Cable and Aaron Woodman.

The good

Windows 11 is still free. Aaron Woodman said that “there is no end date” for the free Windows 11 update. So if you have an eligible Windows 10 PC and want to upgrade, there’s no reason to jump on it quickly. Likewise, if you have a working Windows 7, 8, or 10 retail product key for some reason, you’re good to go: Windows 11 is free and will apparently always be free.

Business customers can skip interim feature additions. Whatever your stance on Microsoft’s ridiculous “one feature update a year” promise, given that there will be multiple feature updates between each of those, the software giant is at least doing the right thing for its best customers: those interim updates will be disabled by default for Windows 11 Enterprise and Education users (and enabled by default on Home and Pro), and the interim updates will instead be delivered as part of the next feature update. So all of the interim features that Microsoft delivers between 22H2 and the next release will ship to Enterprise and Education users in 23H2. (IT can opt-in to any new feature too, of course. None will.)

Hardware requirements aren’t changing. The hardware requirements for Windows 11 version 21H2 were arbitrary and artificial, but here’s some good news, I guess: they’re not changing for Windows 11 version 22H2. And yes, people with ineligible PCs can still install Windows 11 as before; that is not changing either. “It’s not officially supported,” Cable said. “But we know fans are willing to take the extra steps.”

There are some terrific new features. The new accessibility features, especially system-wide live captions and voice access, are incredible. Snap Layouts finally makes Snap discoverable, which is terrific. And Smart App Control is probably a major security advance, albeit one that is only enabled on new PCs and clean installs.

The bad

Naming is easy, Microsoft makes it hard. Microsoft continues to mix and match its names, and Woodman straight out admitted that we would see this version of Windows referred to as “the Windows 11 2022 update,” even though the real name is Windows 11 version 22H2. (The Windows 11 2022 update is the name of the update you install to get to Windows 11 version 22H2.) I hate that they don’t understand why is a problem. Again, words matter, but especially with technical topics.

You should be committed. John Cable said that Microsoft was “committed to Windows 10” and said that it would continue its “ongoing transparency about updating” but went on to decline questions about when Windows 10 version 22H2 would ship and what features it would contain.

Ads, yes, but reasonable communication, no. When asked if Microsoft would put in-app communications about the new features that were just added to Windows, be it a major feature update like 22H2 or coming smaller feature updates, Woodman said no. So Microsoft has no issues spamming Windows 11 users with ads, but it won’t advertise new features that were just installed? That’s not just dumb, it’s borderline malicious.

I don’t know, do you? When asked how many times Microsoft would update Windows 11 between 22H2 and 23H2, Woodman said, “no idea.” End quote.

Distribution style. When asked whether major feature updates like 22H2 would be delivered as full OS upgrades or as servicing-style updates, Cable said he was unable to comment on that for some reason. “It’s impossible to say,” he added. “We will use whatever mechanism matches the volume of the features.” OK, but what are you using for 22H2, which has been complete since July? No comment.

Build number? More like build dumber. What’s the build number, Cable and Woodman were asked. No comment.

Soft numbers aren’t real numbers. When the Xbox One has getting killed by the PlayStation 4, Microsoft stopped releasing console sales figures and instead relied on other metrics to make it look successful. And so when Windows 11 didn’t get the upgrade numbers Microsoft wanted, it turned to other metrics to make it look successful. For example, even though we know that Windows 10 is by far the most successful version of Windows, and Windows 7 is number two by a wide margin, we’re told now by Panos Panay that Windows 11 is “the most used and most loved version of Windows ever.” Um, what? When pressed on what this meant, Woodman claimed that these accolades related only to the time since the pandemic started and that people were now using Windows for “more and more use cases.” As bad, we were told that all CEO Satya Nadella cares about is user satisfaction. Hm. I bet he cares about revenues and usage share too. And even the best estimates put Windows 11 at about 20-25 percent of the usage of Windows 10 right now. Or as Microsoft would—no, did­­—put it, “Windows 11 upgrades are exceeding expectations.”

Some of the best coming new features aren’t in 22H2, they’re arriving in October or November. Don’t get too excited about File Explorer tabs, as that’s not arriving in 22H2 but is instead part of what Microsoft calls “continuing innovation.” Ditto some new Photos app features, suggest actions when you do a Copy operation, a new Taskbar overflow experience, and improved sharing. It’s coming soon, we promise.

Android apps are everywhere. Today, Windows 11 users can enjoy a bit fewer than 60 Android apps and games. But somehow, this figure is going to jump to over 20,000 apps and games … soon. I guess. And the Amazon Appstore for Android will soon expand to 31 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and more. But here’s the weirdest bit about Microsoft’s partnership with Amazon: Amazon Prime Video is coming to the Movies & TV app in Windows 11. For some reason.

When commissioned studies go wrong. Microsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to create a study describing how much enterprises could save by upgrading to Windows 11. And it sure is compelling: over three years, the average end user at enterprises that upgrade to Windows 11 will see a productivity boost of 5 to 15 percent. And Windows 11 requires “no significant user training,” the study determined, despite the all-new Start menu and Taskbar and all those missing features from Windows 10. The projected return on investment (ROI)? Between 109 and 394 percent. They have no idea.

The ugly

Your feedback is not important to us. My biggest problem with Windows 11 version 22H2 mirrors my central complaint about the original release: it’s not feedback driven. Where Windows 11 21H2 shipped after just three months of testing and reflected no feedback at all, Windows 11 22H2 at least had a year of testing under its belt. And yet very few of its new features were driven by feedback. And, infamously, Microsoft has publicly stated that it has no intention of listening to at least some feedback. That’s not just problematic, it deflates the entire purpose of the Windows Insider Program, and I refuse to believe that many of the people still actively involved ever have any idea what, exactly, they are testing, and why.

You’ve been jammed. John Cable literally said, “Patch Tuesday is my jam.” I know. Gross.

Squishy release policies. In the good old days, Windows releases were easily understood: Microsoft would release a version of the OS, and then it would update it occasionally with new features and regularly with bug and security fixes. That’s no longer the case: each Windows 11 release is just a slice in time and Microsoft will update it again and again between that release and the next. This is arguably OK for end users, and Microsoft was at least smart enough to not inflict these interim feature updates on managed businesses. But it’s a nightmare for developers who need to know which features are available broadly: now, there will be months and months of time when consumers have features that most businesses do not. But whatever. I wish there was more clarity and certainty here. There’s absolutely no reason for a mature product like Windows to have such a squishy updating scheme. It’s like seeing a 70-year-old at a club wearing a white leisure suit and gold chains. All it has to do is be Windows.

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So what are we to make of all this?

Windows 11 is in better shape than it was a year ago, but that’s a low bar. And I’d like to see Microsoft not just communicate more effectively but have a strategy that makes sense for it to communicate. What it’s doing with Windows 11 seems like it’s being made up on the fly. And this platform deserves better than that.