Windows 11½ Parody: Microsoft's OS Gets the Satire It Deserves
Definitely not Windows (Win 11 parody)
A fake operating system that skewers subscription fatigue, ad creep, and AI overreach in modern Windows. Clippy returns as a 365 subscription, the Recycle Bin hides Control Panel, and every dialog begs you to upgrade. The site is an unofficial parody, not affiliated with Microsoft, and its deadpan legal notes are as funny as the fake UI.
Copilot missed its quarterly targets, so Microsoft found me in a ZIP file from 1998 and slapped “365” on me and called it innovation.
- paavohtl
I can tell this is fake from the fact the explorer context menu and the start menu open in under 2 seconds (on a top end Ryzen CPU, nonetheless).
- accrual
This is insanely good and mimics my personal experience of Windows these days. I literally say "pop-up! pop-up! pop-up!" out loud during a normal workday where one pop-up or prompt is rapidly replaced by another. Same app or different, doesn't matter, there's always something trying to grab attention on a Windows desktop unless you configure the hell out of it (and even that is no longer enough).
My favorite "joke" from this site:
> Scan complete: 1 threat found — ChromeSetup.exe
FWIW, I switched to Fedora in January and have no plans to look back. Only $dayjob relies on Windows anymore.
- paulryanrogers
Having recently been reinstalling Win 95, 98 SE, and XP has been quite a reminder how much classic Windows got out of the way. Aside from a single, auto started Tour (with and easy+permanent opt out), there isn't much to slow you down or hold your hand.
Though for the kids it's quite unfamiliar and a bit intimidating. They're used to first-run tutorials and guides popping along their journey. Things are also more easily lost to them when not on the desktop.
I imagine the ideal is probably a first run wizard that could ask users how much help they'd like coming up to speed. Obviously this excludes selling the user's attention to advertisers, not even for first party offerings.
- jedbrooke
It’s too snappy and responsive, real windows I gotta wait with the spinning blue ring thing for a few seconds after clicking ‘x’ on the notifications. That is when they’re generous enough to give an ‘x’ and not force the user through some onboarding flow with no easy way to opt out
- drnick1
It must be hard for Windows users to imagine that on Linux there are is no activation, no Microsoft account, no cloud backup, and no pop-up requesting that you install crapware when you plug in a peripheral.[0] You also own your disk encryption keys and are not assigned an identifier that can be used against you.[1]
[0] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA
[1] https://www.pcmag.com/news/a-hackers-arrest-reveals-microsof...
- bradfitz
This is not realistic; the start menu opens way too quickly.
- throooooo
I can feel my blood pressure raising. Very accurate to the Windows experience.
- metadat
Win XP was peak computing for the masses, and most didn’t have a clue!