Microsoft admits that Windows 11 has lost its way

Microsoft is trying to restore Windows 11’s reputation and reshape its app ecosystem. Both efforts are centered around one idea: going back to basics and making the operating system feel like a fast, cohesive, native-first platform again. This shift starts with Satya Nadella’s promise to “win back the fans” and culminates in the public declaration that “Native apps are BACK!” for Windows 11.

During Microsoft's third-quarter 2026 earnings call, Nadella put consumer Windows in the spotlight.

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As part of Microsoft's broader effort to reconnect with users across all its platforms, Nadella described the Windows strategy as a back-to-basics project around performance, quality, and core UX.

“On our consumer business, we are doing the essential work needed to win back fans and drive engagement across Windows, Xbox, Bing and Edge. In the short term, we are focusing on the essentials, prioritizing quality and better serving our core users,” the CEO said .

He mentioned the work already underway on Windows 11, such as performance improvements for devices with lower memory, an optimized Windows Update experience, and a focus on "core features and fundamentals that matter most to our customers."

The comments came as Microsoft reported that monthly active Windows devices have surpassed 1,6 billion, a number that includes Windows 10 and earlier versions. Nadella argued that over time, “the value of Windows will expand to deliver unlimited intelligence at the edge,” positioning the operating system as a local substrate for AI workloads rather than simply a thin client for cloud services.

For long-time Windows users, however, the most immediate concern was the ads and upsells in the experience, inconsistencies in the UI, and system components that seemed slow compared to older versions.

Microsoft has already announced at least 18 notable improvements for Windows 11 in 2026, several of which will be rolling out to early adopters soon. The company is quietly testing a “more streamlined” Windows with fewer upsells and ads in the setup flow, along with a more streamlined installation that for the first time will require fewer clicks to get to the desktop.

Microsoft apps are also experiencing issues. Copilot 's web-based app on Windows 11 pulls a full Edge stack and, in testing, has been observed to use around 500MB of RAM in the background, rising to as much as 1GB during active use.

The company's answer isn't to abandon rich clients, but to rebuild them with native tooling. Rudy Huyn, a partner working on the Store and File Explorer, said it's forming a team focused on building better apps for Windows 11, confirming that new experiences from this team will be "100% native."

This effort was also mentioned by David Fowler, a distinguished Microsoft engineer known for his work on .NET and ASP.NET Core, when he posted a simple message on X : “Native apps are back!”

Within the Windows community, the comment has been interpreted as an indication that Microsoft intends to move core experiences away from web wrappers and back to native frameworks like WinUI.

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