Microsoft has announced that Windows 11 is coming soon. But while the idea was to stay with a logic of evolution of Windows 10, without changing the version number. But as the competition (Apple in this case) has also gone back on this statement, let's see how Microsoft has changed the game on this new edition of its OS. Discovered.
A new Windows.... or not!
We won't lie to ourselves: the arrival of a new OS always raises expectations in terms of innovation and design. We recently saw Apple propose with MacOS Monterey, a relatively timid update on the new options. No revolution on the visual aspect, which could necessarily give desire to make a drastic update. On this last point, Microsoft has made a change, which reminds a bit of the Apple Dock Bar, now locating the Start button.... in the centre! And as far as the aesthetic part is concerned, we find a management of themes, downloadable to customize the general appearance of Windows, with the support of a Dark mode. Windows 11 launch video:
In addition to this (slight) modification, we can note that the icons and sounds of Windows have been reworked, to have a homogeneous and pleasant visual. The other notable point is the speed at which windows or applications are launched. We can see that the system has been reworked to take better advantage of the recent hardware on PCs. This is more of an improvement to Windows 10 than a radical change to the operating system. For the technical specifications, here is what is required to run Windows 11 properly:
- You must have 12 GB of available memory on your hard disk.
- Have a RAM memory of at least 1.10 GB or more.
- Have an additional 60 MB of video RAM
In short, not that different from Windows 10 for standard use. When installing Windows, we see a pretty nice and very stylish (OOBE) experience:
The start screen is quite similar, with the Windows logo flatter and with a slightly different shade of blue. One of the other changes we noticed was a significant improvement in the performance of the machine. Indeed, faster boot-up, multimedia access and optimised graphics processing. Here is a graph of measurements taken, on a configuration between the latest version of Windows 10 and the developer version of Windows 11:
Will it make a difference, justifying a change of OS? Perhaps not immediately, as Windows 10 has become more stable over the last few years, with an ever-increasing focus on security but also on centralized management. As far as security is concerned, there are no major changes visible for the moment, and the approach remains similar to what we were used to in Windows 10. The Windows Hello options are still there, with the same possibilities as on Windows 10. One of the major new features will certainly be the link with the Android world and the possibility of installing apps from the Microsoft Store.
Here is a video made by one of our trainers with the developer version, from a virtual machine:
And an interview by Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal:
In short, a revolution?
It's still too early to talk about a revolution, but at least it's an evolution, both in terms of performance (it's quite striking, especially considering it's a developer version) and the visual interface. Of course, we haven't yet been able to test the famous Android Apps approach from the Microsoft Store. But let's bet that it will be a success. The fact that Microsoft offers access to their Store platform without taking commissions (unlike Apple and its 30%), should bring a new community of users in this new version of the Redmond system. Article written by Michel Aguilera