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Maintaining your business operations without disruptions is Bryley’s reason-to-be. That’s why Bryley recommends that managers not be swayed by inducements to free upgrades and any pressure to use the latest tech. Because while this period of a free OS may be appealing,1 Windows 11’s main reason-to-be, in the words of Microsoft CEO Sataya Nadella, is as a single,”open platform” that behaves consistently, no matter the device. It integrates styling and an interface-approach from the iPhone and Android.2

But that means things are different and moved around and not necessarily in the interest of productivity. As an example: “My Computer” – the gateway to exploring and moving files and folders – became “This PC” in Windows 10 and is now hidden in Windows 11. Is it going to stay this way? Or it’s speculated Windows 11 may have further updates that bring back lost functionality. A major revision of Windows 11 is already being worked on for 2023.3 Is there any reason to retrain employees at this early stage in the OS?

Don’t Bite Off More than You Can Chew

Microsoft may be pushing this update, but will you have compatibility issues with the applications your business depends on? Shouldn’t Windows 11 compatibility be fully vetted and any issues resolved, before your company-wide deployment?

Windows 11 bugs will continue to crop up as more people adopt. As long as this remains a free update, you might bear in mind the proverb, “if you’re not the customer, you’re the beta-tester.”

Also the minimum system requirements are lofty (4 GB of RAM and a 1 GHz 64-bit processor among other things4) and if you install it on anything less, you get pestered (as of a March 21 update).5

Maybe it’s worth it to test these things on your personal machine, but across an enterprise with employees of varying degrees of tech astuteness? Isn’t that a recipe for more calls to IT support?

Take the Cake

For all these reasons for the time being, Bryley advises not clicking on Microsoft’s update to Windows 11. There are no more security risks staying with Windows 10 than going to Windows 11; Windows 10 will be fully supported until October 2025 … while the benefits of continuing to use a proven operating system include stability and reliability.

And security, stability and reliability is Bryley’s job description. It’s the bottom-line reason Bryley is advising this wait-and-see approach to Windows 11. If you have any questions about our methods or imagine Bryley’s kind of reasoning might benefit your organization, please contact Bryley at ITExperts@Bryley.com or call 978.562.6077.

Windows 10 update screen

In spite of Microsoft’s encouraging words, Bryley advises not pursuing the update to Windows 11 at this time.

1 and will try to install automatically in machines that meet the minimum system requirements
2 https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/apple-has-always-been-the-anti-microsoft-now-windows-11-is-the-anti-apple
3 https://www.techradar.com/news/windows-11s-next-big-update-for-2023-is-already-underway
4 https://www.zdnet.com/article/will-your-pc-run-windows-11-even-microsoft-cant-say-for-sure/
5 https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/21/win_11_hardware_requirements_nagware/