New design and enhanced performance.
The first thing you notice is the difference in how the OS looks. Windows 11 has a brand new taskbar and all icons will be positioned centrally as standard.
There’ll also be some changes to the Start menu where the live tiles have been replaced by app symbols that can be pinned and moved around as needed. The lower half of the start menu will display the most recently used documents. Microsoft has also given the icons a modern makeover as some of the ones we see in Windows 10 are leftovers from the days of Windows 95. The Settings app has also been given a new lease of life.
Microsoft has also done a lot of work under the bonnet with the promise that Windows 11 should boot and load faster than its predecessor. In other news, updates should be about 40% smaller in the future making the whole process much faster in Windows 11.
Native integration of Microsoft Teams in Windows 11.
Something else Microsoft announced in october is that Microsoft Teams will be natively integrated into the OS. This isn’t entirely unexpected and, in my opinion, a logical step seeing as the last year has catapulted it to being Microsoft’s most important tool with over 145 million daily users. In the future, it’ll be much easier to start a Teams meeting.
Android apps for Windows 11.
It has been clear since the launch of Surface Duo that Microsoft recognises the value of Android, but we only found out at the Windows event just how far that extends. Thanks to Intel Bridge technology, it will be possible in the future to natively run Android apps on Windows 11. The apps will be available to download from the Amazon App Store which will be integrated into the Windows store.
Price, launch and system requirements.
The most important question, particularly for those currently using Windows 10, is about the price. As things stand today, it will be free to upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 and as long as things go according to plan, Windows 11 will be available in the autumn. Now for some technical information. Windows 11 will only be available in 64 bit and you’ll need at least 4 GB RAM and 64 GB free memory (for comparison, Windows 10 64-bit needed 2 GB RAM/20 GB memory).
And last but not least, what are the reasons behind Windows 11?
The first reason why Microsoft isn’t sticking to what was said six years ago is quite simple. Many of the people involved with Windows development back then have moved on, the teams have changed and the department has experienced a renaissance. I would imagine that that has resulted in ideas being put under the microscope, including the one about Windows 10 being the last version.
The second reason is also quite straightforward. Marketing! Microsoft announced its updated operating system. It performs better, looks better and comes with a whole range of new features. In a nutshell, Windows 10 has been given a complete face lift, which is something the software giant can use to justify a new version. And it seems the reason behind that is for marketing reasons.
