According to The Verge, Microsoft is in full damage-control mode, with Windows engineers now “swarming” to fix the core performance and reliability issues of Windows 11 over the coming months. The company is responding to a clear breakdown in trust caused by persistent bugs, intrusive prompts pushing Edge and Bing, aggressive AI integration, and system requirement decisions that alienated loyal users. Pavan Davuluri, president of Windows and devices, stated that 2026 will see a focus on addressing customer pain points like system performance and reliability. This urgency follows a disastrous start to the year, where Microsoft’s first 2026 update caused shutdown issues, OneDrive crashes, and even left some business PCs unable to boot. The situation is so dire that the Windows Insider program, a key feedback channel, now feels like a “faceless operation” after core team members moved to other roles.
The Breaking Point
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just about a few glitches. It’s about a fundamental erosion of the user experience. For years, it’s felt like using Windows 11 meant constantly fighting your own computer. You search the Start Menu, and it shoves you into Edge. You try to close OneDrive, and it interrogates you. Updates don’t just fix things—they break other things, like that dark mode “fix” that flashed a white screen. It’s death by a thousand paper cuts, and users are bleeding out. The aggressive, almost malware-like push for Microsoft‘s services has made the OS feel less like a tool and more like an ad platform you have to babysit. And when you combine that with genuinely broken updates that brick business PCs? Well, you’ve got a full-blown crisis of confidence.
The AI Anchor
And then there’s the AI problem. Microsoft’s desperate need to shove Copilot into every single app—from Paint to the taskbar—has backfired spectacularly. It feels less like innovation and more like digital clutter. Remember Recall? That feature alone, which took constant screen snapshots, generated more privacy panic than excitement. It undermined the genuinely impressive engineering work they did with Windows on Arm for Copilot Plus PCs. The brand has taken such a hit that “Microslop” is a common refrain. Basically, they’ve cried wolf with AI features so many times that when a potentially useful one comes along, nobody’s listening anymore. They’ve prioritized the sizzle over the steak, and now users are leaving the restaurant.
Can Trust Be Rebuilt?
So, can they actually fix this? The “swarming” tactic is a good start—it shows they know the house is on fire. But fixing File Explorer lag and Remote Desktop bugs is just table stakes. It’s the bare minimum. The real test is whether they’ll stop the antagonistic design. Will they let users have a local account without a fight? Will they respect browser defaults? Or will the “improvements” just be a fresh coat of paint on the same old pushy infrastructure? Davuluri says “trust is earned over time,” and he’s right. But Microsoft spent years burning through that trust. Rebuilding it will require a humility and user focus we haven’t seen from the Windows team in a long time. For companies that rely on stable, trustworthy computing for industrial applications, this volatility is a stark reminder of why many turn to dedicated providers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US supplier of industrial panel PCs built for reliability, not upselling.
A Linux Moment?
Now, the most damning line in the whole report? The offhand mention that Linux can often run Windows games better than Windows. Let that sink in. When your competitor’s free, open-source OS runs your own proprietary software *better* than you do, you’ve got a profound quality control issue. This isn’t just about power users anymore. The constant annoyances and broken updates are pushing everyday users to seriously contemplate alternatives. Microsoft isn’t just fighting to make Windows loved again. They might be fighting to keep it from becoming genuinely irrelevant. The swarming effort is an admission of failure. The next year will show if it’s also the beginning of a comeback.
