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Windows 11 is the latest major release of Microsoft 's Windows NT operating system , released in October It is a free upgrade to its predecessor, Windows 10 , available for any Windows 10 devices that meet the new Windows 11 system requirements. Windows 11 features major changes to the Windows shell influenced by the canceled Windows 10X , including a redesigned Start menu , the replacement of its "live tiles" with a separate "Widgets" panel on the taskbar , the ability to create tiled sets of windows that can be minimized and restored from the taskbar as a group, and new gaming technologies inherited from Xbox Series X and Series S such as Auto HDR and DirectStorage on compatible hardware.
Internet Explorer IE has been replaced by the Chromium -based Microsoft Edge as the default web browser like its predecessor, Windows 10 , and Microsoft Teams is integrated into the Windows shell.
Microsoft also announced plans to allow more flexibility in software that can be distributed via Microsoft Store , and to support Android apps on Windows 11 including a partnership with Amazon to make its app store available for the function. Citing security considerations, the system requirements for Windows 11 were increased over Windows While the OS can be installed on unsupported processors, Microsoft does not guarantee the availability of updates.
Windows 11 received a mixed reception at launch. Pre-release coverage of the operating system focused on its stricter hardware requirements, with discussions over whether they were legitimately intended to improve the security of Windows or as a ploy to upsell customers to newer devices, and over e-waste associated with the changes.
Upon release, it was praised for its improved visual design, window management, and a stronger focus on security, but was criticized for various modifications to aspects of its user interface which were seen as worse than its predecessor. At the Ignite conference , Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon stated that Windows 10 would be the "last version of Windows", a statement that Microsoft confirmed was "reflective" of its view.
In October , Microsoft announced " Windows 10X ", a future edition of Windows 10 designed exclusively for dual-touchscreen devices such as the then-upcoming Surface Neo. It featured a modified user interface designed around context-sensitive "postures" for different screen configurations and usage scenarios, and changes such as a centered taskbar and updated Start menu without Windows 10's "live tiles".
Legacy Windows applications would also be required to run in "containers" to ensure performance and power optimization. Microsoft stated that it planned to release Windows 10X devices by the end of In May , during the COVID pandemic , Panos Panay Microsoft's chief product officer for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office stated that "as we continue to put customers' needs at the forefront, we need to focus on meeting customers where they are now", and announced that Windows 10X would only launch on single-screen devices at first, and that Microsoft would "continue to look for the right moment, in conjunction with our OEM partners, to bring dual-screen devices to market".
In October , reports emerged that Microsoft was working on a user interface refresh for Windows 10 codenamed "Sun Valley", scheduled to be included in a late feature update codenamed "Cobalt". Internal documentation stated that the aim for "Sun Valley" was to "reinvigorat[e]" the Windows user interface and make it more "fluid", with a more consistent application of WinUI , while reports suggested Microsoft planned to adapt UI elements seen in Windows 10 X. By December , Microsoft had begun to implement and announce some of these visual changes and other new features on Windows 10 Insider Preview builds, such as new system icons which also included the replacement of shell resources dating back as far as Windows 95 , [25] improvements to Task View to allow changing the wallpaper on each virtual desktop , x emulation on ARM, and adding the Auto HDR feature from Xbox Series X.
On May 18, , Head of Windows Servicing and Delivery John Cable stated that Windows 10X had been canceled and that Microsoft would be "accelerating the integration of key foundational 10X technology into other parts of Windows and products at the company". At the Microsoft Build developer conference, CEO and chairman Satya Nadella teased about the existence of the next generation of Windows during his keynote speech.
According to Nadella, he had been self-hosting it for several months. He also teased that an official announcement would come very soon. The Windows 11 name was accidentally released in an official Microsoft support document in June At the June 24 media event, Microsoft also announced that Windows 11 would be released in "Holiday ". On August 31, , Microsoft announced that Windows 11 was to be released on October 5, The first television commercial for Windows 11 premiered during the NFL Kickoff Game on September 9, ; it was intended to showcase a "feeling of immersion and fluidity", with imagery of operating system features and Xbox Game Studios ' Halo Infinite.
Microsoft officially released Windows 11 on October 4, , at p. PT , [60] as an opt-in, in-place upgrade through either the Windows 11 Installation Assistant application which can perform the upgrade, or generate an ISO image or USB install media , or via Windows Update in a phased rollout; Microsoft anticipated that Windows 11 would be available via Windows Update to all eligible devices by mid Windows 11, the first major Windows release since , builds upon its predecessor by revamping the user interface to follow Microsoft's new Fluent Design guidelines.
