Against all expectations and logic, there is suddenly a new version of Windows 11. Not really news, because a few things had already leaked out before. Well news is the official confirmation. We list all the Windows 11 news for you.
Windows 11 has been officially released. Under the hood is largely still Windows 10, as it turned out after analysis of the leaked betas. There are, however, many ‘novelties’, including – how surprising – widgets.
Widgets
You can fill your desktop again with things like weather widget, the latest news and so on. We have been used to smartphones for years, Microsoft stopped using them after Windows 7 for security reasons. Apparently it is now considered safe enough again. Nice is the possibility to maximize and minimize groups of windows with one mouse click. That goes one step further: if you disconnect an external monitor and plug it in again later, all the windows that were visible on it before disconnecting will reappear. Nice, but possibly buggy in the beginning. Due to the many different types of hardware, new drivers and the like may be required for it to function properly.
Hands off a la Microsoft
Following Apple, Microsoft has now also released something that we can only describe as hands-off. Work on one device and continue seamlessly on another. Absolutely ideal, as any user of a Mac or other Apple device will be able to tell. The downside is that there are no Windows phones or tablets optimized for mobile use, so it is less widely applicable. But for switching from a desktop PC at the office to a laptop: handy.
Ingrained teams
It is also striking that Microsoft mentions the integration of Teams as one of the highlights of Windows 11. Very nice in itself, but again a pushed service that you will hardly be able to remove. Much more interesting is the question of what the EU will think of this. Competitors like Zoom and others offering similar software will undoubtedly feel disadvantaged. And so start complaining.
A selection of Android apps
Windows 11 also runs a selection of Android apps. Which one was and which one was not was not clear. Google Photos, among others, should do the trick, as should TikTok, Kindle Reader and some games. This will most likely only concern the x86 versions, no ARM emulator will be built in. It was also unclear how the safety aspect was dealt with here.
Smaller updates
One of the first things Microsoft promised during the introduction – which by the way was not visible to the majority of people because the Microsoft servers went down… – is that updates will be smaller and faster. Hopefully more reliable too. Also in terms of security, according to Microsoft, much has been improved compared to ten, details are missing at the time of writing. Last but not least, Windows 11 should consume a lot less energy, which should lead to longer socket-free use.
Gaming
For gamers, there are also nice perks baked in, which means that games should start faster. Auto-HDR has also been added, which should provide a better image on monitors that also support the more extensive dynamics.
System requirements for Windows 11 (minimum)
Processor – 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or system on a chip (SoC)
Memory – 4GB RAM
Storage – 64 GB or larger storage device
Graphics Card – DirectX 12 compatible graphics card / WDDM 2.x
Display – > 9″ with HD resolution (720p)
Internet connection – Microsoft account and internet connection required to install Windows 11 Home
One important thing to mention is that a TPM 2.0 support is required. Although some motherboards can be upgraded by a module. Via the PC Health Check App from Microsoft you can check whether your current PC or laptop will support Windows 11.
When is Windows 11 coming out?
Windows 11 is now set for a release during the ‘holiday season’. When exactly is still unclear. As soon as Windows 11 is available, you can upgrade to the new operating system for free.
At the time of Windows 10
Then Windows 10 was introduced, the problems were enormous. Nor has it taken this long for any Windows version to stabilize a bit. The business community and professional users therefore remained stuck on Windows 7. Even when official support for it came to an end, the willingness of precisely that group to switch was still low. Because Microsoft earns its money from business customers, this necessitated a unique step in the history of Windows: users could buy additional support time for 7. Which means there are still quite a few pro users running 7 and still receiving monthly security patches for it.
Eventually business users started to cautiously switch to 10. This happened ‘automatically’ when replacing company computers, for example. Ultimately, the vast majority of business Windows users would also switch to ten. So Microsoft was in no rush; it focused less and less on its own operating system anyway. And then came COVID, which suddenly turned out to be a boon for Windows. Because people had to work from home. As a result, sales of those time-honoured Wintel laptops and PCs suddenly picked up strongly last year, against all expectations.
Reputation
Partly because of this, Microsoft – that Windows saw internally only as an afterthought – felt compelled to take action. After all, Windows 10 was a reasonable debacle when it comes to its reputation, although more recently it has become a lot more stable. But that really took a few years and updates regularly throw a spanner in the works. So time for an update.
In short: Windows 11 looks nice. Perhaps home users will be very happy with cosmetic surgery. That seems to be the goal of Microsoft: to show the home user that Windows can also look ‘hip’. Microsoft indicated that the start menu would not be resizable. This could mean the end of the start menu.
Whether Windows 11 will be the big hit and give a huge boost to the sales of the classic computer? No, probably not. But it may make life more pleasant for the Windows user who is ‘stuck’ to this OS due to work. Hopefully, 11 isn’t as buggy as 10 in the beginning.
Finally, with the introduction of Windows 11, a wise lesson has been learned: never trust what Microsoft promises. Windows 10 was considered really the very last version of Windows. Not so, and that applies to more that the software giant calls.
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