Is Windows 11 truly a game changer?

We've all witnessed Twitter flooding with the screenshots of the supposedly Windows 11, but is the UI overhaul any practical? Is it really a game changer ? Here's my view on that.

The Windows 11 leaked build feels good on eyes, and is a very rich looking design for an operating system. The competition between the 3 major OS is becoming less concerned.

Why design doesn't matter much right now?

This is mainly due to the fact that various operating system are starting to be better in their own ways. Now, it's not only about the UI, but also other features like productivity, power consumption and other such factors. 

Now, it's getting more tough to compare each Operating System on one aspect, as those Operating System aren't focussing on one factor, like before.

Let me get this clear to you. Windows 11 is more on the UI side, but is it getting any faster? or is it going easy on battery? For now, no. It's going to consume a lot more energy, because it needs to render a lot of elements on the screen than before. Maybe Microsoft is making efficient redesign, in that case, it's fine.

Maybe in some cases, you can feel the performance bumps, but that's totally not very convincing.

Now, take the case of macOS. It's got little to negligible redesign this year, but a lot of functionality is being added, which is what users want. 

Even though macOS Big Sur has been redesigned (It's not as frequent as Microsoft with their major Windows releases), a lot of functionality is being added, whilst going easy on using resources. 

Let's be honest here, Microsoft is clearly trying to make things a little Apple here. It's not a critic, sometimes it can be useful as well, but copying the same homework isn't something we should be excited about. 

Things like the centered start menu is clearly mimicking macOS's Launchpad. Or the centered start menu is similar to its dock. Adding Widgets is a good thing, but adding it a little too late is the problem here.

Then, What matters now?

Speed and performance. No one asked for a redesign, yet they've made it. They've worked for 2 long years on the cancelled Windows 10X, and now they've used it to make Windows 11.

If they used that time to fix bugs and improve performance and try to bring in more new functionality, then it would be more benefiting for the users. To make things more understandable and easy, here are some examples.

How about Microsoft adding a new Game mode (Oh, not the Xbox Game Bar) which will optimize your device to the game, reducing bugs and improving performances? Cool, right?

This is what we want right now. People don't want fancy new redesigns, people want more usability and performance. Fancy redesigns can be made even with skins.

Even with these redesigns, Windows 11 has, to some extent, considered productivity as an aspect. Like the new simplified split screen options are definitely a sign of it.

So, Windows 11 sucks?

Obviously not. We can't straight away criticise years and years of hardwork of a company. The leaks aren't official and some new features aren't seen in this leaked image. We'll have to wait for June 24, that's right, with the same excitement for more info.

The new Windows 11 is certainly for someone whose tired of the same old UI and has been constantly waiting for a redesign. I am not too convinced about it though, as performance and productivity is preferred over design by me. 

This comes from a web designer and programmer, whose designing pages and experimenting new designs. Funny, isn't it?

Everything after the Microsoft Event, today

So, the event we had been waiting for is finally here. Microsoft had made some unexpected changes under the hood and its not really that bad. The Visual overhaul, was however, a criticise rather than a complement. 

As per Microsoft, the Boot time should be faster, applications should run a little smoother, upgrades are smaller and all those extras. It is also claimed as the "The most secure windows yet", Cool!

It can also run Android apps. Not only can it run apps from the Amazon Appstore, you can sideload it! It is quite a good feature, nothing to be ashamed of. But, there are some caveats.

The hardware requirements for Windows 11 created a hell of a confusion for the netizens. You'll need a TPM 2.0 Module and secure boot enabled. Even though some older machines have had all these enabled, they can't run Windows 11 according to the PC Health check app by Microsoft.

This is due to the fact that you'd need any intel 8th generation core processor, which is relatively new.

That means you need to upgrade or buy a new machine just for the sake of this, amidst the CPU shortage, great! So, with all that caveats, will you really want Windows 11?

It's a bold move from Microsoft (Indeed), as it responds to its users, not only to make breathtaking UI, but also to make it more faster, snappier and productive and also have such a complicated Hardware requirements. More over, the upgrade is completely* free! What more could you possibly need?

*- When you have a machine with a licensed Windows copy running on a relatively new machine. So, not exactly it is free.

The new generation of Windows is expected to roll out for its users at early 2022, so we have quite a long way for the launch, so stay tuned.