The redesign, which focuses on ease of use and flexibility, [52] comes alongside new productivity and social features and updates to security and accessibility, addressing some of the deficiencies of Windows The Microsoft Store , which serves as a unified storefront for apps and other content, is also redesigned in Windows Microsoft now allows developers to distribute Win32 , progressive web applications , and other packaging technologies in the Microsoft Store, alongside Universal Windows Platform apps.
The collaboration platform Microsoft Teams is integrated into the Windows 11 user interface, and is accessible via the taskbar. Skype will no longer be bundled with the OS by default. Microsoft claims performance improvements such as smaller update sizes, faster web browsing in "any browser", faster wake time from sleep mode, and faster Windows Hello authentication.
Windows 11 ships with the Chromium -based Microsoft Edge web browser for compatibility [76] [77] with Google Chrome web browser [78] , and does not include or support Internet Explorer. A redesigned user interface is present frequently throughout the operating system, building upon Fluent Design System ; translucency, shadows, a new color palette, and rounded geometry are prevalent throughout the UI. A prevalent aspect of the design is an appearance known as "Mica", described as an "opaque, dynamic material that incorporates theme and desktop wallpaper to paint the background of long-lived windows such as apps and settings".
The taskbar 's buttons are center-aligned by default, and it is permanently pinned to the bottom edge of the screen; it cannot be moved to the top, left, or right edges of the screen as in previous versions of Windows without manual changes to the registry.
The "Widgets" button on the taskbar displays a panel with Microsoft Start , [90] a news aggregator with personalized stories and content expanding upon the "news and interests" panel introduced in later builds of Windows The Start menu has been significantly redesigned, replacing the "live tiles" used by Windows 8.
Task View , a feature introduced in Windows 10, features a refreshed design, and supports giving separate wallpapers to each virtual desktop. The window snapping functionality has been enhanced with two additional features; hovering over a window's maximize button displays pre-determined "Snap Layouts" for tiling multiple windows onto a display, and tiled arrangement of windows can be minimized and restored from the taskbar as a "snap group". If the same display is reconnected, the windows are restored to their prior location.
Users can install Android apps through any source using the APK file format. As part of the minimum system requirements, Windows 11 only runs on devices with a Trusted Platform Module 2. Like its predecessor, Windows 11 also supports multi-factor authentication and biometric authentication through Windows Hello. Windows 11 is available in two main editions; the Home edition, which is intended for consumer users, and the Pro edition, which contains additional networking and security features such as BitLocker , as well as the ability to join a domain.
Windows 11 SE was announced on November 9, , as an edition exclusively for low-end devices sold in the education market; it is intended as a successor to Windows 10 S , and also competes primarily with ChromeOS. It is designed to be managed via Microsoft Intune , and has changed based on feedback from educators to simplify the user interface and reduce "distractions", such as Snap Layouts not containing layouts for more than two applications at once, all applications opening maximized by default, and Widgets being removed.
It is bundled with applications such as Microsoft Office for Microsoft , Minecraft Education Edition , and Flipgrid, while OneDrive is used to save files by default. Windows 11 SE does not include Microsoft Store; third-party software is provisioned or installed by administrators. To target organizations migrating from Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge is configured by default to enable the installation of extensions from the Chrome Web Store. The Windows Insider program carries over from Windows 10, with pre-release builds divided into "Dev" unstable builds used to test features for future feature updates , "Beta" test builds for the next feature update; relatively stable in comparison to Dev channel , and "Release Preview" pre-release builds for final testing of upcoming feature updates channels.
Before the launch of Windows 11, OEMs as well as mobile operators and businesses were offered two options for device imaging: Component-Based Servicing lp. The 38 fully-localized Language Pack LP languages were available as both lp. With Windows 11, that process has changed. Furthermore, these 43 languages can only be imaged using lp.
This is to ensure a fully supported language-imaging and cumulative update experience. The remaining 67 LIP languages that are LXP-based will move to a self-service model, and can only be added by Windows users themselves via the Microsoft Store and Windows Settings apps, not during the Windows imaging process. Any user, not just admins, can now add both the display language and its features, which can help users in business environments, but these exact options for languages both LP and LIP still depend on the OEM and mobile operator.
These languages are either preloaded or available for download, [] depending on the OEM, region of purchase, and mobile operator. For each of the manufacturers listed, Yes is displayed if the language is supported or available for download in at least one region, and No is displayed if it is not supported in any region.
