A week ago, multiple sites reported that Microsoft had placed the Windows Control Panel in the 'deprecated' category anticipating its retirement. Part of the web received that news as if it were a storm of excrement, recalling the (endless) navigation problems of the 'new' Settings menu. However, the official text was recently updated, and although the transition process will continue, everything indicates that we have Control Panel for a while…
The Control Panel has accompanied us for decades. If something is wrong with Windows or needs an advanced adjustment, chances are we'll find a solution there. It also works as a 'mediator' between the user and the Registry, since many of its parameters end up stored in some special string. With the launch of Windows 8, Redmond gave rise to the 'new' Settings menu. Eleven years and three major versions later (8.1, 10, and 11), that menu still hasn't achieved feature parity with the Control Panel, and the latest official news didn't do anything but put users on alert…
Control Panel 'Deprecated'? No... But...
On August 21, the folks at Neowin detected in the 'System Configuration Tools in Windows' section that the Control Panel was in the process of being declared 'deprecated' (sort of like 'obsolete'). The official text also mentioned that the Control Panel still existed for compatibility reasons, and recommended using the Settings menu.
As expected, the web repeated the message about 'the imminent retirement of the Control Panel' at lightning speed. However, Redmond must fight a monster of its own making: The Settings menu is not ready to replace the Control Panel 100 percent, and probably never will be. Someone insightful in the company read the situation correctly and decided to modify the official text.
Now, the page talks about a 'migration process', but the access methods haven't changed: Use the internal search engine, or run the 'control' command. If users want shortcuts, they'll have to create them on their own. Finally, let's not fool ourselves: Microsoft has the Control Panel in its sights. Its permanence is good news... but the destruction of legacy support will continue until morale improves.
Source: The Verge
