I’d say it only excludes a possible age range at the lower end. I might be one hundred years old and look like my Avatar. You’ll never know 
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Fair point.
Although I’m probably what you would classify as a casual user of Cubase, I’ve never found any recent Windows release to be something to avoid. I personally feel that Win 11 delivers a solid user experience.
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Windows 11 IoT Enterprise is also a possibility maybe. Has anyone tried this for a DAW?
I can tell you my own reasons, no harm in doing so but by now I thought it was all clear to everyone.
Buy the way, I never said Windows 11 sucks. I said Microsoft made some horrible decisions.
Justifying what Microsoft is doing by stating that “Windows 11” just runs the software you need is beyond the scope of the issue. Of course “Windows 11” runs the software you need but it also does many other things you don’t need without ever asking your permission to do so.
Anyways, my reasons:
I own my on device, not Microsoft.
I won’t accept when a corporation decides that I need to buy new hardware just to accommodate their personal demands that do not help me in any way.
The TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip only benefits Microsoft not the user.
I don’t want to be forced to have a “Microsoft ID”.
I don’t like AI. I didn’t ask for “Copilot” to take control of my machine (Don’t have any illusions that you can turn it off).
I don’t like to have an permanent AI companion that sees what I see, hears what I hear and live essentially by my side. Meaning that my AI companion will be able to remember everything I said and done form session to session. Understand the context of the web pages I browse or anything else I do.
I don’t like to be kept out of the updates loop. Microsoft behaves like they are the only administrator that knows better what is good form me (on my own PC) forcing updates that can range from anything to everything that serves the corporation interests denying me the option to decide.
If you are fine with all the above, good for you.
Ok. Thanks for replying. I think some of the concerns are actually not grounded on entirely correct notions, but that probably doesn’t matter since there are other things you don’t want anyway. So, fair enough.
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No problem.
This is a conversation between fellow musicians.
We don’t have always to agree and that’s fine.
About the “concerns” based on “notions”, well I can agree that people may have different interpretations and justifications on same issues.
It is a very personal thing that most of the time conflicts with personal convictions.
If you have any interest on the issue, I do recommend this interesting video.
It may be somewhat biased and long but it explains a lot about Microsoft decisions and intentions.
I generally refrain from watching videos of a certain kind, and this one seems to fit that category. I’m just 40 seconds in and I’m hearing a straight up false claim (or implication) and a dumb, hyperbolic take. To me this makes the video just more click-bait sensational doom-and-gloom content that some rando makes money on. I understand that he has some credentials, but from my perspective he’s an unknown entity, on top of which his whole channel seems filled with mostly sensationalist doom content. And before you think I’m some guy who just buys whatever I’m told by those in power: if the actual sentiment is that we’re largely screwed then I actually agree, it’s just that I think we have far bigger problems than Cubendo on Windows at this point.
Either way, thanks for sharing that. The only person I know from MS that regularly interacts with audio users is Pete, and he has a couple of posts here that may be worth reading if you’re interested in this topic. Not saying this in order to convince you, it might be worth reading through just so you see his understanding of how it all works from the inside:
Gearspace - View Single Post - Windows 10 Support is to end soon…foc extended updates
and
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Actually that’s a pretty good point. Once that new midi stack is a bit more mature, I think Windows 11 will be pretty sweet again for midi. That’s definitely some really nice stuff that is coming.
I do exactly the same, most of the Internet content nowadays is personal opinions and very little factual/credible data but despite the biased and all that click bait sensationalism, there are valid considerations on the video.
I know about Pete posts and intentions to explain and help. All good. Unfortunately it changes nothing about the corporation “intrusion” and “control” issues regarding our data.
Thanks for sharing the links, I’m going to check.
Stay safe.
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What big (and small!) business is doing is tied up/in with the current political landscape, (which we are either enjoying or suffering, depending on your viewpoint).
To talk about what MS is doing without bringing politics into it is - in my not-so-humble-opinion - pointless.
Windows 11 may be a good OS, I just find the interface to be obstructive, childish and, in the end, repellent. But that’s just me. I also like salad cream on chips.
Last week, I did a clean install of Win 11. Most things worked. But gaming performance (hey, I’m just a hobbyist) was demon-strably worse.
I went back to Win 10 yesterday, another clean install.
We still have that freedom.
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Full disclosure: although I’ve been campaigning for a Linux option for over 10 years now, I am still on Windows, and in the last six months have had to spend an enormous amount of time configuring a Windows 11 machine to replace my perfectly capable Windows 10 machine. A lot of that time was spent disabling and uninstalling bits of Windows 11 that are of no interest or benefit to me. Thanks Microsoft! Who pays for my time?
From my perspective there is no technical benefit whatsoever in upgrading Windows 11 , but I will say that it is IMHO not worse than Windows 10 – after 6 months of tweaking.
Had there been a Linux version of Cubase available, I would have spent that time migrating to Linux, not Windows.
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Oh, about politics, economy and related affairs, that would be a conversation that would never end. To me is enough that they want to use my data without my knowledge and try to make me pay for hardware that suits their needs, not mine. The hardware I have today is very capable. I’m able to deal with orchestrations with 60+ vsti tracks.. so I’m pretty happy with my “obsolete” PC.
Thanks for sharing. Stay safe.
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Absolutely. I use Linux 90% of time, but for some specific orchestral libraries I have to reboot to Windows 10. Life is not perfect and didn’t came with an user manual,
Sometimes we have to adapt and do the best with what we have regarding our convictions. Don’t get me wrong. If I wished to buy a new PC, fortunately I could do it without any problem but why should I? I like to do what i decided to do not what is imposed on me, even worst when my current hardware is very capable for my needs.