The following languages are available for download on all and newer Surface devices regardless of the region:. These additional languages are available for download exclusively in their respective markets, in addition to the above languages:. The basic system requirements of Windows 11 differ significantly from Windows Windows 11 only supports bit systems such as those using an x or ARM64 processor; IA processors are no longer supported.
Some third-party software may refuse to run on configurations of Windows 11 that do not comply with the hardware security requirements, with Riot Games' multiplayer game Valorant which uses it to strictly enforce its kernel-level anti-cheat component being the first such example.
Reception of Windows 11 upon its reveal was positive, with critics praising the new design and productivity features. Microsoft has not specifically acknowledged this when discussing the cutoff, it was also acknowledged that the sixth and seventh generation of Intel Core processors were prominently afflicted by CPU-level security vulnerabilities such as Meltdown and Spectre , and that newer CPUs manufactured since then had increased mitigations against the flaws. Research Vice President of Gartner Stephen Kleynhans felt that Microsoft was "looking at the entire stack from the hardware up through the applications and the user experience and trying to make the entire stack work better and more securely.
Andrew Cunningham of Ars Technica praised the improvements to its visual design describing the new "Mica" appearance as reminiscent of the visual appearance of iOS and macOS , and arguing that Microsoft had "[made] a serious effort" at making the user-facing aspects of Windows 11 more consistent visually , window management, performance assessed as being equivalent to if not better than Windows 10 , other "beneficial tweaks", and its system requirements having brought greater public attention to hardware security features present on modern PCs.
Criticism was raised towards Widgets' lack of support for third-party content thus limiting it to Microsoft services only , regressions in taskbar functionality and customization, the inability to easily select default applications for common tasks such as web browsing now requiring the user to select the browser application for each file type individually , and Microsoft's unclear justification for its processor compatibility criteria.
Cunningham concluded that "as I've dug into [Windows 11] and learned its ins and outs for this review, I've warmed to it more", but argued that the OS was facing similar "public perception" issues to Windows Vista and Windows 8. However, he noted that 11 did not have as many performance issues or bugs as Vista had upon its release, nor was as "disjointed" as 8, and recommended that users who were unsure about the upgrade should stay on Windows 10 in anticipation of future updates to Tom Warren of The Verge described Windows 11 as being akin to a house in the middle of renovations, but that "actually using Windows 11 for the past few months hasn't felt as controversial as I had expected"—praising its updated user interface as being more modern and reminiscent of iOS and ChromeOS , the new start menu for feeling less cluttered than the Windows 10 iteration, updates to some of its stock applications, and Snap Assist.
Warren noted that he rarely used the Widgets panel or Microsoft Teams, citing that he preferred the weather display that later versions of Windows 10 offered, and didn't use Teams to communicate with his friends and family.
He also acknowledged the expansion of Microsoft Store to include more "traditional" desktop applications. However, he felt that Windows 11 still felt like a work in progress, noting UI inconsistencies such as dark mode and new context menu designs not being uniform across all dialogues and applications, and the modern Settings app still falling back upon legacy Control Panel applets for certain settings , regressions to the taskbar including the inability to move it, drag files onto taskbar buttons to focus the corresponding application, and the clock only shown on the primary display in multi-monitor configurations , and promised features such as dynamic refresh rate support and a universal microphone mute button not being present on the initial release.
Overall, he concluded that "I wouldn't rush out to upgrade to Windows 11, but I also wouldn't avoid it. After all, Windows 11 still feels familiar and underneath all the UI changes, it's the same Windows we've had for decades. PC World was more critical, arguing that Windows 11 "sacrifices productivity for personality, but without cohesion", commenting upon changes such as the inability to use local "offline" accounts on Windows 11 Home, regressions to the taskbar, a "functionally worse" start menu, Microsoft Teams integration having privacy implications and being a ploy to coerce users into switching to the service, File Explorer obscuring common functions under unclear icons, using "terribly sleazy" behaviors to discourage changing the default web browser from Microsoft Edge, and that the OS "anecdotally feels less responsive, slower, and heavier than Windows From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Screenshot showing the new Start menu and centered taskbar [1]. Closed-source Source-available through Shared Source Initiative Some components open source [2] [3] [4] [5]. List of languages. Main article: Features new to Windows See also: List of features removed in Windows Main article: Windows 11 version history.
The Verge. Archived from the original on June 18, Retrieved September 12, Archived from the original on August 3, Retrieved August 31, Archived from the original on July 3, Archived from the original on January 14, Archived from the original on September 13, Windows Experience Blog.
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