Having the Windows button move left and right based on how many programs you have open was an insane, illogical design regression that was only greenlit because of a "copy Apple at all costs" design philosophy
As for the text labels the article is complaining about, I know what he's referring to but I haven't used the feature in so many years I can't make myself sympathize. Just get over it. A full-page article about one missing feature, and then tried to generalize it to sound like the whole OS was similarly bad. But only one example was provided to support the generalization. I'm more disappointed in this article than I am with Windows 11.
Many people have a lot of windows open, and many of them of the same app (not unusual to have 5+ explorer windows open). Not being able to directly click on the right one is a big loss. Just because you don't do work that requires that kind of feature, does not mean that other people don't need it either.
Admittedly it's terrible for your cursor muscle memory to have the start menu button shift around, but most keyboards have a dedicated button for opening it. Why not use it? I know I might be in the minority here, but I vastly prefer the start menu popping up in the middle of the screen instead of the corner. That way I don't need to turn my head / redirect my gaze as much.
Although I get it. Most people just want to work the way they've been working and treat changes to their workflow with hostility. And of course taking choice away from users ("authotarian minimalism" as some comment here put it) is a bad thing. Many of my friends liked to have a vertical taskbar and I'd imagine they're not happy taskbar repositioning being removed from Windows 11.
edit: formatting
However, "just use shortcuts" isn't a solution to bad design. People don't rename things too often, so such shortcuts are rarely picked up. F5 is the only shortcut I think most computer users know about, and I doubt they realise it'll work in explorer as well.
Nobody cares about shortcuts when the problem is that the UI is unintuitive. If they did, they would've already learned and used them. At this point you might as well direct them to Powershell, because that's even more powerful. We're talking about features that people regularly used half a year ago and now can't do anymore.
For young people this shouldn't be a problem, they just need to decode the new iconography, but for the elderly this change in behaviour means re-taking the entire "how to use a computer" course from the start. The continuous design overhaul Microsoft is trying to do for no apparent reason other than please designers who won't be using Windows anyway is only making everyone's life harder.
If you're redesigning, people shouldn't ask where the buttons have gone. Their new location should be logical and intuitive after only a little bit of looking around. With the new context menu (and the new start menu, actually) this isn't the case. It feels to me like the design was made for an entirely new product instead of for an interaction of a product with thirty to forty years of history.
if they would just pin it dead center and keep it there it would be the easiest spot to reach, especially on big screens, but it would also mean you could organise apps on either side. maybe more permanent apps on the left and less used and then newly opened on the right.
i kind of wish pinned tabs in browers would pin to the middle as well for the same reasons. easy to reach but also would let you organise stuff better. stuff you need to do or read later on the left and ephemeral stuff on the right.