I don’t like to generate waste, only if it really is unavoidable.
By the way, I’m installing “Linux Mint” in my mother-in-law Laptop and my wife Laptop is next in line. 
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Not that it matters, but to me the UI of Win 11 Pro is better than any previous version, and the way I interact with it is generally better than before. Pretty much the single thing that annoys me is that it won’t allow me to move the task bar just using the OS. But that’s pretty much it.
As for “bloat” I just think that is vastly overrated. It doesn’t really do anything at all. Even processes that are loaded aren’t doing anything the vast majority of the time. So in every single case I’ve seen someone complain about Candy Crush or whatever it might be it’s simply something I never see during normal operation, never load, never touch, never anything. And it’s like that with literally every thing people have brought up to me. It strikes me as being of these things where when people know something is there they have to “scratch it”, just can’t be left alone. Has to be deleted. Even if it’s just the awareness of it that makes a difference.
And lastly on telemetry and hardware: The one thing I’ll say is that Win 10/11 has been vastly more secure for me. I’ve had literally zero problems whereas with earlier versions I absolutely did have malware infect my computer, and it was a real pain to get rid of it without just nuking the drive and restoring from backups. I think Pete (from MS) is very likely 100% right when he says that between regulations and pressure from users to provide a secure environment the hardware demands go up. And unfortunately some data needs to be sent up to the cloud if we want this security. A proper and successful anti-malware functionality built-in has to know what version you’re running and so will send that up to then collect new data on what are new threats.
And let’s not forget the hardware that the OS running on. MS has no say in the support decisions that AMD, Intel and Qualcomm make. If they decide to stop supporting an older platform it’ll be pretty hard for software makers to justify the added cost of extending their support.
Having said all of that I realize where society is heading, but I think the big important train left the station already. Seeing that there are other issues that should have people on the streets already, not leaving until things change, but they aren’t out in large enough numbers if at all, it means that we’re already pretty screwed. It actually makes more sense to me to just run my DAW on Win 11 Pro (or OSX) and then for all the important stuff a simple laptop running something else would do fine.
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… just to add to this, Steinberg have now also open-sourced VST3 (under the MIT license) !!!
Could Cubase 15 be the first Linux version? 
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It is OK not to feel bothered by what bother others (like me). I did use and love “Windows 7 Pro” for years. To me it was the best MS OS ever. I never had any problem with it. It never was breached by hackers or infected by any virus but the best of all, it was “damn” lightning fast and easy on resources. It usually didn’t need more than 40 processes running on the background.
Microsoft did great things along the way but now it is crossing many red lines and all of it is becoming very scary and intrusive.
Fair enough, I don’t like AI, not even as a tool and for that reason alone, I want to stay away from MS, even more after listening to the MS CEO explaining what they are planning based on AI for the OS near future but that’s me being me.
I respect what people can do with AI tools and I’ve seen some incredible nice things coming out but the “effort” to do such things has practically gone. Such things have little to no value since they are at button “click” reach. It is like having a “Toy Story” button. You click on it and the movie comes out already done.
Anyway, I use Linux because I prefer to not be abused or exploited regarding my data. Linux is open source, free of charge and gives you all the control you wish over your sessions, besides it is optimized to make the most of your hardware. Even old PC potatoes, run relatively fast on Linux… but hey, I have a conviction that goes like this: “Don’t change anything in a team that wins.” Meaning that people should keep what works for them.
I personally don’t wish to enter the Microsoft rabbit hole any deeper, especially in a time where people spy on people based on what they post on social media networks. At a time when many employers are asking to check Facebook or Instagram job candidates profiles to make a decision on employment. Imagine what AI can do regarding such profiles.
Stay safe and keep making music because that’s one of the most important things, even if for that we can only use a wood stick and an hollow log.
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It can be disabled though, just like OneDrive as well as other features. I don’t particularly like it either and I never use it.
That’s where the boat left already, and those AI algos live on huge databases centrally, with or without MS. Like I mentioned, it makes sense (to me) for me to keep using a major OS for work, i.e. Nuendo and other tools, and then if I want more privacy a separate machine with a different OS goes at least some distance to solve some problems.
Switching to a different system isn’t just about Steinberg compatibility. I don’t only use its programs.
That’s crucial.
But sticking with Windows 10 won’t cause any problems.
The upgrade will work for a while. Then you can continue working with what’s already there. It’s convenient. No new installations, new instructions, no stress with program errors, etc. Working more freely with what’s familiar and more thoroughly mastered allows for more creative freedom. And that’s what’s most important – that’s why we have a computer, a DAW, and Windows.
What might be missing, what we won’t get in an update – perhaps AI, a plugin, some convenience – but it won’t be anything revolutionary. That’s how it’s been until now. Advanced programs don’t change significantly from version to version. To summarize:
From my perspective, my powerful PC with current software allows for creative work. The bottleneck, the obstacle, is a lack of time, perhaps diligence, perhaps talent, perhaps application mastery – not the quality of the hardware and DAW with other programs.
The conclusion is that if I disconnect everything from the internet (I swap my old 10-year-old laptop for a new one for internet access and software testing in Windows 11) – I have a stable workplace for several years.
Plenty of time for creativity – plenty of time to think, to consider – whether it makes sense to change, add to it, what to do next.
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Sure, we can always disconnect our music production PC’s from the Internet and use it like if it was an Hardware synth.
The problem is that some VSTi licenses may require a periodically ping to the vendor servers to check the validity of the license… but even worst is when such vendors change their servers protocols to only accept connection from the most recent OS versions (like TSL protocols) and that may become an huge problem rendering such VSTi licenses unusable.