Windows 11 – Coming soon to your PC?

by | Jun 25, 2021 | News

This morning, we’re hearing about Windows 11 coming to a PC near you within a few months (ahead of “the holiday season” in the US)

So, do you care?

We’re a bit curious. Microsoft have had a patchy record with Windows (pun intended).  Every second version seems to be a winner, and every other version is a cause of frustration – Windows 8 being an example of frustration and its successor, Windows 10, was fantastic.

But Windows 10 came out in 2015 and a lot has changed since then, including Windows 10.  We’ve had half-yearly updates to Windows, and that has kept it fresh.  In fact,  even how the update are released has been modernised.

I recall being told that Windows 10 would be the last ever version and the updates would keep it current – but a quick search finds only a few references to that memory (although we aren’t the only ones to wonder about it)

Windows 11 - Start Menu

The “start” button is now in the centre of the sceen and it feel smore like an app launcher than the old “Live Tiles”

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Windows 11 - Teams

“Teams” is now built into the Taskbar and feels more integrated into Windows overall.

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Windows 11 - Info

Updated look, more transpoarent and a new pane of glass with widgets, eg news or weather, that can expand across the whole screen

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Windows 11 - Layouts

“Snap Layouts” let  you quickly share your screen across several programs that you are working on together.

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Windows 11 - Android Apps

Windows can now run Android apps.  (from the Amazon store) – Microsoft are trying to be open to more ecosystems, which is a bit of a contrast with say, Apple.

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So, what is new?

  • the  “Start menu” is now in the middle of the task bar, not in the corner.  To be fair, this is a bit underwelming – I have never heard anyone complain about were the start button is (the good news is that you can move it back)
  • new look – more transparent windows that hover over each other, and “Snap Layout” to allow you to position your open Windows to make it eaiser to look at several programs at once. It will even remember where the open Windows are when you swap screens)
  • Teams is now built into Windows (whihc will be a big impact on Zoom and other competitors) – and there is a universal ‘mute’ on the right-hand side of taskbar for any video calling app.  Teams is also being promoted as much as a personal communications tool (like Skype was) as it is as a business tool.
  • Windows 11 will run Android phone apps (albeit the early information seems to limit this to apps sourced via Amazon)

We will see this later this year, and we’re hearing the word ‘free’ but, who knows? We’ll keep you posted.

For more information, check the official Microsoft Official Windows 11 page. To check if it will run on your PC, download and run the Windows Health Check App (1Ghz CPU, 4Gb RAM, 64Gb disk, 9″ screen etc.)

For more information, check the 2 videos below.