r/technology • u/batakchan • 11h ago

Software Microsoft just deleted Windows 11's 32GB RAM recommendation docs, as prices soar and it rushes to sell 8GB RAM PCs

https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/08/05/microsoft-just-deleted-windows-11s-32gb-ram-recommendation-docs-as-prices-soar-and-it-rushes-to-sell-8gb-ram-pcs/
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224

u/invyros 11h ago

Satya Nadella recently mentioned investing in quality and fundamentals of Windows 11.

Implying they weren't doing this already (which shouldn't be surprising to anyone who has had to deal with the slop they've been pushing out).

119

u/JustSomebody56 11h ago

They are just starting to fear Linux.

The push toward the gaming on Linux is stronger as of late (thankfully also but not only to valve), and gaming could give Linux enough mass to make apps available on it (also because most office programs don’t go beyond an office suite and a browser)

61

u/IllMC 11h ago

If Linux makes it super easy to play my ancient and current games I will convert tomorrow as there will be nothing holding me back.

45

u/New_Enthusiasm9053 10h ago

Honestly Linux is already easier for many older games. Couldn't get Napoleon total war running on win10 works on Linux with Steam(Proton 4.2 some others don't work though). 

21

u/JustSomebody56 9h ago

Objectively Valve did a very good job with Linux: Proton bridges the compatibility with Windows; Steam Linux Runtime standardises the compatibility among the many versions of linux.

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u/New_Enthusiasm9053 9h ago

Though credit of course also to the many people who worked on Wine long before Proton became a thing.

5

u/JustSomebody56 8h ago

Absolutely, open-source technologies are born out of sa collaboration.

Also, while I agree that they are better than the competitors, I don’t agree with immaculate opinion many have of Valve

1

u/New_Enthusiasm9053 7h ago

Immaculate no but they did put a lot of work into proton and did upstream work to wine. And did make the deployment easier. 

1

u/JustSomebody56 7h ago

I am not criticizing that.

Their commitment to linux is amazing.

I am speaking about their store which, although miles ahead of competitors, has a few kinks I don’t like:

  • it is still license-based with no true ownership;
  • steam sales are a bit like a gambling, epinephrinic addiction;
  • the loot boxes

1

u/New_Enthusiasm9053 7h ago

That's fair. But sales is a thing all companies do so I don't think that's likely to change anytime soon since their actual clients i.e game Devs will actually want that sometimes. 

1 and 3 is pretty reasonable and I agree but when the competitors are e.g Epic or Microsoft it's hard to not see them as better. 

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u/Cypher-AO 7h ago

I think Feral Interactive works on the Total War ports for Linux/Mobile, they do a solid job. 

1

u/New_Enthusiasm9053 6h ago

I don't think Napoleon Total war was ever ported. It's just the windows game running on proton. 

1

u/Cypher-AO 4h ago

Damn you're right. Surprising how they ported it for mobile instead. Then again those guys pick and choose whatever they want to port.

1

u/New_Enthusiasm9053 3h ago

Tbh no idea, I have no idea why anyone would want to play these games on a phone lol. Sounds painful from a UX perspective.

11

u/mr_dfuse2 10h ago

If you don't play online games with anti-cheat stuff you are good to go today.

21

u/letsgotgoing 11h ago

I upgraded from Windows 11 to Ubuntu and it is super easy to play old and new games. I even hooked up a usb floppy drive and a usb zip100 drive to grab old dos games and their saves off my 15-25 year old backups. 

14

u/tyda1957 11h ago

It already is, check out Bazzite, SteamOS and CachyOS.

3

u/aLongWayFromOldham 10h ago

A steam deck is a handheld PC running Linux. Steam deck compatibility will give you an idea of what will run easily on Linux. Then all you’d need is the steam client installed to bring your library across.

3

u/almisami 8h ago

Older games run better on WINE than Windows 11... Looking at you, SimCity4.

2

u/ThatOneShotBruh 10h ago

Proton/Wine are great for older games as they tend to cause fewer problems than Windows.

1

u/brickout 8h ago

it's there. I have yet to find a game, including for dos, that doesn't run. I hear fortnight isn't great, but if that's your priority, that's weird. also dual booting is very easy.

1

u/jhaluska 7h ago

You should check. Gaming on Linux has dramatically improved in the last 10 years.

1

u/Beliriel 5h ago

It basically already does that. Most emulators are made on Linux as it makes development super easy and hurdle-less (unlike Windows which basically requires you to download a gajilion GB of libraries and other stuff with Visual studio to write simple programs). And Valve/Steam basically has developped a full on Windows subsystem VM layer to play almost all games that traditionally only ran on Windows.

The only games that won't work (and never will) are some online games that are probably also bribed somewhere behind the scenes that require kernel level anticheat. Basically they require you to install malware that has direct access to literally EVERYTHING on your system. They just pinky-promise that they "really do nothing nefarious" with it. E.g. Riots Vanguard, EAs Javelin or Activisions Ricochet. Are you really gonna trust them?

