- Dave Plummer was a software engineer for Microsoft a couple of decades ago.
- He argues that Microsoft needs to stabilize, improve and make Windows 11 more performant, rather than adding new features.
- He suggests that Microsoft should do that for a full release cycle until Windows 11 “doesn’t suck.”
A former Microsoft engineer has made clear what he thinks Microsoft should do with Windows 11, rather than pile on fancy AI features in spades, and it’s along similar lines to what I’ve been arguing for a while: namely, go back to the basics.
This is Dave Plummer, who was a programmer at Microsoft in the ’90s and early ’90s, and the creative force behind Task Manager (as well as Space Cadet Pinball) – who (again) pulls no punches in a post on X (and a YouTube video) as The Register points out.
It’s time for Microsoft to have another XPSP2 moment. No more AI, no more features. Just fix it. When I was working on Windows XP, Blaster came out. It was such a big deal that we left out all the feature work. Over the next few months, all we did was improve security. We… pic.twitter.com/JcQgufcCUCNovember 25, 2025
Plummer says: “It’s time for Microsoft to have another XP SP2 moment.”
This refers to the second service pack (SP2) that Microsoft released for Windows XP, with a package designed to fix bugs and smooth out existing problems. operating system to improve any performance or usability issues.
In 2003, the Blaster worm infected millions of Windows XP PCs; It was the WannaCry of its time, more or less, and a huge disaster for Microsoft. When it happened, Plummer notes, “It was such a big deal that we dropped all feature work. For the next few months, all we did was improve security. We didn’t add ‘security features’; we fixed bugs. Lots of bugs. Until there were no security bugs to fix. Then we fixed the ones we didn’t know about yet.”
He adds: “Simply put, we stopped trying to ‘add value’ to the product through features that PMs [Project Managers] We thought users would like it and instead focused on things that had been important for a long time but had been overlooked. Like current performance and configurability.”
Plummer draws a parallel between what Microsoft is doing then and what it’s doing now, in terms of rolling out a flood of new AI features to “add value” rather than fixing what’s wrong with the basics of Windows 11, and that’s enough, as I’ve been insisting for the past few months.
And he concludes: “I maintain that it is time for Microsoft to stabilize, improve and make the system more performant and more usable for advanced users. Only for one version. Only until it stops being shit.”
Analysis: The nail meets the head, but how realistic is this perspective?
As I’ve already made clear, I think Plummer has hit the nail on the head and has, in fact, driven that metal spike through the wooden plank that is Microsoft’s marketing department (which seems to have lost its way in recent times).
At least in my opinion, it seems like the marketing gurus at the top of Microsoft’s PR tree have spread the word about how AI buzzwords need to be pushed, and pushed hard (from ‘agents’ to ‘agentic platforms’ to ‘native AI’, etc.). We had a handful of high-level Microsoft executives talking about the future of Windows in these terms earlier this year, then the big reveal of how every Windows 11 PC will become an AI-enabled PC (another line taken straight from the corporate catchphrase anthem).
This renewed focus on AI has sparked a lot of backlash and bad feelings from many Windows 11 users. At least in terms of us old consumers, who are not that interested in the AI features coming at us left, right and center, and would prefer that Microsoft fix the bugs, weaknesses and missing core features of the operating system, as has been discussed at length in recent times.
Meanwhile, some Microsoft executives aren’t exactly helping the cause by rejecting this popular rebellion.
The general mood seems, at least to me, to be that shareholder perceptions and the value of Microsoft stock are more important than the feelings and needs of everyday users. And that the marketing campaign is more of a priority than the actual substance and practicalities of Windows 11.
And yes, you need marketing to work in a competitive software environment, but it also needs to focus on the quality of the existing product and not just the shiny new things to come.
So, I totally agree that Microsoft should stop the push for new features and the incessant talk about what the future of AI will look like, and start talking about how it will work again in the guts of Windows 11, modifying the underlying code and fixing performance issues and bugs.
However, the question that arises is: is this even a realistic proposition for a company like Microsoft? Could the software giant pause for an entire release cycle, as Plummer suggests, just to fix the innards of Windows 11 with the contemporary equivalent of a service pack?
No, frankly, I highly doubt this idea would work (or even get off the ground) on the corporate side for obvious reasons. But we can hope that Microsoft can at least formulate some sort of new strategy to better address Windows 11’s various niggles, bugs, and performance issues, and start making it clear that it’s taking action on them.
In short, let’s talk less about AI and more details about how Windows 11 will fix some of its long-standing problems going forward.
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