I use the old control panel but one should concede that it's really quite esoteric and the new control panel is comparatively more straight forward.
I'm also amazed at software developers complaining about Microsoft's development process for the Settings app. They've been incrementally developing it for years -- which is a good thing -- and yet there so many complaints here that it didn't materialize fully formed on day one. It's like when talking about Microsoft everyone forgets how software development is actually done.
The old control panel has a very logical layout, and that's why it stayed this way for so long. But it was also an expert tool and you ought to go there with the manual close at hand because it was so powerful. Like the networks sections having everything related to network thay you may want. Maybe there should be a beginner mode, but you don't want a beginner near those settings. Just like I rarely see people go into their network connection settings on iOS. The rewrite feels like taking Photoshop and morph it into Paint. Easier to understand but ultimately worthless.
But 99.99% of users are "beginners". I really don't know how to use Photoshop but I can use simpler paint tools to do what I want.
Microsoft will not remove the control panel until you can do everything with the Settings app (or something else not yet invented). Despite this "deprecation" it's really not going anywhere.
My use of the settings app has slowly increased over time as more and more settings are available there. I have to be doing something pretty specific to open the control panel now.
The Windows Control Panel was first released in 1985. That’s 39 years ago. That’s longer than the time between the Wright Brothers’ first flight and the first jet aircraft.
How is Microsoft still doing fundamental rewrites of core features?
I still don't get what you mean. Clearly Windows isn't the same as it was 39 years ago and if it didn't change in all that time we wouldn't still be using it. Every operating system rewrites fundamental core features all the time.
The X Window System was originally released June 1984. That's 40 years ago.
And yet we're still having debates and active development on how to have graphical sessions on Linux.
iptables was released in 1998. That's 26 years ago. And yet those Linux devs are still working on nftables and firewalld.
If those Linux devs still haven't figured out how to do graphical sessions or firewall by now they never will.
FFS how to boot/init Linux is still under active development and some rapid changes over the past several years. If they can't even figure out how to boot how can you take those devs seriously?
Or maybe you redesign your stuff for the realities of today instead of just assuming what a few people did in the 80s was the be-all end-all of software and UI design.
I'm also amazed at software developers complaining about Microsoft's development process for the Settings app. They've been incrementally developing it for years -- which is a good thing -- and yet there so many complaints here that it didn't materialize fully formed on day one. It's like when talking about Microsoft everyone forgets how software development is actually done.