Windows today is being developed simultaneously by two cooperating divisions at Microsoft. One, associated with the Azure department, is responsible for the technology embedded in the system, for its stability and security. The second, associated with the personal computers department, is responsible for the application layer and integration with online services. That is, finding ways to earn extra money on Windows.

The latter has recently become overzealous, to say the least. It is thanks to them that the user tries to use Chrome or any other Windows browser and occasionally displays banners that it may be worth using Edge. It is responsible for the fact that the button calling Bing Chat is glued to every possible element of the interface. Windows is supposed to chase Microsoft’s free and paid services. Because Windows itself is an almost declining product.

However, advertising spam will be of no use if the medium – the said Windows – is a hated and willingly abandoned product. Fortunately, Microsoft will slightly reduce the intensity of pushing Windows users with elements that interfere with their work. Widgets will eventually become usable for many users.

Users will no longer be forced to read Microsoft News every time they want to use widgets.

Today, the only way not to see Microsoft News content between manually pinned widgets is to pin enough of them so that the newspaper headlines no longer fit on the screen. You can’t use Microsoft News. You need to know that Kim Kardashian operated on something, that Prince Harry has a scythe from the paparazzi and that people born in the sign of Aquarius today can count on successful intimate moments. Of course, you can not use widgets, knock the button out of the Taskbar and have peace of mind. But widgets are a very good idea in themselves. And soon those from application developers will begin to appear, not only from Microsoft and its partners.

Fortunately, you will be able to disable Microsoft News. I mean, there will be three settings: Microsoft News-only mode, user-pinned widget-only mode, and finally mixed mode, which is what it is now. The default one will probably take into account news from Microsoft’s service, but as long as there is an appropriate switch for people who do not like it – this is the right solution.

Why do some people at Microsoft want to demolish Windows?

Windows is not cheap software. Users do not feel this mainly because the price of Windows is usually already included in the price of the purchased equipment. However, computers change very rarely, because they have no real need for it. They have also become accustomed to free updates of non-specialized software. Windows is becoming more and more difficult to sell – both directly to the customer and to the computer manufacturer selling fewer and fewer PCs.

This can be seen in Microsoft’s financial structure. It used to be pointed out that Microsoft is three equal pillars: Windows, cloud (Azure) and productivity (Office). Each accounted for roughly one-third of revenue. Today, Windows accounts for 12% of all Microsoft’s revenues. With a downward trend.

Microsoft has no compelling reason to continue investing heavily in such a mature desktop operating system.

Because nothing new is expected from it, including in fact also by customers and users. In practice, the operating system is used to run those outdated applications that cannot yet be run in the cloud (public or private). Sometimes only due to insufficiently efficient network infrastructure, and this is being expanded extremely quickly.

What customers continue to demand is simplified administration and management and even tighter security. And these are basically the main technical innovations currently being introduced in operating systems. The rest is only for visual refreshment so that the product does not label users and customers.

The integration of Windows 11 with Bing Chat or Microsoft News is not an innovation to Windows from Microsoft’s point of view – but the introduction of another sales hook, chasing traffic to Bing. Because Bing is developmental, Bing can grow and develop, it is expected of it. Just like after Microsoft 365, after Edge, after OneDrive, after the rest. Not after Windows.

Probably most users would be happy if Windows never got any update again. Anyway, iOS, Android and macOS are already in the same position. Users don’t really want anything in their devices to change anymore. It’s different in their apps and services.

Nevertheless, it’s hard not to feel relieved to see that Microsoft is slowly realizing that the PC is a device usually designed for work, sometimes for gaming. And that is what (barely!) escapes on consumer mobile phones – advertising spam hidden under the veil of intelligent suggestions – on a device on which someone is just focused on entering data into Excel, Photoshop or Visual Studio Code is a simple way to push the user into the arms of the competition.