“Windows Sucks” is the cold open to former Microsoft Engineer turned tech YouTuber, Dave Plummer’s latest video. As tongue-in-cheek as Plummer usually is, this video has him go over how he would fix it if “Heaven help us, I was suddenly put in charge.”

“I worked on Windows, and most of my code is likely still in there.” Plummer has a storied past as a developer. As well as working on Windows, he is known for coding the original Pinball port on Windows NT, as well as creating Task Manager. Just a few days ago, he announced that he rescued a 100 lb 14-inch magnetic drive from the '80s with its 622 MB of storage still intact.

As Plummer points out, he left Microsoft over two decades and “nobody’s calling to ask for my opinion. I get no credit for the wins and I take no blame for the boneheaded decisions, though I deserve the right to admire one and roast the other.”

Plummer argues that Microsoft has spent a long time making Windows uber accessible, but, in the process, has turned off power users. Though he likes elements of Windows, he uses his latest video to enunciate why “it really does suck for some people.”

“The things that you do to protect novices, like hiding the sharp tools, adding guardrails, narrating every step with a balloon tip, they turn into real friction for the people who live in the OS all day.” He argues it’s the “right strategy” and a smart business decision for the average user but wrong for those at the high end.

However, Plummer argues there’s a way to build an OS that is both welcoming to newcomers without putting “the experience in mitten mode”. Instead, he argues for a new mode that power users can operate, one that drops all “verbosity” and prompting. He goes on to say it should remove all app suggestions and get rid of web search in local search unless you ask for it (this one, I’m definitely on board with). He then argues this mode should have all settings bumped into a single control space, so you aren’t left hunting for modes in drop-downs, boxes, and other places.

Finally, Plummer argues that the Windows Console should be respected as a tool and a default for power users. Alongside this, he argues Winget (Windows Package Manager), SSH (Secure Shell), tar, “and all their friends” should be “unambiguously available and already on the path for you.” Importantly, Plummer wants this potential mode to accept when you say you’re a power user, without second-guessing you.

Pummer also points out “Privacy and telemetry, being forced into a Microsoft account during setup, updates that surprise like a SWAT team advance” all feel “like rough edges on a product that kind of forgot who’s paying whom, assuming you are paying.”

Plummer argues his version of Windows would come with a privacy ledger that would always log the information your rig is sending elsewhere, with you being able to control how and why that information is sent. He also argues that, if some information is non-negotiable, Windows should have to argue its case openly and “take the PR lumps.” Ultimately, this new mode Plummer is proposing is one focused on user choice, with Microsoft accounts becoming an equally distinct option to just having a local one, and he argues Microsoft should only ever ask you which one you’d prefer once.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

This professional mode is envisioned to have a choreographed Windows Update schedule, with it never booting you from working or changing the UI behaviour outside of the update window. Plummer argues it should also tell you what it does in that update in plain language, and rolling it back should be simplistic.

A common Windows complaint, Plummer highlights all the ways that the OS tries to upsell you or plain sell you on its products and, though teaching users things they may not be aware of is important, “I think we’ve crossed the line over to where the operating system feels like a sales channel for all their other properties.”

This service would likely be paid, in order to remove all those ads, but they argue it would be better in the end, either way.

“Right now, this is what people mean when they say Windows sucks. They’re not complaining about the anti-thread scheduler or the IO stack. They detest the experience of being sold to by your own computer that you already own.”

Plummer does, however, praise Windows. He says, “the kernel is mature and high performance, the storage stack is world-class, and the driver ecosystem, warts and all, is an unmatched feat of cooperation.”

“The punchline then is that Windows doesn’t really suck. It’s that Windows tries to be a friendly town for everybody, and the zoning board forgot to include a neighbourhood for the weirdos who build their own furniture”. After listening to his latest video, I think I might want to build my own furniture too.

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