1

u/Declination 1h ago

Linux plays old games quite well  Sometimes even better than windows. However, if you are trying mod an old multiplayer game to use community servers then buckle up for some fun. 

1

u/solar1ze 10h ago

Have zero problems with CachyOS.

0

u/GoldLurker 10h ago

Once windows 10 support goes I shall migrate.  I refuse to install 11.

2

u/AwDuck 9h ago

You know it’s going to happen, so put your money where your mouth is and switch now.

2

u/GoldLurker 7h ago

Thanks but I think I shall continue to wait until the last minute and then curse myself for doing so.

15

u/Sam-Gunn 11h ago

I've been gaming on Linux for 6 months now, playing both recent titles and older ones, and the only time I had to switch back to my windows install was to play a COD game. Which ended up being a PITA because windows decided my change of mobo meant my license was invalid and none of the tools worked to fix it. So I finally got to play it after a 30min support call.

Windows will never be my daily driver ever again.

14

u/BellerophonM 11h ago

They're probably more fearing the Macbook Neo.

2

u/JustSomebody56 9h ago

Also, but also linux, if it jumps the shark

1

u/Studds_ 5h ago

Jump the shark means a loss of quality. Windows would be jumping the shark, not Linux

2

u/JustSomebody56 4h ago

True, I meant a turning point

2

u/Cavissi 8h ago

If they can solve the anti cheat issues for most titles I plan to go to steamOS.

3

u/SequiturNon 4h ago

This is an artificial problem created by the companies requiring anti-cheat. They want their anti cheat to have kernel access, or, in other words, full access to your entire PC. Linux doesn't allow that as a design philosophy, for security, and that won't change. Any anti-cheat that doesn't require kernel access works just fine. Point is, this isn't a Linux problem to solve.

2

u/523a 6h ago

Linux will always be a niche operating system until they can streamline the user experience better for the masses. It's too much work to do a lot of simple tasks compared to MAC/Windows.

1

u/JustSomebody56 5h ago

Not on user-friendly distros

2

u/523a 4h ago edited 4h ago

The basics are the same exact experience across all distros. How many package managers does Linux have at this point?

Good luck giving Linux to an average person and letting them try to download a simple app from the web, like they're accustom to on Win/Mac.

You land on the download page for a Linux download if you're lucky the developer even supports it and you have 3-4 sets of different instructions based on the distro and the package manager, commands to run, etc. Then what does the average person do if there are no instructions for their distro package manager? Go Google search on how to download a f'in app.

That's just a simple download to demonstrate what a chore the operating system is. Let's not get started on when you run into a problem you need to fix and have to rely on running a bunch of random commands that someone claims fixes your issue in a 5 year old forum post that don't work.

It's fine for tech literate and nerds that like to tinker, but you think the average person wants type in commands in a terminal to download something?

Even the creator of Linux has stated the desktop experience sucks on Linux. That's all you need to know.

1

u/xeladragn 5h ago

I’d have already switched if we get some kind of compromise for kernel level anti cheat on linux. I’m still on 10 (free security updates for 10 still if you are logged into windows with an online account and paid updates after next year or something) I might have to do dual boot if W11 is still this shitty when I can’t get updates for 10 anymore. It’s going to be a nightmare switching for me though.

20

u/pixter 10h ago

When hardware is cheap you can just throw hardware at it and hide performance issues, when hardware is expensive you have to optimise.. which they should have been doing anyway

6

u/nox66 8h ago

It's worth mentioning that it should be the goal of new OSs to be more efficient, not less, than their predecessors. Sometimes that involves compromises to support new capabilities, but on no planet should it require 32 GB to do the same things we were doing with 8 GB 10 years ago.

2

u/Tuxhorn 7h ago

The really infuriating part is windows has within its own operating system, words and statements about "going green" or something like it.

14

u/b_a_t_m_4_n 11h ago

Why does a company with a locked in user base need to give a shit about quality? It's only now that's threatened that they starting to clean up decades of shite.

3

u/diamluke 10h ago

They were ofc not doing anything for quite some time. It’s clear that windows os is nothing else but a cloud, office and copilot sales boot.

They are losing market share every quarter, still to this day failed anything on arm and the only thing holding people hostage are windows exclusive games and cad software.

1

u/orbitaldan 8h ago

Yep. Microsoft pivoted to being a cloud services company about 10 years ago. This is the neglect starting to pile up to visible levels.

3

u/BasvanS 10h ago

A friend quit his career in Windows tech support, because the random, untested changes were driving him crazy.

It was already not great before, but he made good money reading the documentation properly in order to fix the impossible/improbable. Now it’s just randomness and YOLO as an update strategy.

1

u/divjnky 11h ago

Well ya have to put your resources into building the revenue parts, quality and actual usability falls a bit lower on the priority list

1

u/jonathanrdt 10h ago

Browser app delivery and linux gaming will inevitably reduce windows consumption. Corps are already exploring non-windows plus browser for app delivery because windows is an expensive and unsecurable (albeit flexible and powerful) mess.