

Decreased energy use, for longer battery life, which Panay describes as making Windows 11 "more responsible".Windows Updates are 40 percent smaller, more efficient, and "happen in the background"."Browsing on any browser is faster, actually, which is awesome".Faster Windows Hello biometric authentication.Advertisementīefore handing off to Microsoft Partner Director Carmen Zlateff, Panay spent a moment detailing why Windows 11 is "beautiful on the inside." This mostly meant ticking off performance improvements in Windows-improvements for which we unfortunately have no concrete metrics. "How it all flows together is meant to bring you to an incredible sense of calm," Panay gushed.

The separate newsfeed-which opened from the left in Panay's demonstrations-is effectively those missing Metro-style tiles, now referred to by the more industry-standard term "widgets" and augmented with a top-mounted search bar. "The details matter," Panay said of the new menu, going on to say, "It is the details that enable you to get to that emotional space. The new Start menu uses space formerly occupied by newsfeed tiles to instead offer access to recently used documents and applications. Panay dipped into "emotion" once again while describing the new Start menu and separate newsfeed-"it's what you need, closer to you, simplified," he said of the new center-located Start menu. In Windows 11, the newsfeed has been broken out into a separate dialog, similar to (but not a part of) the actual Start menu. Microsoft clearly heard the latter, but the company isn't willing to give up on its own outside-the-browser newsfeed yet. A new start menu-and separate newsfeedĮarlier versions of Windows experimented with introducing a newsfeed directly into the Start menu-a feature that few Windows users seemed to appreciate, and many utterly loathed. We doubt anyone but Panay will get misty-eyed about the new look-but the ubiquitous translucent borders do serve to reassure users that their real work is still present, untouched, behind pop-up elements such as the new personalized widget feed. Microsoft Chief Product Officer Panos Panay ties the new look to eyebrow-raising statements about emotion: "We understand the responsibility of more than ever before, but it must also be personal-and maybe most importantly, it must feel emotional." In many ways, the new look is reminiscent of compiz-based Linux desktop environments circa 2010-but with significantly higher resolution and a more coherent overall theme. Its new desktop environment makes heavy use of translucent window dressing with rounded corners, an effect that brings to mind panes of frosted glass. However, Windows 11 absolutely does get that fresh coat of paint. The new OS offers several significant, functional changes to what we've become accustomed to in Windows 10-this isn't just the same old operating system with a fresh coat of paint. Earlier this morning, we got our first official look at Windows 11 by way of Microsoft's What's New For Windows event.
