Windows 11: The Successor of Windows 10

Ajmaeen Abbas Amio

Windows 11 was unveiled at Microsoft's big event on June 24, with many new additions to features and a huge jump in the UI of the Operating System. One of the most successful products of Microsoft to date is the Windows Operating System. Windows has evolved a lot since its first release, Windows 1.0 in 1985. Windows 10 was announced in 2015 and Microsoft said that Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows ever. But this year Microsoft broke their statement and launched Windows 11. It brings a lot of new features to Windows in addition to the features which were already present in Windows 10. 

The Major ChangesWindows 11 are The UI change and the features. 

The Windows UI has changed significantly in comparison to Windows 10. The theme changes that have taken place in Windows 11 are given below:

• The New Transparent Glass Theme: In Windows 11 everything has a transparent glass vibe unlike Windows 10. In Windows 10 there was Transparency Mode but in Windows 11 it has been enhanced a lot more.

• The new Centered Taskbar: Windows 11 has brought one of the most requested features in Windows 10 which is the Centered Taskbar. Previously in Windows 10, the start button and all the app icons pinned to the taskbar were aligned to the left of the taskbar. But positioning the icons in the centre gives it a better vibe and is also useful for people using ultrawide monitors. Because they need to go all the way to the left side of their screen for accessing the apps and windows button of the taskbar. Besides the start menu of the taskbar has also gotten a significant change.

• The New Icons: One of the most significant changes of Windows 11 is the system icons. The icons of Windows 11 have changed a lot from Windows 10. The new icons are more colourful and minimal. 

• The Rounded Corners of Apps: In Windows 11 every single app has rounded corners in the edges to give it a minimal look.

• New and Improved Window Snapping: Microsoft has stepped up their game this time by adding more functionality to Window Snapping in Windows 11. Now, if we hover the cursor over the maximize button then we can see 6 different snapping layouts which are much easier to use than Windows 10. It is a small change but very helpful as manually snapping windows holding the whole window is often not the best experience. 

• Widgets and In-built Microsoft Teams: Microsoft has now introduced widgets in windows that will display much information indifferent cards. Besides, Microsoft Teams is now built into windows and is not needed to be installed separately. Previously, Skype used to be Preinstalled in Windows 20 but now in Windows 11 Microsoft Teams has also taken its place.

• Android App Support: Windows 11 will support Android Apps which can be downloaded from the Amazon App store which will be available inside the Microsoft Store. So, now more emulators will be necessary to run Android Apps in Windows.

Current State of Windows 11: Currently Windows 11 is available to download for Windows 10 users by enrolling in the Windows Insider Program which is free of cost. But, they are all Beta and Dev builds which are not stable and are only recommended for people who want to test out Windows 11 early for further improvement. Besides, Microsoft is also providing the official Beta and Dev channel ISOs from their website so that testers can do a clean install of Windows 11 and start testing it.

The Good sides: Windows 11 has a new simplistic vibe which most people currently prefer. Besides Windows 11 has also taken some security measures permanent like TPM and Secure Boot. Besides, the native Android App Support has also made people excited. So, overall Windows 11 is quite exciting and everyone is waiting for the official stable build to launch so that everyone can download it.

Besides, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 will be a free upgrade for the Windows 10 users as what happened for Windows 10 for upgrading from Windows 7, 8 or 8.1. 

Bad Sides: Windows 11 is not only filled with goodness but has some bad sides too. Windows 11 will not be supported on most old PCs and Laptops because of their hardware. According to Microsoft, Windows 11 will support Intel 8th Gen CPUs or newer and AMD’s CPUs with Zen 2 cores or newer. That means many Laptops and PCs aren’t going to support Windows 11 unlike they did in the case of Windows 10.

Hopefully, Windows 11 is going to make it to all the public users in the world within October (rumoured) of this year. It has some nice improvements over the already popular Windows 10. Everyone is quite excited to try it out.