We were told Windows 10 will be the final iteration of the Windows Operating System!
Now Microsoft have revealed that Windows 11 will soon be released to the public.
Windows 11 is the next installation of the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems, and with it, come quite a few drastic and radical changes. Our team of consultants and engineers are currently testing the BETA builds of Windows 11 so when the time comes, we can support YOU our customers. This post will go over some of the new features that Windows 11 will include.
Windows 10 was a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It is the successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier, and itself was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and broadly released for the general public on July 29, 2015. Support for Windows 10 will end in October 2025, and this means that by this point everyone should (for best practice) be upgraded to Windows 11.
We have our first issue, Windows 11 has very strict hardware support requirements, so if your device is currently over 3 years old, there is a high possibility that your current device will not be capable of running Windows 11. Here we have a list of requirements that are a MUST HAVE. This has been taken directly off the Microsoft website.
- Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with two or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor or system on a chip (SoC).
- RAM: 4 gigabytes (GB) or greater.
- Storage: 64 GB* or greater available storage is required to install Windows 11.
- Additional storage space might be required to download updates and enable specific features.
- Graphics card: Compatible with DirectX 12 or later, with a WDDM 2.0 driver.
- System firmware: UEFI, Secure Boot capable.
- TPM: Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0.
- Display: High definition (720p) display, 9″ or greater monitor, 8 bits per color channel.
- Internet connection: Internet connectivity is necessary to perform updates, and to download and use some features.
- Windows 11 Home edition requires an Internet connection and a Microsoft Account to complete device setup on first use.
* There might be additional requirements over time for updates, and to enable specific features within the operating system. For more information, see Windows 11 specifications
Another change you will have noticed in the image at the start of this post is that the Taskbar icons are now automatically placed centrally on the task bar. For quite a few people this will be uncomfortable, however, you can simply change the position of the icons within the setting for the taskbar. You will also notice that Microsoft has cleaned up and standardized the Icon Packs and the dialogue boxes/windows. So, the program windows now have rounded corners instead of the sharp right angles we are used to that were introduced back in Windows 8, we believe that this is actually an improvement and helps with visualization and workflow, as everything is becoming more standardized.
Another feature in Windows 11 is the ability to organise and layout windows to different segments of the screen. We have been able to split 50/50 or 75/25 for years now, but this option will allow you to choose any combination of the screen placement that you require. This is a useful feature for users with ultra-widescreen monitors.
There are going to be many more features and changes to Windows 11 as the time comes closer to its release date on or around October 2021, however with features being released all the time, we feel it would be impossible to list everything in just one post, so we will do another post on our thoughts and opinions on Windows 11 closer to then.