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Is that bad? (lemmy.world)
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[-] meowmeowbeanz@sopuli.xyz 184 points 3 days ago

Oh, but it absolutely is true. Microsoft really did decide to use React Native for parts of the Windows 11 Start menu. They're also using it in sections of the Settings app.

The technical reality is even more absurd than the meme suggests. Microsoft is currently maintaining eight different UI frameworks for Windows, including their own .NET MAUI and WinUI 3 that were specifically built for their OS. Yet somehow they thought, "You know what this native operating system needs? A JavaScript framework originally designed for mobile apps."

The CPU usage spikes aren't necessarily from React Native itself being particularly heavyweight, but rather from the fundamental architectural choice of running a web-based rendering engine for core system UI elements. Every time you click Start, you're essentially launching a mini web application just to display a menu.

What's particularly galling is that Microsoft has acknowledged WinUI's performance issues for years, to the point where they recommend their partners use the older WPF for performance-critical applications. So instead of fixing their native framework, they decided to add another layer of abstraction.

This is what happens when corporate development teams prioritize "developer experience" and trendy frameworks over system efficiency. Richard Stallman's expression in that image perfectly captures the appropriate level of technical horror at this decision.

The old world built operating systems. The new world builds web apps that pretend to be operating systems.

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[-] m3t00@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago

it needs to check your license and onedrive files for DRM compliance. every click

[-] 9point6@lemmy.world 321 points 3 days ago

Holy fucking shit this isn't just a meme, wtaf is going on at Microsoft.

The FOSS aficionados of Lemmy will probably be quick to tell me it's always been shit, but this seems like a marked increase in bad decisions in the past 5-10 years

[-] brot@feddit.org 253 points 3 days ago

If you go back to an older version of Windows, it becomes clear how bad Microsoft has become. Try Windows 95 and you'll be surprised how clean it is. How few distractions the OS is showing into your face. How tidy the menus are and they also give you little hints for the keyboard shortcuts

[-] victorz@lemmy.world 135 points 3 days ago

little hints for the keyboard shortcuts

FYI, those are called menu mnemonics. 😊

[-] Revan343@lemmy.ca 109 points 3 days ago
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[-] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 72 points 3 days ago

I look forward to a glirchy vibe coded OS that uses embeded AI for everything, yet some people still manage to turn into a demented semi-functional ecosystem. Probably mostly run by seniors and computer illiterate consumers who just "want latest tech" for bragging rights.

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[-] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 53 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I used to do V Dash contracts for MSFT.

I knew that the Xbox 360 3RR, red ring of death problem... was so bad, that it actually would have been more cost effective for MSFT to give each buyer two 360s, instead of one, at the same price, because of how mismanaged the RMA process was... I knew a whole bunch of such details a almost a decade before the documentary on it came out.

Yay NDAs.

...

I was also there during the Windows 8 rollout.

Shut down basically everything for a month, because MSFT 'dogfoods' all their software: Every MSFT worker is beta/alpha testing all MSFT software all the time.

We spent weeks just, unable to have more than 3 windows open at a time, half the tools we used on a daily basis just not working.

We asked them to let us go back to 7, asked them if therr was some way to return to a 7 like GUI.

For weeks they said nope, impossible, Win 8 is an entirely new GUI, totally new OS, the Win 7 GUI isn't there.

Oh then uh, weeks later, yeah, yeah it actually is there, you just have to follow this arcane override proceduren to see and use it.

... And then they just relented, put the non tablet UI fully back in, and called that Windows 8.1.

...

Windows is now layers upon layers upon decades of insane spaghetti code.

Even in Win 10, which was the last version I ever used... there are like 3 or 4 different eras of UI, for various settings menus, which people sometimes need to actually use... but they are considered legacy and thus not important.

Sometimes some newer era UI menus will have some of the options from some of the more buried stuff, but not all of them.

It is a gigantic fucking mess.

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[-] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 39 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Don't they have like 9 graphics libraries and frameworks accross 4 languages already?

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 90 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

It's actually at least 13.

