2025 has been a frustrating year for users of Microsoft operating systems. And, three years after its launch, the serious problems of Windows 11 persist that Microsoft should solve.
The end of the Windows 10 lifecycle was the ideal time to establish Windows 11 as a viable replacement for millions of users. But, on the contrary, it has been a nightmare and the reputation of Windows as a platform has fallen to the levels of Windows 8. We tell you about the profound and urgent changes that in our opinion are necessary to reverse the situation.
The big problems with Windows 11 begin in its quality control
The Windows software quality problem is not new today and we have been talking about it for years. Microsoft adopted a ‘Windows-as-a-Service’ model to facilitate development, feature addition, and support for new technologies through a seamless approach. rolling release similar to the one used by GNU/Linux distributions.
This model was ambitious and at the same time demanding, since it requires greater quality control of all the features that are released. No; has not worked and is the full responsibility of a manufacturer who has reduced internal testing processes and also the external ones. The responsibility for testing cannot fall on external testers with good will, such as Windows Insiders, to whom very little attention is also paid.
The result has been disastrous. Updating Windows every month has become a high-risk exercise. Each release adds errors to an ever-growing list that exasperates users. Even Microsoft admits that Windows 11 is broken. A snowball that feeds on each new update and that clearly speaks of poor version control, if not non-existent that in the midst of apathy does not take advantage of the large testing program that Windows Insiders represents.
¿Continuous innovation or rather continuous irritationAs some analysts highlight? Any building begins with solid foundations and instability is the first of the big problems of Windows 11. That is where the Redmond firm’s efforts should be directed, but in what way?
Some are betting on a return to Service Packwith a development focused on stability and performanceand leaving aside the launch of new functions that would complicate the situation even more. Users do not want more features, but rather solutions to what exists. And what there is does not convince anyone.
Less AI, more human intelligence
You already know that Microsoft wants to monetize its multimillion-dollar investments in artificial intelligence by bringing functions to all its software. Destined to continue fueling investments and fattening the bubble, at the user level its usefulness is questioned and also the opportunity to do so when priorities are different as we have seen in the previous point.
The next step, the announcement of AI agents in Windows 11, has set off all the alarms. If Windows 11 is in a sorry state today when it comes to software quality, imagine what the implementation of this type of autonomous agents could mean, which today can hallucinate, produce output errors, and potentially represent significant security threats.
Negative criticism about the future of Windows as an agent-based operating system has been massive when it was announced. At the moment they are optional, but the future seems planned and the future development of Windows, including Windows 12, will put AI front and center.
In our opinion and linking to the quality control point, Microsoft needs intelligent, but human solutions. The obsession with AI will further harm Windows development. Microsoft’s AI intentions seem obsessive and forced, almost as if the company is throwing everything at the wall to see what works.
In addition to its obvious lack of usefulness, the resource consumption it entails in the midst of a memory crisis, and the fact that you may simply be using AI tools from other providers, many of the AI functions added to Windows require an Internet connection and their data to be sent to the cloud to be useful, which constitutes another privacy concern that adds to the system’s own.
Shareholders and investors are probably impressed by the brilliance of AI, and perhaps business organizations too. But even so, it would not be advisable to forget the interests of consumers who are the great bastion of Windows.
Out with Bloatware and advertising
Windows 11 has too many ads, recommendations, suggestions, notices, remindersstimuli… Some barely concealed and others that are part of those dark patterns that the Redmond firm uses. They are joined by the amount of Bloatware and Windows.
Whether you spend more or less, your brand new PC will arrive full of “junk” software, useless applications and services that penalize the user experience, occupy storage or memory resources unnecessarily, reduce performance and stability and in more serious cases (for example Superfish) seriously compromise the security of the equipment. And even worse. Microsoft continues to use the Windows monopoly as launch pad for your apps and services. The strategy goes beyond Bloatware, relegating those of rivals who do not have the advantage of their own ‘Windows’.
To the thirty long universal applications from Microsoft (most of them useless), the company adds others that have nothing to do with the operation of the operating system itself. The different OEMs install a good number of applications and services, the vast majority of which are of little use (to put it mildly), and together they produce a very bloated system without any need except for their commercial purposes and not those of the users.
Remembering that Windows is a payment system (and not free) all this must change. Microsoft and its partners must be aware of user fatigue and the time wasted cleaning up every time you Buy a Windows PC or upgrade between versions. Another of the big problems of Windows 11 that can be solved quickly… if there is the will
A Windows for games
Windows has been the reference platform for gaming on PC due to the enormous presence of the DirextX libraries in development environments and its wide adoption since the era of personal computing began. But the arrival of alternatives like SteamOS has shown the advantages of a totally specialized operating system dedicated to video games and the need to have a Windows for games and not the extremely inflated general version that is surpassed in performance (and other sections) by Valve’s development.
Windows 11 really promised a lot to gamers since its launch, and the operating system offered some interesting features like automatic HDR. However, more important ones like DirectStorage have not yet reached their full potential in Windows 11, limiting themselves to a niche of PC games and presenting problems with some, so their potential is not yet developed.
The analyzes that say that alternative systems such as SteamOS offer better gaming performance and a better overall experience than Windows. And this even on machines like the ROG Ally laptop that includes Windows preinstalled. Perhaps that is why Microsoft has promised that Windows 11 in 2026 will be “the best place to play”.
Microsoft has confirmed that the Auto SR feature (absurdly exclusive initially to Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon X processors) will be coming to Windows gaming laptops next year. It will also launch the preloading feature for game shaders Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) on more devices and will expand the Xbox interface on PCs.
Aim well, but performance increase is mandatory, as is stability solving bugs related to games. There are also questions about the timeline for introducing the new features, given what we’ve seen with DirectStorage. We will also have to see if it is too late for Microsoft to save the situation in the face of the big threat, SteamOS and Valve’s new Steam Machine. If Valve manages to create an attractive PC for the living room, Microsoft could find itself in trouble and lose considerable market share to Linux since SteamOS is a free system distribution.
