After persistent criticism: Microsoft promises improvements for Windows 11

Following persistent criticism of Windows 11, Microsoft has announced measures to regain user trust. As The Verge reports, the company has admitted that the operating system's quality does not meet its own standards. In response, the company, increasingly dubbed Microslop, is setting up so-called Swarm Teams – specialized development groups tasked with addressing the most pressing issues.

Criticism of Windows 11 has increased significantly in recent months. Users are complaining about instability, performance problems, and too many bugs, some of which were introduced by updates. Particularly annoying: even basic applications like the Notepad editor sometimes show malfunctions. The announced Swarm Teams are intended to prioritize and fix these problems more quickly than before.

Trust eroded by update blunders

Specifically, trust in Microsoft and the future of Windows has suffered due to various incidents. Updates that were supposed to fix errors sometimes introduced new problems. Printers suddenly stopped working, network connections dropped, and in some cases, updates even led to bluescreens. Microsoft now admits that the previous quality assurance process is insufficient. Specific problems included, for example, months-long remote desktop connection drops, a duplicated task manager, or errors in dark mode.

The lack of stability is also reflected in user numbers. In Germany, almost every second private Windows PC still runs Windows 10. This low willingness to switch is particularly critical because the operating system's regular support ended in October 2025, and users can only rely on extended support until October 14, 2026.

In addition to bug fixing, Microsoft also wants to improve the performance of Windows 11. The Swarm Teams are intended to work not only reactively but also proactively to identify and eliminate bottlenecks. However, it remains unclear how Microsoft intends to measure the success of these measures. The company also did not provide details about the developers involved or specific timelines for upcoming updates. The urgency is evident from recent problems: in January 2026 alone, for example, Microsoft had to release two unscheduled emergency updates – first due to shutdown problems, and a week later due to crashes of OneDrive and Dropbox. Outlook users whose PST files were stored on OneDrive were also affected.

Moreover, Microsoft has made similar promises in the past. Whether the announced improvements will actually materialize will be shown in the coming months. Furthermore, the promises do not address problems such as increasingly intrusive advertising and the AI features that are unwanted by many users. Even the Start menu search redirects users to Edge and Bing, even if another browser is set as the default.

Fundamental questions about the update mechanism

The current problems also raise fundamental questions about Windows' update mechanism. It is unclear whether Microsoft plans to structurally change the quality assurance process. Experts have long called for more comprehensive testing before distributing updates to millions of users. A more flexible update policy, allowing users to better select critical patches, is also under discussion.

For enterprise customers, the reliability problems pose a particular challenge. Many companies are hesitant to switch to Windows 11 because they fear that updates could disrupt ongoing operations. Microsoft has not yet announced any specific measures for enterprise customers.

(fo)