It finally arrived on June 24, and Microsoft revealed in its special event about the new thing for Windows or the next generation of Windows, and as the rumors told and the leakers confirmed, it is about Windows 11, the new version of Windows that comes after nearly six years of The company's announcement of Windows 10, or what Microsoft said at the time that it was the last version to be released from Windows, but this is not new to Microsoft, as it is a company that changes its plans overnight and does not always fulfill its promises, especially about operating systems.
Windows 11 comes with a radical design change for the user interface and core system applications, inspired by Chrome OS, KDE (a desktop environment or Unix/Linux OSes), and Mac OS, in addition to many new features that are added for the first time to Windows, and of course a great disappointment for many users as is the case after each successful release from Windows.
Several days ago, a first preview version of Windows 11 was leaked (Build 21996.1), which immediately confirmed the name of Microsoft's new operating system, and gave some hints on some of the new features that users will see next fall when the stable and final version of Windows 11 becomes available.
Although this version is still in its infancy, it confirmed that the company will re-experiment with converting Windows 8.1 update 3 to Windows 10, as all indications indicate that this new version of Windows was originally just another regular update for Windows 10, or otherwise More precisely, a major update will revive Windows 10, which has been in a near-clinical stage of death for years, as it has not received any particularly special update recently, but Microsoft wanted something else (we will address it later) so it changed its plans and named this update Windows 11, and although we are with change and we love it, especially when it comes to operating systems and new technologies, what Microsoft has done is bad and a wrong move that only helps the owners of computer manufacturers. But before we talk about this change and the reason behind it, let's first get to know the most importantly beautiful things that Windows 11 brought:
Microsoft relied on four basic concepts while designing Windows 11: simplicity, productivity, and connectivity, and gaming, so the company removed a set of functions and features that were useless to the user, which was present in the version of Windows 10, and replaced others with more efficient and effective alternatives. It also added a lot of beautiful features to this new version of Windows.
Microsoft has finally added rounded corners to all system components, from apps to the Start menu to menus to dialog boxes and notifications and alerts, giving the system a modern and elegant look that is better than the ugly flat design found on Windows 10 and before Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.
The system interface has also been completely redesigned, with the Start menu now in the middle with a search button, task view, new tools button, pined and running applications, and on the far right is the notifications area, input switch button, clock, and control center.
The new start menu offers a simple design where the search box is located at the top of its interface and a list of pinned applications below, and directly under it, there is a section for files and items that the user has used or added recently. At the far bottom, there is a section showing the name and picture of the user, as well as a button to turn off the computer. Live Tiles have been removed in Windows 11 and the Start menu does not support creating or naming folders.
The “Task View” icon shows the current applications running in full-screen mode, allowing the user to switch between applications easily, and it can be accessed by pressing the Win + Tab shortcut . in addition, the icon also provides the ability to create virtual desktops to organize your work, where you can customize one of them for a specific purpose such as work, entertainment, and family, you can as well as renaming and setting a custom background for each one separately.
One of the features that Microsoft completely redesigned in Windows 11 is the news and interests feature that the company launched for all Windows 10 devices a few months ago, as this feature is now under a new name and in a new place. Immediately after the task view icon is a new widget icon that provides you with the latest customized information such as your calendar, weather, local traffic, Microsoft To-Do lists, your photos from OneDrive, sports, esports, stock watch list, and tips.
In addition to your widgets, you can stay up to date with an integrated feed of personalized news with the latest content from over 4,500 brands such as The New York Times or the BBC, and you can also donate to our favorite partner directly on widgets.
You can also swipe from the left using touch, or press WIN + W on your keyboard, and widgets will slide from the left on the desktop, and you can customize them by adding or removing widgets, or rearranging, resizing, and personalizing content.
The lower right corner of the Taskbar has a button for Notification Center and Quick Settings. Notification Center is the home for all your notifications in the OS and a full-month calendar view. Quick Settings is the place for you to manage common PC settings quickly and easily like Volume, Brightness, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Focus Assist. Directly above your Quick Settings, you will see media playback controls when playing music or videos in Microsoft Edge or streaming music in apps like Spotify.
To improve the productivity of users in Windows 11, Microsoft has added three other features to enable them to focus on their work, which are Snap layouts and Snap groups, and a new docking/undocking experience:
- Snap Layouts feature allows you to intelligently split the screen to run more than one app at the same time. When you hover your mouse over the maximize button in a window, it will show you the available snap layouts, click on one of the components of the appropriate layout for you to capture the window, and You will then be guided to snap windows to the rest of the zones within the layout with guided snap assist.
- Snap groups are a way to easily switch to your snaped windows. To try it, snap at least two application windows together on your screen, and hover over one of these opened applications on the taskbar to find the snap group and click to switch back quickly.
- When you undock your laptop, the windows on your external screen will be minimized. When you dock your computer to your monitor, Windows puts everything back in place just as it was before.
The touch experience has been improved in Windows 11, the operating system intelligently recognizes the tablet mode as soon as the keyboard is separated from the tablet, and adapts to it, as the distance between icons and control menus increases and touch control becomes easier and smoother. The on-screen keyboard has also been redesigned, and it is now customizable with themes, just like the SwiftKey keyboard on smartphones.
