Is there a commonly accepted reason why Microsoft makes these big releases so different?
AFAIK macOS has relatively minor changes, in terms of UI/UX, from release to release (look at screenshots of the original OS X vs. the current macOS version). And Linux is entirely dependent on distro, but for me it’s just “has i3wm changed drastically? No? Great!”
My guess is that Windows just does it because they need folks to upgrade, and that’s the only tool they have to force people’s hands…
It’s a direct result of their corporate culture.
MS has different teams competing with each other, and keeping something running well for years won’t get you noticed for a promotion.
You have to do something new to get ahead, preferably more so than the other team working next to you . So that’s what everyone at MS is trying to do.
This is why there are multiple Teams apps, multipe Skype apps, multiple current Office versions and multiple Microsoft login portals side by side now.
It’s why Outlook licensing has a different backend than all other Office apps.
It’s why there are several Windows development branches running in parallel, and several different systems handling updates.
It’s why there’s a dozen different overlapping M365 admin portals that keep changing their UI, and settings keep getting moved around between them.
It makes absolutely no sense for the end user, but it makes sense inside MS’ internal corporate structure.
Is there a commonly accepted reason why Microsoft makes these big releases so different?
AFAIK macOS has relatively minor changes, in terms of UI/UX, from release to release (look at screenshots of the original OS X vs. the current macOS version). And Linux is entirely dependent on distro, but for me it’s just “has i3wm changed drastically? No? Great!”
My guess is that Windows just does it because they need folks to upgrade, and that’s the only tool they have to force people’s hands…
It’s a direct result of their corporate culture.
MS has different teams competing with each other, and keeping something running well for years won’t get you noticed for a promotion.
You have to do something new to get ahead, preferably more so than the other team working next to you . So that’s what everyone at MS is trying to do.
This is why there are multiple Teams apps, multipe Skype apps, multiple current Office versions and multiple Microsoft login portals side by side now.
It’s why Outlook licensing has a different backend than all other Office apps.
It’s why there are several Windows development branches running in parallel, and several different systems handling updates.
It’s why there’s a dozen different overlapping M365 admin portals that keep changing their UI, and settings keep getting moved around between them.
It makes absolutely no sense for the end user, but it makes sense inside MS’ internal corporate structure.