Windows Control Panel set for deprecation

I was complaining about the same thing yesterday (to nobody) about the macOS System Preferences - it is irritating that when you are working on the Network Panel and want to fiddle with some other system option, you can't open two different panels in System Preferences at the same time. Isn't it the same with Linux distros too now a days who are imitating Windows and macOS UI?

One at a time, low text density, advanced settings obfuscated at best and removed at worst, quick shortcuts (cpl and such) won't exist anymore. The settings are a fantastic way to solve absolutely nothing by clicking on very large buttons.

Agreed, and more generally, MSFT removing these 'classic' control panels is a significant issue because the new replacements often don't replace the full functionality of the originals.

This isn't simply that he new replacement isn't "finished" yet (which was sometimes claimed in the past when power users complained). In recent years, the reason seems to be the old canard "not enough users use (capability) often enough." However, in the case of Windows control panels, this is reasoning can be invalid because control panels were many times explicitly for advanced users to adjust advanced OS behaviors.

This would be okay if MSFT was creating the new "Settings" paradigm to be an additional kind of basic adjustments-only UI for entry-level users. However, what's actually happening is they're completely removing the old control panel while simultaneously nerfing the Settings replacement, leaving more advanced users hunting through the registry to find a way to control behaviors they've been able to control via interface in Windows for decades.

For ages now Microsoft has been hiding and over-complicating config management on their OS'es. It should be an issue cited by legal authorities. Task manager for example could clearly highlight processes that are part of the original OS, just to distinguish them from 3rd party apps as an easy indicator of system security. The explorer functionality & file display changes with each folder you open, there is no clear path to system TMP files to clear them, and even in many of their apps, you need to learn an entirely different set of hotkeys just to have an efficient workflow.

I don't know why the company obfuscates and complicates operation of it's OS, but so many others including Android & IoS create ridiculously tiered configuration menus to the point where users get so frustrated with every update that I'm sure most just leave default (nefarious) settings as is.

Part of me thinks config complexity will be baked in to keep certification course money rolling in for the company, but with each mandatory "security" update, we're still getting hacked, because configuring our settings now is just too damn tedious.

Microsoft really hinders other innovation on top of not really innovating itself (as a company) by overcomplicating settings and by adding bloatware & monitorware to it's OS... This is also why there's a desperate fight to cling to older OS versions with every new release. The imposed update learning curve is counter-productive, it doesn't make anything better, and it's mostly the end result of us tolerating monopoly behaviors of the company for ages now.

There should be regulation against forcing updates on us, there should also be regulation against arbitrarily removing features post-release in software that we purchased... As we move further and further away from hardware tools, this practice of tiered control and arbitrary feature removal will become a nightmare of predatory corporate greed upon all of us. Imagine buying a lawn mower, and then 2 years later, you find you need to watch ads on it before you can start it, or that you'll have to pay a monthly fee to cut your grass shorter than usual? Pure Hell.

Yeah, so the OS would feel neat. Although the UI is far from neat.

It’s not change for change sake. I’ve read it was notoriously difficult for Microsoft to change things in there and generally do development work on it, which is why it’s stuck around so long.

No. They are just removing stuff. You agreed to give them everything when you installed Windows.

I hope to know that too. And what about enhancing the UI a little bit. What about the windows that show up in light mode while dark mode is on. What about making Explorer a little bit faster.

The Windows ecosystem is at its core about backward compatibility and minimizing training costs (path dependence). There are billions of employees who have to be trained button click by button click. Even their IT support is often trained on Windows only.

And yet Microsoft pushes through all sorts of arbitrary changes that only benefit Microsoft like Candy Crush, Cortana, Copilot surveillance, can't be uninstalled OneDrive, mandatory TPM, and a search that depends on Internet connectivity.

If the CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet corporation I work at is anything like Microsoft, employees are given too much different work that causes needless mental context switching while you go off and do something else while waiting for PRs to be reviewed over weeks because the reviewers are also doing too much different things. Or maybe that’s just the way it works for the massive tech company I work at, but I see things taking a long time to get done for, presumably, the above reason, among many other process and people related reasons. I see lots of fluff around me, not that I claim to be a bastion of sanity in any sense.

Meanwhile Apple rewrites System Preferences to Settings in a single release ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Because drivers and other hardware related software have the ability to add things like tab pages to the Control Panel dialogs. All of those would need to be rewritten to work with the new Settings interface, and with over 30 years of drivers, that’s just not going to happen.

* as the shell

Control Panel isn’t a series of menus you have to navigate through?

The settings app has a search that takes you directly to specific settings, you know.

As if. They are simply going to replace the references to control panel in the docs with arcane PowerShell snippets, because you’re not expected to customize anything anyway

Yeah, there are still so many features missing, and worse there is no documentation for the migrated features, other than searching the Web to find out where similar capabilities might be available now.

Windows 10 and it's Settings app were released in 2014. It's been 10 years, and it's still a fancy front-end with no substance, a tiny fraction of the options available in the real Control Panel.

Where is this supposed "velocity" your speak of, and what has Microsoft been doing with it?

Why is it quite clear to you? You can't just refute people's valid concerns over loss of functionality and deprecating something while advocating a replacement without feature parity by saying 'it's quite clear to me' - you sound ridiculous.

To your last point about how it will change at a rapid pace, when has MS done this for something for advanced users? I don't believe rapid development of Settings is going to kick into gear because of this because that seems not at all like the Microsoft we deal with today, they move very slow on power user features while going full speed on integrating "AI" and various junk in my menu bar - why would you believe Settings will be a priority?

Mini*

It’s like modern cars with plastic covers on the engine bay to make it look like a “Modern engine” and underneath all it’s the same one designed in japan in the 80s.

Between the comma splice and the word substitutions and things, I can't understand this.

Can you try to simplify this, split it into 2-3 sentences, and so clarify what you wanted to say?

I think the question is who are MS making windows for, and possibly where they're getting rewarded for spending their efforts (who gives them money for windows).

The challenge as I see it is 'GUI windows' must serve a very wide spectrum of users from those that just want to use it as an appliance to just launch an application, through various definitions of power user up to workstations for full certified professionals, and I think it's the middle of the pack that really lean on control panel/settings. Appliance users probably never or extremely rarely touch settings, and professionals can take to it like ducks to water if they're using it at all compared to another interface. While I can appreciate some motivations behind what MS do with windows such as security, things like this seem like they're pushing the emphasis more towards appliance and cutting away the 'personal computer' which (without any more research than a wet finger in the air) I think would account for that 'middle of the pack'.

What really bothers me is if it's taken them 12 years since win8 started their movement in this direction to get to the current state, how long will it take them to complete the change, let alone come up with something clearly better where no one would want to use the classic control panel. MS don't give the impression they have the capability or drive to execute that promptly. It seems more likely they'll just remove any mention of control panel from the UI/explorer, but leave the .cpls available unless they cause issues.

MMC was a hidden star of Windows. You could write your own extensions for your application that it would host for you, and you'd get a standard look + feel that sysadmins would feel right at home with.

I have given up a couple of times on writing a Powershell extension. My searches return all sorts of hits on how to use it, but none on how to add objects to it so that modern sysadmins can administer my application. Links to official docs and authoritative blogs welcome.