Engineers just love Windows 11 (says Microsoft)

The world seems to have come to terms with Windows 11.

The sort of terms that come with conditions and make you agree to them.

Windows 11 looks more lovely than Windows 10, and, despite some initial rough patches, relative peace has descended upon the Windows firmament.

This isn’t enough for Microsoft. It clearly wants you to feel love.

Windows, it insists, brings you closer to the things you love. Despite truly trying, I’ve been unable to grasp what this means.

Microsoft has tried several iterations of communication. All have left me emptily bemused.

So now Redmond is trying the really big sell. It’s just released an ad that declares engineers love Windows 11. Well, two engineers. Well, two engineers who are twins and somewhat popular on TikTok.

Malik and Miles are both MIT students who enjoy more than 60,000 followers on the former dance app. Their aim, they say, is to get PhDs in Biological Engineering.

Their inner joy, however, is to commune with Windows 11.

They’re an engaging pair. They enter the ad by explaining they’re scientists, they’re engineers, and they dance. That’s a heady mixture I wish I could get closer to.

What role, you may wonder, does Windows 11 play? Does it help them create better, quicker science? Does it help them find superlative engineering solutions?

In a way.

“One of the biggest features I use,” says Miles, “is multiple desktops. By just swiping the screen, I go from being a student to being a gamer.”

Members of MIT’s philosophy department might wonder why you can’t be a student and a gamer at the same time. They’ll point out you could be studying on your laptop while playing a game on your phone. Or vice-versa.

I don’t suffer from such pedantry, of course.

But what about Malik? Well, he adores Snap Assist, which lets him have all his important applications on at once.

It’s difficult asking two large brains to summarize in a few words why they love Windows 11, even if they’re being paid.

These two engineers are, however, pursuing a noble cause. If they insist Windows 11 helps them be TikToking mentors to aspiring young scientists, I support their sincerity. (As if they’re so old themselves.)

Especially as commenters on their TikTok channel have already seen this ad and offered uncontrolled enthusiasm.

Sample: “This is the reason my parents let me have TikTok.” Good work, young person. You’ve learned how to con your parents.

Finally, then, Microsoft has found a way to express a little of Windows 11’s joy by showing that engineers can be fun people.

This represents progress, in so many ways.