And by 'unusual' I mean the "processor must be ~2018 or later", TPM and secure boot.
My theories are:
1 - Microsoft was throwing a bone to OEMs after offering Win10 for 'older PCs' for free which would no doubt have cut into their bottom line a bit.
2 - Microsoft has a massive crush on Apple and seeks to emulate them wherever possible.
3 - Microsoft was attempting to ensure as much as possible that PCs running Win11 are likely to be running reasonably recent drivers / recently supported hardware. Pushing too far might have its own undesirable consequences, for example if someone wants to pay for a Windows 11 licence for a Win11 VM, then why make it difficult for them to do that.
I've never been particularly satisfied with the first two theories and recently came up with the third. To explain that theory a bit further, I'll start by suggesting that many people are idiots. One example of this is that if I in my role as computer tech advisor explain something to a customer in pretty simple terms, often if they tell their partner what I've just explained, the full explanation won't make the journey or some simpler, flawed version will replace it (which often makes me cringe because if that version reaches the ears of someone reasonably knowledgeable, they would wonder WTH I'm telling people this for). Furthermore, it's common enough where if someone has used operating system X from twenty years ago and decided to migrate to OS Y, they will think that their criticisms of X from 20 years ago are likely to still be valid compared to <current version of Y>. Therefore if someone received the option from MS to in-place upgrade their install of Win7 to Win10 and then on to Win11, then Win11 doesn't work too well on their ancient setup, it wouldn't surprise me if said person started complaining that Win11 is rubbish because it isn't working on their particular PC too well.
I'm not putting forward this theory because I advocate it, I just think it fits with the available evidence better than either of my other two theories. Of course, all three theories could be correct
Feel free to discuss / put forward your own theories.
My theories are:
1 - Microsoft was throwing a bone to OEMs after offering Win10 for 'older PCs' for free which would no doubt have cut into their bottom line a bit.
2 - Microsoft has a massive crush on Apple and seeks to emulate them wherever possible.
3 - Microsoft was attempting to ensure as much as possible that PCs running Win11 are likely to be running reasonably recent drivers / recently supported hardware. Pushing too far might have its own undesirable consequences, for example if someone wants to pay for a Windows 11 licence for a Win11 VM, then why make it difficult for them to do that.
I've never been particularly satisfied with the first two theories and recently came up with the third. To explain that theory a bit further, I'll start by suggesting that many people are idiots. One example of this is that if I in my role as computer tech advisor explain something to a customer in pretty simple terms, often if they tell their partner what I've just explained, the full explanation won't make the journey or some simpler, flawed version will replace it (which often makes me cringe because if that version reaches the ears of someone reasonably knowledgeable, they would wonder WTH I'm telling people this for). Furthermore, it's common enough where if someone has used operating system X from twenty years ago and decided to migrate to OS Y, they will think that their criticisms of X from 20 years ago are likely to still be valid compared to <current version of Y>. Therefore if someone received the option from MS to in-place upgrade their install of Win7 to Win10 and then on to Win11, then Win11 doesn't work too well on their ancient setup, it wouldn't surprise me if said person started complaining that Win11 is rubbish because it isn't working on their particular PC too well.
I'm not putting forward this theory because I advocate it, I just think it fits with the available evidence better than either of my other two theories. Of course, all three theories could be correct
Feel free to discuss / put forward your own theories.