• The Microsoft Way

    From Spalls Hurgenson@spallshurgenson@gmail.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action on Mon May 11 16:41:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


    Microsoft is getting a lot of flak for its new 'K2' efforts, a series
    of patches aimed at making Windows 11 more responsive by updating
    parts of it with the aim of improving its performance and reliability.

    Which by itself isn't a bad goal, although I haven't been particularly
    bothered by Windows 11's performance... at least not any more than I
    am over Windows 10 or any of the previous versions. Then again, I only
    have the one Windows 11 PC and it's seriously over-provisioned
    compared to the average machine, so it is not surprising that I
    haven't had particular problems. I wouldn't be surprised if it feels
    bloated and slow with less powerful CPUs with less RAM. It's Windows,
    after all.

    So improving its performance is a good thing. This means Microsoft is optimizing the code, cutting out unnecessary loops, or reducing
    function call overhead, use object pooling, or re-writing in more
    modern languages. God knows there's probably still a lot of ancient
    code buried in the bowels of Windows that could use a re-write. That's
    what Microsoft is doing, right?

    Well, maybe... but a big part of their K2 strategy also seems to be
    just to get your CPU to ramp up its speed more often, so it can plow
    through its crufty code faster rather than actually optimizing the
    code itself.* And if that causes more wear on the hardware (and drains
    the battery faster), well that's not a Microsoft problem.

    But if you can just OC the CPU all the time, it doesn't incentivize
    programmers --whether Microsoft or third-party-- to write clean, fast
    code. It's a hack, and a short-sighted one at that. Because eventually
    even the fastest CPU is going to stumble upon bad code, and it does
    little to help PCs already on the edge because they've nothing more to
    give anyway.

    But that's the Microsoft way.






    ====
    * more details here https://www.neowin.net/opinions/windows-11-is-getting-faster-the-lazy-way/






    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Xocyll@Xocyll@gmx.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action on Mon May 11 18:04:22 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

    Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    <snip>
    Well, maybe... but a big part of their K2 strategy also seems to be
    just to get your CPU to ramp up its speed more often, so it can plow
    through its crufty code faster rather than actually optimizing the
    code itself.* And if that causes more wear on the hardware (and drains
    the battery faster), well that's not a Microsoft problem.
    So basically "Set Fans to Ludicrous speed!"

    Xocyll
    --
    I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
    a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
    Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
    FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2