Like I said. You can't please everyone, and I don't expect MS to try.
During the W10 release, they advertised that they listened to Users. They did. Probably most of the input came from their biggest user base (Business), and the rest were largely (but admittedly, not entirely) ignored.
I disagree with pulling features out of windows and relying on third party software to fill the void, when millions of home users are asking for them back. Especially the UI customization features.
I'm sure that there will be people who love the new release "out of the box". They don't mind an extra two or three clicks (how hard is that anyway.), and they will not miss customization features they never use. Burying commands under sub menus? Changing layouts? Remove existing features and replace them with third party software? Hey! adapt and overcome baby! learn it and "Get used to it"! Could it be better? SURE! But it's what we got.
MS probably feels safe using a business model of ignoring home users because in the end, we always "come around". As I tried to illustrate in previous posts, home users will ALWAYS end up using what is served to us. Vista is a case in point. It was NEVER fully "fixed". Every time I stuck a thumb drive into a customers machine and it said there were no drivers for it, I knew I was on a Vista machine. It always had problems. After a time, home users accepted these flaws, glitches and problems as normal. Win 11 will be the new normal. Eventually 11 users will "forget" that Windows interface used to be more customizable, and the whining will die down to a trickle. When problems start creeping in, MS will blame (who?) third party software; as they do now. That (alone) does not make MS a monster. I know MS can't listen to everyone. If they did, the OS would eventually require its own separate 2TB hard drive. Ignoring millions of home users asking for features to be brought back that used to be in windows but were removed is "Just Business". That doesn't make it right though. There needs to be some balance somewhere.
"People should not have to adapt to the software. Software should adapt to the people".
{me}
Note: Maybe it IS me. Perhaps I'm just more resistant to change than I thought. I was probably one of the last people to leave XP behind for Vista. I skipped both ME and the 8 series. I still to this day use the hard fought for up arrow in Windows Explorer.
Is Win 11 really that terrible? No.... I don't think so. There is just a lot of small stuff that rubs me the wrong way. in the end, I really don't think that the minutia will cause me to skip this edition. I want to dispel any notion gathered from the diatribe above that I am in the Win 11 hater category. I WILL miss the flexibility to tailor the user interface the way I used to though. Adapt and overcome baby!
Publishing registry hacks is not fixing the problem.
Bring back F8