[barondla]

10 was supposed to be the last Windows ever. Now there's 11. Is this going to render older picture editing programs useless?

Perhaps they're basing 11 on W7. Doubtful since every other Windows rarely excells.

Thanks,
barondla

[BigMackCam]

I don't think "Windows 11" (if indeed it's called that upon release) will be hugely different under the hood. I believe it was originally going to be the Windows 10 "21H2" release, and that may still end up being the case. Either way, it's almost certainly going to be an evolution of the current platform with some core OS and UI improvements, rather than a completely new OS. Compatibility with existing Windows software is pretty much assured. Support for older 32 bit CPUs? Perhaps not...

I'm hoping that the WSL / WSL2 aspects will have matured somewhat, as Ubuntu using WSL2 might be a viable replacement for my Ubuntu VM in the not-too-distant future...

Aside from the annoyance of daily updates, I find Windows 10 to be a decent OS... I'm running 21H1 currently and have very few complaints.

[c.a.m]

Windows 11: Clippy 2

C2: Hello, it looks like you're trying to process an image. Would you like help with that?

[Madaboutpix]

10 was supposed to be the last Windows ever. Now there's 11. Is this going to render older picture editing programs useless?

Probably depends on what you consider "older picture editing programs". Of course this is mere conjecture based on using various earlier Windows versions, but unless you're referring to software that was barely running on Windows 10, I wouldn't fear major disruptions. Certainly not to the point of rendering reasonably current software "useless".

As far as I can tell, Windows 11 will be more of an evolution of Windows 10 rather than something completely recoded from scratch. So, no need to sweat it until we know more, IMO.

[saionu]

Discuss what will possibly happen in 2025... For moments are only speculations...

[Not a Number]

Too soon to tell until Microsoft makes a formal announcement. The so-called leaked version looks mainly a UI overhaul. A theme could probably give you the old Windows 10 UI.

Unless they drop support of say Windows 7 program versions I don't see why "older" programs wouldn't work.

[stevebrot]

Is this going to render older picture editing programs useless?

Windows 11: Clippy 2

C2: Hello, it looks like you're trying to process an image. Would you like help with that?

...continued...you have excellent credit at the Windows app store...


Steve

[stevebrot]

Discuss what will possibly happen in 2025... For moments are only speculations...

You Tube

You Tube

Steve

[Its Y I shoot Pentax]

End of the world... more like end of my positive account balance. (again)
Maybe I’ll just pick up a hobby like metal smithing. At then, the tools don’t get updated on a whim.lol

[BigMackCam]

According to Pocket-Lint's article here,

While Microsoft is bound to pitch Windows 11 as a fully marketed full new version of Windows, the fact is that it’s a design tweak to the existing operating system – it’s most definitely not a revolution. In that sense, it’s unusual for a new version of Windows; 98 to XP or XP to Vista this is not.

This shows in the way that Windows 11 works since it’s very stable and all our apps work without issue.

Interestingly, the UI appears to incorporate some design influences from Mac and linux OS GUIs. It looks quite nice, actually

[Wheatfield]

10 was supposed to be the last Windows ever. Now there's 11. Is this going to render older picture editing programs useless?

Perhaps they're basing 11 on W7. Doubtful since every other Windows rarely excells.

Thanks,
barondla

I still have some programs from the Win98 era that still run on Win10. Windows has a pretty good track record for not breaking old software. This is one of the major ways they differ from Apple which seems to break older software every time they come up with a cutesy new name for their BOS.

[UncleVanya]

Where this will likely come into play is manufacturers and packages OS versions. When Win10 shipped there was a period of overlap but eventually the manufacturers dropped support for Win7 drivers for new gear. It’s typically a slow death. Expect native programs for Win10 to work. Expect very old programs (XP, Win7) to begin to fail to work fully on the new OS. But this is purely speculative.

[Kozlok]

W11 looks to be a minor appearance change. Probably, behind the scenes, nothing at all changed. My guess this is mostly a ploy to force corporate customers to pay for the "upgrade". They will probably add some marginally useful anti-hacking widget and scare the big companies into paying for it.

[Sir Nameless]

My guess this is mostly a ploy to force corporate customers to pay for the "upgrade".

My employer is still in the process of upgrading everyone to Win 10. Yes, we still have some people on Win 7...

[boriscleto]

I still have some programs from the Win98 era that still run on Win10. Windows has a pretty good track record for not breaking old software. This is one of the major ways they differ from Apple which seems to break older software every time they come up with a cutesy new name for their BOS.

Apple switched from 68K to PPC without breaking anything. 68K applications ran a little slower on PPC but developers could update to a fat app compiled for both. The switch to the Unix based Mac OS X required a virtual machine for older apps. But again, if developers updated to the apps to Carbon they would run natively on either OS. (OS X being BSD-Unix allowed X11 apps to be compiled and run) Apple switched from PPC to X86 and Rosetta would allow PPC apps to run on X86 for several years until Apple depreciated Rosetta. The thing that broke the most apps and drivers was switching from 32 bit to 64 bit. Low level stuff went 64 bit with 10.6, 32 bit apps worked for enough years for developers to make 64 bit versions...And now they are switching to Apple Silicon. Again it seems to be a pretty seamless transition as Rosetta is once again in the OS.

Meanwhile Microsoft is still clinging to X86 and making 32 bit versions of the OS.