The Hidden Cost of Default: Why Windows 11 Enterprise Desktops Need a Personal Touch

Despite Microsoft’s ambitions for Windows 11, users are not impressed and organizations are reluctantly migrating from Windows 10 as it reaches end of life. Stardock’s Brad Sams thinks users can be productive with Windows 11 — if you give organizations better control over the desktop experience.

It’s no secret that Windows 11 got off to a bad start when it was first released in October 2021. With many desktop features missing at launch, and users and organizations refusing to budge from Windows 10, it’s only in the last several months that Windows 11 has finally taken a significant part of the desktop market share, which is largely due to the imminent end of life of Windows 10.

I spoke to Brad Sams, General Manager of Stardock, who now leads development at one of the most recognizable names in Windows customization software, and we discussed what went wrong with the launch of Windows 11 and the current state of play. Plus, why products like Stardock’s Start11, Groupy, and Fences continue to resonate with consumers and businesses.

Windows 11: Hardware requirements and Start menu regression

Sams doesn’t mince words when describing the rocky launch of Windows 11. “First and foremost,” he said, “it requires a higher level of hardware. You need a TPM chip that is compatible.” For many users, that meant being told their high-end Windows 10 machine wasn’t eligible for an upgrade.

But hardware was just the beginning. Microsoft also revamped key UI components in ways many found frustrating. “The start menu got totally overhauled… the taskbar was rewritten, and they didn’t get all the features back into it.”

Early adopters weren’t impressed. “The start menu has changed. The taskbar is worse. And I need better hardware. That really soured the initial release.”

Microsoft’s 80/20 approach

As Windows 11 evolved, Microsoft tried to address some complaints—but in classic Microsoft fashion, Sams notes. “They give you 80% of what you asked for, but that remaining 20% just never gets implemented or it’s not done correctly.”

One example? The recommendations area of the Start menu. “You open the start menu and see files or bits related to you—but you can’t take control of that. You can’t delete the section or fine-tune what’s there.”

For the younger generation, folders are foreign

Sams sees a deeper generational shift shaping how Stardock designs its products. “Younger users don’t understand File Explorer,” he said. “That’s a real use case for Fences—replicating folder contents onto the desktop. It avoids the need to navigate Windows’ file system.”

Fences isn’t just for students. It’s become a critical workflow tool in industries like healthcare and law. “One client in Canada deployed it company-wide. It’s not just organization—it’s productivity,” Sams emphasized.

Stardock’s philosophy: Personalization meets productivity

With over 20 million downloads, Stardock isn’t just offering cosmetic tweaks. Sams said Start11, their Start menu and taskbar tool, is about giving control back to the user.

“If there’s something you want to do in the Start menu, I’m almost certain you can probably do it in Start11,” he explained. “You can pin folders to the taskbar—something you can’t do in Windows natively.”

One of Stardock’s central philosophies is that desktop customization should not come at the cost of complexity. For IT professionals, managing the look and functionality of the Windows Start menu and taskbar across hundreds—or thousands—of endpoints has traditionally been a tedious, frustrating process. That’s where Start11 reimagines what desktop management can be.

Drag, drop, deploy: No scripting required

Microsoft’s native tools for configuring the Start menu rely heavily on rigid, archaic methods. IT admins must wrestle with Group Policy Objects (GPOs) and manually crafted XML files. These configurations are not only time-consuming to set up but also fragile to maintain. A single misstep in syntax can break the deployment. And because GPOs are increasingly deprecated in modern Windows environments—especially in cloud-first or hybrid scenarios—they’re quickly becoming a dead end.

Brad Sams offered a blunt comparison:

“It’s coding, right? It’s not a pretty drag-and-drop interface. It’s a XML file. GPO objects don’t really work too much anymore because Microsoft seems to be moving away from that.”

By contrast, Start11 delivers what Sams calls “a better mousetrap.” IT teams use a graphical interface to build exactly the Start menu they want, customized for each team, department, or role. No XML, no guesswork. Once designed, that configuration is exported as a single file—ready to be deployed across the fleet with minimal effort.

Pixel-perfect Start menus, every time

The result? Every user gets the same clean, consistent experience tailored to their needs, no matter where they are. Whether it’s Excel and QuickBooks for the accounting team, or Visual Studio and browsers for engineering, IT can deploy personalized menus department-wide.

“You can hot-load a Start experience onto an endpoint remotely,” Sams explained. “Update one file on a SharePoint or OneDrive site, and every connected device updates the next time it logs in.”

That update process even supports failover mechanisms. If a device is offline or can’t reach the configuration file, it will load the last known good layout or a predefined backup stored locally. This ensures stability and continuity—even for remote workers or in low-connectivity scenarios.

Empowering the help desk, not just senior engineers

Perhaps most significantly, Stardock democratizes desktop configuration. “We’ve seen this in hospitals and other large orgs,” Sams said. “Before, only a senior engineer could manage the Start layout. With Start11, a frontline help desk tech can now make changes—quickly and safely.”

That kind of agility is a major win for overworked IT teams. Instead of escalating every customization request to the top of the food chain, they can decentralize the task—and respond faster to user needs.

Why Windows virtual desktops never took off

Another area where Microsoft missed the mark? Virtual desktops. “They have not caught on,” Sams noted. “When you can’t see your desktop contents, users forget they’re there. Out of view, out of mind—that’s problematic.”

Microsoft’s treatment of such features signals their niche status. “There was a bug in transitions that went unfixed for years. That tells you how many people use them.”

Search, tabs, and everything in between

What about Windows’ perennial pain point—search?

“Search is why we never built our own,” said Sams. “There’s a tool called Everything by Void Tools—it’s by far the fastest search for Windows.” Stardock now integrates it directly into Start11.

Tabbed interfaces are another area where Microsoft stumbled. “They tried with a feature called Sets, but it got canceled,” Sams recalled. “We built Groupy instead. It lets you add tabs to any app—Edge, Paint, File Explorer. It just works.”

Multiplicity and the power user’s dream desktop setup

Beyond UI enhancements, Stardock also offers Multiplicity—software that lets you control multiple PCs with a single keyboard and mouse.

“It’s huge in emergency call centers,” Sams said. “And if you have multiple boxes for dev work, it’s a game-changer. You can stream monitors, extend displays, even turn an old laptop into a secondary screen.”

Check out the full episode of Petri Dish to hear the complete conversation.