> what new functionality does Windows 11 actually have that Windows XP didn't have? (
Off the top of my head, built-in bluetooth support, an OS-level volume mixer, and more support for a wider variety of class-compliant devices. I'm sure there are a lot more, and if you actually care about the answer, I don't think it would be hard to find.
Simple patches/upgrades vs tricking people into thinking you've made a whole new piece of software. Linux, BSD, and Apple roll out OS upgrades with new functionality without charging for the new versions.
That's one perspective I suppose. I have a MacBook on my desk at work solely for testing in Safari. I can no longer use it for that purpose because it won't even let me upgrade the OS. That sounds like a whole new piece of software to me. Windows actually has been substantially re-written. I guess MacOS has also? It seems more honest to me call it a different product.
Longhorn was a significant rewrite, actually. The two big upheavals in windows history were: 2000, which essentially scrapped the 95 lineage in favour of NT; and Vista, which kicked a lot of 3rd-party crap out of the kernel and added a quality gate for drivers.
Off the top of my head, built-in bluetooth support, an OS-level volume mixer, and more support for a wider variety of class-compliant devices. I'm sure there are a lot more, and if you actually care about the answer, I don't think it would be hard to find.