The Windows operating system is buckling under AI features that seem designed more for shareholders than users, and retired Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer says it's time to hit pause.
"It's time for Microsoft to have another XP SP2 moment," said Plummer, who worked on Windows XP during a pivotal period more than two decades ago.
When the Blaster worm hit in 2003, Microsoft made a decisive switch. "We set aside all feature work," he recalled.
"For several months, all we did was improve security. We didn't add security features. We fixed bugs. Lots of bugs, until there weren't any security bugs to fix anymore. And then we fixed the ones we didn't know about yet."
The work on XP was one of Plummer's last hurrahs at Microsoft, but the experience of Service Pack 2 shaped his opinion on what Microsoft needs to do in order to get Windows 11 back on track.
"Put simply," he said, "we stopped trying to add value to the product through features that PMs [Project Managers] thought users would like and instead we focused on things that had been important for a long time but overlooked."
Fast forward two decades and Microsoft is stuffing Windows with AI features while seemingly ignoring user complaints about performance and reliability.
Microsoft and its managers appear to be largely passing over user feedback regarding AI. Windows boss Pavan Davuluri recently touted AI integration - getting a raft of negative user comments - while AI chief Mustafa Suleyman said he found it "mindblowing" that some people weren't impressed.
Rather than reshape Windows as an "agentic OS", Plummer says the time has come for Windows 11 to focus on stability and performance.
Plummer's prescription is simple: dedicate one release cycle to stability and performance over features. "Just for one release," he said. "Just till it doesn't suck." ®
Source: The register