Tiny 11
 | Author:
Victor Sample
Vic Sample: MT43 News Treasurer |
Tiny 11 Victor Sample If you are a Windows user you will have to upgrade to Windows 11 (or a future version of Windows) at some time. Software always continues to advance with new features (some needed, some not clearly needed). Over time, older software becomes incompatible. Users of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer were finding websites that wouldn’t allow the user access because they used features not supported in Internet Explorer. I was using an old version of Windows Vista and found myself unable to use software and unable to upgrade software because I let everything get out of date.
However, Windows 11 has some strict requirements (your PC must have a TPM 2.0 chip (Trusted Platform Module) and you must use the “Secure Boot” process to start your PC. Newer PCs (those bought in the last 5 years or so) have the TPM chip and use “Secure Boot”. But many of the older PCs cannot run Windows 11.
Well, an alternative to Windows 11 has been announced called “Tiny 11”. Tiny 11 is a version of Windows 11 developed by NetDev. This alternative operating system is NOT from Microsoft but was created from an early version of Windows 11. The developer stripped out a lot of the Windows bloat, stripped out a lot of security implementations and removed the requirements for the TPM chip and for the “Secure Boot”. Tiny 11 also requires less disk space and requires less memory.
For users of Windows 10 (or earlier versions) who don’t want to be left behind but have PCs that won’t support Windows 11, Tiny 11 might be an interesting alternative.
Tiny 11 is NOT a pirated version of Windows. In order to install Tiny 11 you must have a valid, licensed version of Windows. Tiny 11 has many of the useful accessories that have been available in Windows for years – Notepad, Calculator and Paint.
The developer of Tiny 11 says “everything you need for a comfortable computing experience without the bloat and clutter of a standard Windows installation.”
However, some standard Windows 11 programs – like Microsoft’s Edge browser – are not included.
What are the downsides to Tiny 11? Well, there are quite a few.
• The installation is an ISO install which is different than a standard Windows installation and not everyone will know how to do an ISO install. • There is no indication that the developer is doing anything malicious; but, you would be installing unknown software. It’s at least possible it will contain spyware, adware or malware. • Tiny 11 is a stripped-down version of Windows 11 and probably will run any valid Windows programs – but there is a chance that some software that supports Windows 11 will not run on Tiny 11 • Microsoft will be providing fixes to problems and new features to Windows 11. It is not clear how many updates containing fixes and new features will be coming for Tiny 11. • Security: Tiny 11 stripped out many of the security implementations in Windows 11 (for instance, the ones that have hardware requirements). You may or may not think of Windows as being secure; Tiny 11 will be even less secure. • Since it is a stripped-down version of Windows 11 and does require a valid Windows license, you probably could switch back to the Microsoft version of Windows 10; but, that is not absolutely clear and you might have to do a “clean install”; i.e., lose all data and programs on the pc.
In summary, Tiny 11 is an interesting alternative to Windows 11 – especially for Windows users that are prohibited from upgrading to Windows 11 due to hardware requirements. I own three older laptops that cannot upgrade to Windows 11. I will probably try putting Tiny 11 on one of them. I will keep you updated when I actually install Tiny 11 on one of the older laptops.
