Windows 11 has been announced

Windows 11 on PC brings technologies developed for the Xbox Series console, a new interface and a little surprise - Android apps.

Microsoft has officially announced its new operating system - Windows 11. The version that appeared in circulation earlier this month has already revealed a part of what we can expect, but some new things have been confirmed. For starters, Windows 11 will be free as an upgrade to Windows 10 users, and will become available in late 2021. They will be able to use Android apps and gamers will bring new technologies from the Xbox Series console. It will be more hardware demanding than all previous Windows.

Of course, the biggest changes are the ones visible to the eye - in the redesign of the user interface. Here's what's changing:

1.the start menu and taskbar will be centered (although there will be an option to return to the left corner), the taskbar will not be able to move from the bottom and from the horizontal position
2.the new start menu will be simplified and in addition to the list of "pinned" applications, it will also have a list of recently used documents at the top (synchronized from all devices you access with your Microsoft account)
3.a snap layout is introduced to quickly arrange windows according to predefined schemes when you stop the cursor on the window maximize button
4.Multi-screen support will improve, so Windows will be better able to remember which monitor each application was running on, and when you reconnect that monitor, it will return it to where it was before.
5.The possibilities of virtual desktops will be expanded, so everyone will be able to change the background image and the like.
6.visual refreshment includes rounded window edges, new icons, and the like
7.returns widgets in a separate section that appears on the left side of the screen, and contains a personalized collection of news and other information

In addition to these expected changes, it has been said that Windows 11 will be more efficient. For example, updates will be 40% smaller than those for Windows 10, and the update process will take place in the background. It is not entirely clear whether this will mean that updates will no longer require a system restart. Microsoft Teams will be integrated into the system, and Skype is slowly being forgotten.

Microsoft boasted that Windows 11 was made for gamers. Now, of course they will say that, but don't expect some huge things like a special edition of the OS with a minimum number of unnecessary applications and the like. The part about gamers is related to approximately three important news:

1.Auto HDR technology comes from the Xbox Series console on a Windows 11 PC - older games will get artificial support for HDR display, which means better color gamut, better contrast, etc .; but it seems that the technology will be limited to games with DirectX 11 and 12 performance
2.Direct Storage technology comes from the Xbox Series console on a Windows 11 PC - if you have an NVMe drive, supported games will be able to take advantage of its speed better than they used to, so PC gamers can expect even faster downloads
3.The Xbox Game Pass will be integrated into Windows 11 through the Xbox app, which means it will come out of the beta version it has been in for three years

4.another important thing is the redesign of the Microsoft application store that will support classic Win32 applications, including those used for sales and distribution of content
5.it is theoretically possible that Steam, Epic Games and similar launchers will now be able to be part of the Microsoft Store which brings with it… the benefit of a simple update through the store? However, the decision to be present on the Store will still be up to the developers
6.Microsoft will not charge a commission for microtransactions in standard applications, but for video games it will - 12% of the amount of each sale

The biggest surprise of Windows 11 is that the system will allow the launch of applications made for Android. In other words, Instagram, Tik Tok and similar things are now arriving on your PC as well! Now, that part has been done a bit in a roundabout way - with the help of the Amazon Appstore and Intel Bridge technology. In other words, don’t expect exactly all the Android apps you can find on Google’s app store, but a select lineup. However, the basics are there so it will probably be possible to download and run APK files.

Lastly - good news - Windows 11 will be free to upgrade. That is, everyone who has Windows 10 will be able to upgrade to Windows 11 free of charge.

Hardware requirements that are more modern are also known. At a minimum, you will need the following for Windows 11:

-64-bit processor, 8th generation Intel Core minimum or 2nd generation AMD Ryzen
-4 GB of RAM
-64 GB of free disk space