Windows 11 Is A Broken Mess (And Microsoft Knows)

Microsoft can't seem to catch a break these days — from its Xbox division that saw deep cuts as the brand's rumored death continues to linger, to the dogpiling of the president of Windows + Devices at Microsoft, Pavan Davuluri, on X. It feels like very few of Microsoft's customers are happy with the direction of the company, and you can certainly see evidence of these complaints when it comes to Windows 11.

Considering locking customers out of the upgrade due to TPM 2.0 hardware requirements, the operating system's well-documented design issues, its many bugs, and constant breakages left for other companies to fix, there appears to be a lot of anger stewing over Microsoft's rather poor handling of Windows 11. Worst of all, Microsoft is well aware of its users' complaints, yet few changes in terms of user satisfaction have been issued. The warning signs are clear. Why isn't Microsoft listening to its users?

AI has its uses, yet remains controversial to consumers. Windows 11 users are often force-fed AI features nobody asked for, arguably propping up all of the companies that are heavily invested in the tech. Should the AI bubble burst, it could take the economy with it. Thus, there is a very real incentive to shove AI into everything, including your Windows 11 OS and apps: Note the recent push for an agentic Windows OS. This explains why AI continues to be forcefully implemented in Windows and its apps, despite the loud outcry from users who don't want it – and when you couple that thought with the fact that even Microsoft's CEO wants the entire company to rethink how to implement the technology, it seems clear AI isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Even Copilot's usage statistics paint a dire image; user visits have been falling since 2024. Then again, Copilot is supposedly the "fastest-growing" Microsoft 365 product, according to the president of Volt Technologies (a Microsoft partner), and many more businesses are set to adopt the tech for their workforces in 2026. Still, this claimed growth is potentially explained by the fact that many of these partners pay employees to adopt the tech by offering bonuses.

The backlash from users remains clear, and many are choosing to ditch Windows 11 altogether, with a 70% increase in Linux installs across distros compared to 2022. Users are leaving Windows 11 in droves, and others are taking advantage of Windows 10's recently announced extended support. Yet Microsoft still isn't listening to consumers; instead, it's continuing to chase AI and the money involved in its partners' adoption of the tech, which could very well lead to a significant valuation drop if things don't go as planned.

It's a tale as old as time. When users don't feel listened to, their outcry will likely grow and spread across social media. Microsoft may have lost the plot, with its users turning against the company in a very public manner. This is predictable when you pay lip service to your customers, which the aforementioned Davuluri X post seemed to gesture toward. Microsoft seems aware that Copilot's integrations "don't work," which is what the whole "rethinking" of its implementations is all about. Microsoft needs to be a lot more nimble to navigate the AI space, as it's currently losing the AI war to entities that own their frontier AI models and don't have to rent them.

Microsoft is a step behind the competition, paying for access to AI models it didn't develop and doesn't own, while shoving them into every product it can muster. This is greatly angering a sizable cohort of Windows users. Unless Microsoft finds the recipe for AI success that the rest of the industry has yet to figure out, or starts listening to its customers and instantiating Windows 11 improvements and debloating, a downward trajectory is expected – even by the CEO. 

You can only ignore your customers for so long. Microsoft learned this lesson the hard way by losing the browser wars, so it will be interesting to see whether the company can turn things around before it is too late.