Friday, August 23rd 2024
Windows Control Panel Faces Sunset After Nearly Four Decades, Settings App to Succeed It
Microsoft has officially confirmed plans to phase out the Windows Control Panel, a feature that has been a key to the operating system since its inception in 1985. The tech giant recently stated on its support website, "The Control Panel is in the process of being deprecated in favor of the Settings app, which offers a more modern and streamlined experience." The Control Panel has undergone numerous transformations over its 39-year lifespan and has been a familiar tool for Windows users across generations. Its impending retirement signifies a major shift in Microsoft's approach to user interface design and system management. The Settings app, introduced with Windows 8 in 2012, has gradually absorbed the functionalities of the Control Panel. Despite rumors of its demise circulating for a while, this is the first time Microsoft has officially acknowledged the Control Panel's deprecation.
The company still needs to specify an exact timeline for the complete removal of this legacy feature. Microsoft is encouraging users to utilize the Settings app whenever possible, stating, "While the Control Panel still exists for compatibility reasons and to provide access to some settings that have not yet migrated, you are encouraged to use the Settings app, whenever possible." The Control Panel's longevity can be attributed primarily to two factors: ongoing compatibility concerns and the presence of certain functions not yet available in the Settings app. Microsoft's need to maintain backward compatibility with older software and hardware configurations has been a critical driver behind the Control Panel's continued inclusion in Windows. This legacy support ensures that users can still access essential system settings and utilities that still need to be successfully migrated to the more modern Settings interface. However, the complete transition is now seemingly ready.
Source:
via Tom's Hardware
The company still needs to specify an exact timeline for the complete removal of this legacy feature. Microsoft is encouraging users to utilize the Settings app whenever possible, stating, "While the Control Panel still exists for compatibility reasons and to provide access to some settings that have not yet migrated, you are encouraged to use the Settings app, whenever possible." The Control Panel's longevity can be attributed primarily to two factors: ongoing compatibility concerns and the presence of certain functions not yet available in the Settings app. Microsoft's need to maintain backward compatibility with older software and hardware configurations has been a critical driver behind the Control Panel's continued inclusion in Windows. This legacy support ensures that users can still access essential system settings and utilities that still need to be successfully migrated to the more modern Settings interface. However, the complete transition is now seemingly ready.
43 Comments on Windows Control Panel Faces Sunset After Nearly Four Decades, Settings App to Succeed It
At this rate, Microsoft will finish it by 2050 at which point they would spent more time murdering it than otherwise.
That said, it really is dumb to have both from a user perspective, and they knew this when they announced CP would be phased out nearly a decade ago. I can only assume the poor response to Windows 8 and Windows 10 (initially) made management extremely reticent to assign resources to this transition. I simply do not believe it would be more than four or five years of work for a small team (2-3 developers) to migrate the totality of CP functionality into Settings.
I wish developers would move away from this all flash and no substance mindset and stop changing applications for the sake of changing them. It really stinks of them and their management simply trying to justify themselves and their position.
Windows is more and more becoming a broken mess, they seem to want to follow on apple's footsteps but contrary to macOS, windows has a much wider more diverse user base that requires certain functionality to work, not to be pretty or user friendly but to work as expected and in a predictable way.
And the biggest problem is you can only access one section at a time. With the old control panel, you can open everything in there and control multiple things at the same time.
Literally the only upside of the Settings app is dark mode. Everything else is worse. Why are we going backwards? Why are we devolving? Why change something that people have been using for decades? Change for the sake of change is so stupid.