The new voice typing launcher is a quick and easy way to start voice typing in a selected text field. It is off by default, but you can turn it on within the voice typing settings (WIN + H to start voice typing) and then place it anywhere you would like on your screen.
Windows 11 also supports gestures better, as the same trackpad gestures have been preserved and now work on the touch screen too, and the pen (stylus) has a new menu, in addition to haptic feedback when it is touching the screen.
One of the pleasant things that users will love about Windows 11 is the new Microsoft Store, as Microsoft has redesigned it from scratch to give it a nice, elegant, and easy-to-use look. The new Microsoft Store has one sidebar on the left side that includes at the top the various categories of applications available in the Store: applications, games, and entertainment, and in the lower section of it, there is the “Library” tab (where you can see all your applications, games, and movies that you have made Buy it, and update your apps), and a help button. At the top, there is a search field and profile menu where you can manage your devices and account settings.
Besides all these great UI changes, the new Microsoft Store will bring support for Android apps for Windows via a partnership between Microsoft and the Amazon App Store.
All Android applications on the Amazon App Store will work on Windows 11 and, maybe on Windows 10 as well because Microsoft has confirmed that its new store will also reach Windows 10 users.
Last, but not least, the new application will enable developers to bring their applications of any kind like Disney+, Adobe Creative Cloud, Zoom and Canva, Tiktok, and others to the Microsoft Store either Win32, .NET, UWP, Xamarin, Electron, React Native, Java, and even Progressive Web Apps. Microsoft will also allow developers to bring their own or a third-party commerce platform in their apps, and if they do so, they do not need to pay Microsoft any fee. They can keep 100% of their revenue.
The Windows 11 setup experience (often referred to as the "Out of the Box Experience" or OOBE for short) has been redesigned too with all-new colorful animated icons and a more modern lighting theme and includes a new page to enable you to name your PC during the setup experience.
After running through the setup experience, the Get Started app is a new first run experience app that will help you quickly get setup on a new PC.
Settings have also been redesigned to be beautiful, consistent with the look of Windows 11, and easy to use. Settings have left-hand navigation that persists between pages, with breadcrumbs as you navigate deeper into settings to help you know where you are and not lose your place.
The settings pages are also quite new, with new hero controls at the top that highlight key information and frequently used settings for you to adjust as you need. These new controls span across several category pages such as System, Bluetooth & Devices, Network, Internet, Personalization, Accounts, and Windows Update. Expandable boxes have also been added for pages with many settings.
In addition to brand-new default themes for Windows 11 for both dark and light mode, it also includes four additional themes, and new contrast themes for people with visual impairments, such as light sensitivity, so you can make Windows feel the way you want to.
The sounds in Windows 11 have been designed to be lighter and more atmospheric. They are also slightly different depending on whether your Windows theme is in dark mode or light mode. The startup sound for Windows also makes its return, which you will hear when your PC boots up to the Lock screen and is ready to go for you to log in.
With Windows 11, Chat from Microsoft Teams is integrated into the taskbar. Now you can instantly connect through text, chat, voice, or video with all your contacts, no matter the platform or device they are on, across Windows, Android, or iOS, and if the person you are connecting to on the other end has not downloaded the Teams app, you can still connect with them via two-way SMS. Windows 11 also gives you a more natural way to connect with friends and family through Teams, allowing you to instantly mute and unmute, or start presenting directly from the taskbar.
File Explorer has also been redesigned in Windows 11 with a modern user interface, clean look, and an all-new command bar. File Explorer now also has beautifully designed context menus when right-clicking or on the desktop.
If you are a gamer, you will love Windows 11, as it brings three features that were only available in Xbox Series X: DirectX 12 Ultimate, which can enable immersive and stunning graphics at high frame rates; DirectStorage for faster load times and more detailed game worlds; and Auto HDR for a wider and more vibrant range of colors for a truly captivating visual experience. Additionally, Microsoft has integrated Xbox Game Pass into the redesigned Xbox app for Windows 11 as well.
Finally, to some bad news, Microsoft made a change in the minimum requirements needed to install Windows, as it became necessary for users to have a PC with a 64-bit processor or System on a Chip (SoC), 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage memory, and most importantly at least an 8th gen Intel Core processor or a 2nd gen AMD Ryzen CPU with rusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0, Secure Boot enabled support, and a DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver compatible graphic card.
Although it is currently possible to install preview versions of Windows 11 on all other machines that only have TPM 1.2 by replacing the install.win file from the Windows 10 ISO by the Windows 11 one, but Microsoft Microsoft may block this trick at any time, which will force Users can buy a new computer that has these technical specifications to run Windows 11, or stay in Windows 10 and get security updates until 2025.
Changing the minimum technical specifications needed to run Windows 11 at this particular time is unnecessary , whatever its motives, as the world is still living through one of the worst epidemics in history, and many families have lost their jobs or part of their savings in this pandemic, and The worst of all is that the world is experiencing a severe shortage of semi-transportation, which made the prices of computers rise. In addition to that, Windows 11 still works well on old devices (using the above trick), and performs better than Windows 10, so what is the reason for forcing people to change their computers to take advantage of an operating system that will be available free of charge for all devices running Windows 10.