[-] frankpsy@lemm.ee 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I remember people arguing that Linux having two main toolkits were holding it back back in 2000-2010 but then Microsoft invents a few billion UIs just for itself. Even the one big megacorp can't be bothered to keep things consistent.

[-] based_raven@lemm.ee 16 points 2 days ago

They need to scrap all this shit and take a massive step back and start over. Absolute bollocks.

[-] kazerniel@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago
[-] Spaniard@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

And that's one of their best UI. You understand everything with a single glance, no need to press shift to get more things, there are no more things, that's all there is.

[-] plenipotentprotogod@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

It's an interesting piece of tech ephemera, but devils advocate here, I'm not sure that I agree with the implication that this is a bad thing. The UI works. It gives you all the options you need with no major downsides or pain points. In this case, I think there's something to be said for: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

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[-] jj4211@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

Ironically, this is the result of various people at Microsoft at various times declaring "we need to scrap all this shit and start over"

There's some logic behind each, but each time assumes they don't have to do anything to port forward the previous approach to new UX standards as those will just die out. If it was roughly 13 screenshots of different developer experience, but consistent looking and behaving UI for the actual user, everyone could just shrug, maybe developers getting a bit grumpy about Microsoft's inconsistency.

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[-] livingcoder@programming.dev 17 points 2 days ago

I had to test it. That is wild.

[-] krolden@lemmy.ml 21 points 2 days ago

Oops I pit my mouse in the bottom left now its loading 50 web pages filled with ads under the guise of being a widget

[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 142 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I have a Windows laptop for the first time in well over a decade for a project I am working on. Even though it is overpowered (i7, 64gb ram), and it is currently "idle", the cooling fans are working overtime because the damn OS is always busy doing some random shit when "idle". This is AFTER I ran a debloat script. It was near impossible to use before then.

EDIT: I found the cause of the fanning issue and different behavior between Win 11 and Linux (Pop!_OS). Even though the laptop comes with an Nvidia RTX 4000 series GPU, Windows 11 set the global default GPU to be the integrated graphics (Intel UHD). The same laptop under Pop!_OS automatically set the default GPU to Nvidia. As soon as I dug this up and switched the settings to Nvidia, the laptop stopped fanning full speed nonstop.

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[-] Fleur_@aussie.zone 6 points 2 days ago

Switched to windows 10 a month or so ago just for ease of use with video games and mods. Man does windows suck ass. Wants to open random web pages, use dumb AI tools and give me useless info on every empty inch of screen space . At the end of the day it works but quality of life is low.

[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 56 points 3 days ago

It's why I'm gonna change to Linux permanently come the end of Win10.

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[-] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 29 points 3 days ago

Is it really? Does microsoft have no faith in its own user32 UI API?

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[-] ramble81@lemm.ee 93 points 3 days ago

Seriously? Got a link for that? (Not in a “I don’t believe you” way, but more of an “I’m curious to learn more” way)

[-] The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world 80 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Somehow this is hard to google, so sorry for linking to reddit, but here's a thread where people are discussing it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/1ctuz4w/the_recommended_section_in_start_menu_is_actually/

(edit: looks like someone found a better source elsewhere in the comments)

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[-] nuko147@lemm.ee 46 points 3 days ago

New CPU benchmark: 100 start menu clicks per second.

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[-] xor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 days ago
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[-] net00@lemm.ee 70 points 3 days ago

Why are they even building native modern frameworks like WinUI only to use react native of all things...

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[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 67 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Fuck JavaScript in all its forms.

Ok, in a browser is fine. But HARD pass on electron and all this bullshit

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[-] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 52 points 3 days ago

And it's a terrible app, at that. No organization, just either some random application links, or one giant list with no categories or organization past alphabetical.

[-] d00ery@lemmy.world 61 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Recently something has changed and the start menu likes to search for apps in its browser (not my default app). I used to press windows key then type "snip" for the screenshot tool, now half of the time is does the wrong thing ...

Also here's a link to post talking about react in the start menu https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30384494

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this post was submitted on 28 May 2025
1334 points (99.2% liked)

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