Microsoft is reportedly fixing Windows 11 to take on the Steam Machine, but here's what else it needs to do

Microsoft has reportedly started a new internal initiative to get Windows 11 running faster and more reliably. It's hoping to steer people away from the idea of ditching Windows in favor of a Linux gaming PC like the Steam Machine. With the Steam Deck's SteamOS having proven to run much faster than Windows 11 on identical hardware, Microsoft has plenty of catching up to do, but it thinks it can get there within two years.

However, while improved performance would be great, Windows 11 has plenty of other issues that have led many gamers to start considering Linux gaming PC alternatives. If Microsoft is truly going to turn the tide, it might have to fix these issues, too.

What Microsoft has committed to, according to "sources" speaking to Windows Central, is that a new Windows K2 initiative was started in the second half of last year, and has been tasked with addressing "the biggest complaints that people have about Windows 11 today." These include its overuse of AI, poor performance, and unreliability.

Windows Central goes on to say that the initiative has three foundational pillars that Microsoft hopes will lead to major improvements for the OS. The first is that teams are being steered away from agility and shipping updates as quickly as possible, instead being asked to ensure updates are robust and reliable.

Teams are also apparently being encouraged to communicate and innovate internally, so that development isn't bogged down by just addressing feedback and fixing existing issues.

Despite the above, community feedback is also being encouraged, with a move to reinstate Windows Insider meetups and more development team leaders being urged to have a social media presence, so there can be more interaction with users.

Some of the end goals of all this work include efforts to speed up File Explorer, improve file search, remove ads from the Start Menu, rebuild the Start Menu to run faster, and add back in the option to move and resize the taskbar. Microsoft has also already suggested it hopes to have performance parity with SteamOS within the next two years.

It all sounds encouraging, and we've already seen just how much of a difference to performance some focused software work can make with the special gaming handheld version of Windows that shipped with the Xbox Ally X. It ditched much of the core Windows interface in favor of a handheld-friendly one, which saved around 2GB of memory usage, in turn slightly boosting frame rates.

More work along those lines for the Windows 11 desktop would be very welcome, but there's plenty more besides that I'd really like to see Microsoft rethink. For instance, the insistence on needing a Microsoft account just to install Windows.

Microsoft has been pushing for users to set up Windows with a Microsoft account for years, but there have always been workarounds. Now, however, there's effectively no easy bypass, so if you do want to run a local-only account, you now have to set up Windows with a Microsoft account, create a new local account, set it to admin, and then delete the Microsoft account. How about just giving us the simple option back, thanks?

While we're talking about Windows setup, getting rid of all the incessant prompts to use Office 365, CoPilot, and OneDrive at every step - along with each time you update - would go a long way to restoring goodwill. And while they're at it, let's not have Windows constantly reinstate Edge as the default browser, or ask if we'd like to switch back to it.

If Microsoft really can address these issues quickly, it could be the comeback of the decade, and give Valve's upcoming Steam Machine a sterner test than might have been expected.