this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2026
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Of course there is. It's compatible with almost any software and hardware (if you ignore their arbitrary W11 "requirements" which you can in most cases) that you can get your hands on. Microsoft and Windows deserve most of the flack they're getting, but we should be honest.
Take Linux as a comparison. Compatibility is pretty good nowadays and is only getting better, especially with all the work going into Proton from both Valve and the community. But certain things are simply not supported which can make it either difficult or straight up impossible to get to work. Not that Linux is to blame for that, of course, but it is reality.
No we cannot. I have a perfectly capable gaming machine, which meets my needs perfectly yet it's not supported by Windows. It's not some old work laptop a fricking gaming machine.
I didn't mean it in a philosophical or ethical sense. Yes, their formal W11 requirements are stupid, but you can literally ignore them.
Some of the requirements are just there on paper and the installer will let you continue regardless. And the rest can be disabled by flashing the ISO with Rufus and toggling that option on. Yes, this risks you not getting updates in the future and may affect certain (not very important) functions, but you absolutely can ignore the requirements if you want to, and as far as I know no one has been denied support so far.
The depths you have to sink to to get what honestly feels like an attempt at a charity point, but if that wasn't assumed it wouldn't have become the product in its position.
If there was an actual push to get compatibility worked out, it very well could. Seems more like a corporate holdback than a technical issue.
Almost any software or hardware? Better to phrase it as almost all desktop software
Well yes, but this whole thread is about Windows 11 which is a desktop OS, so I thought that went without saying.
Oh did you forget server and embedded?
FYI Windows has a different edition for servers, so that's why we are not talking about servers since the thread is about the desktop edition
Oh I thought this thread was about the OS, nevermind then..