- Settings / control panel inconsistency and the other dozen places you can change configs for a single thing - Telemetry, ads and system crap - Package management and sandboxing
And the list goes on.
1. Old control panels: Drivers may overlay or modify the window, so you can't really change them (don't forget: Windows supports many obscure devices like DAWs and heavy machinery, many things Linux users have never even considered connecting to a PC, and all of those have custom drivers from the device manufacturer that Microsoft doesn't control)
2. Telemetry, ads: Yes, this is a serious "bug" that Microsoft needs to fix, how do they keep accidentally adding fully-featured invasive telemetry and ad platforms into their OS? I guess that's what copying code from StackOverflow gets you!
3. Package management: NuGet?
4. Sandboxing: All modern OSs support lots of sandboxing options, not sure what you mean by this
WinGet is their answer to this one:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/windows-package-m...
It's not proper package management, but it's a start.
Ephemeral, clean, windows instance on demand enabled by hypervisor tech. Only on Pro though. :-/
The bigger issue is that a fuckload of native Windows settings can only be changed through the old Control Panel dialogs. I hate the new Settings app, but they need to make up their minds about what they want to do instead of arbitrarily splitting everything up between the new shitty hotness and the old dialogs.
I understand the driver conundrum, from a user perspective, though, it's unbelievable how confusing and scattered Windows settings are by default (settings app / control panel / registry / AppData) and doesn't seem to exist a firm curatorship of that.
On the telemetry, it's baffling that it may happen even on a paid license and we just put up with it.
that old software will run fine and so will any connected hardware.
so, even if you COULD upgrade to Windows 11 on something, don't, because you'll break it. I can't even think of a good reason to consider it.
if it needs to be on the network, isolate it, and let it do its job. it doesn't need to be fiddled with.
I'd also be having a long conversation with the vendor about using standard expansion interfaces and why soldering to the motherboard is a good way to end my relationship with them as a customer.