So it only took about three decades for them to figure out to prioritize the app you're currently launching/using? Yup, that's real impressive work there. Maybe by 2050 they'll realize that Alt+Tab is supposed to switch to the most recent app (which it often doesn't do), which should also be displayed next to the current app in the task switcher (which is often the last app), or that throwing constant update pop-ups in your face when you're trying to get work done gets in the way of getting work done.

Certainly more bloated--the minimum requirements of Windows 11 are rather higher than those of Windows 10.

Most benchmarks so far show the two in a dead heat. Several show Windows 11 just /slightly/ behind.

So all of this optimization gets us to 'no worse than Windows 10'. I'm not impressed.

You cant be more wrong with this statement. Windows 10 is faster in many  majority of benchmarks and games than Windows 7. It also turns on and off way faster. W11 is even better optimized. Even in beta W11 is often on par with super lightweight distros of linux.

Why people still stick to older OS? I think there are few major reason:
1. Especially in business software stability and maturity is very important. I still remember my first work  as software developer was to rewrite internal software for big bank. They still used PC with Windows XP cause their software was not compatible with  Vista and later.
2. W10 had some problems on start, so people are still afraid something bad can happen
3.Better is not always superior to 'good'. Why you should change OS that work almost flawlessly? Anyway Windows is not free so many old devices with windows XP still sticks with it.

Anyway I really respect effort Microsoft put into OS optimization but... I would prefer they focus instead on polishing OS. This is what Apple do way better - OS X is consistent and in general provides better user experience.

Lol, what a joke.  Windows just becomes slower and more bloated after each new version.  If the newer version was so much faster than the old ones, nobody would stick around with XP/7/8.1/10...  Those older OSes would have zero market share.