Introducing Windows 11
Introducing Windows 11
The responsibility of designing for so many people is not something we take lightly. Over the past 18 months, we have seen an incredible shift in the way we use our PCs. Our devices were no longer just for meetings, class, and work, but we also came to play games with friends, watch our favorite shows, and, perhaps most meaningfully, connect. In the process, we found ourselves digitally recreating office banter, hallway conversations, workouts, happy hours, and holiday celebrations.
What was most impactful was the change we saw and felt in the PC – from something practical and functional to something personal and emotional. That’s what inspired us as we were building the next generation of Windows. To create a place that feels familiar, where you can create, learn, play, and most importantly, connect in all new ways.
Today, I’m excited to introduce you to Windows 11, the Windows that brings you closer to the things you love.
Redesigned for Productivity, Creativity, and Ease
We put Start at the center and made it easy to quickly find what you need. Start uses the power of the cloud and Microsoft 365 to show you your recent files, no matter what platform or device you’ve viewed them on before, whether it’s an Android or iOS device.
Windows has always been about helping you work the way you want, by offering the convenience of multiple windows and the ability to snap apps together. New in Windows 11, we’re introducing Snap Layouts, Snap Groups, and desktops to provide an even more powerful way to multitask and stay on top of what you need to do. These new features are designed to help you organize your windows and optimize your screen real estate so you can see exactly what you need, exactly the way you want, and the layout looks cleaner. You can even create different desktops for every part of your life and customize them to your liking – imagine having a desktop for work, gaming, or school.
A Faster way to Connect with the People You care About
Another important part of bringing you closer to yourself is bringing you closer to the people you love. Over the past 18 months, we’ve reinvented the way we build meaningful connections with people digitally. Even though we’re having more face-to-face conversations, we want to make it easier for people to stay close to each other, no matter where they are.
With Windows 11, we’re excited to introduce chat from Microsoft Teams integrated into the taskbar. You can now instantly connect with all your contacts wherever they are, no matter what platform or device they’re on, whether on Windows, Android, or iOS, via text, chat, voice, or video. If the person you’re connecting with on the other end hasn’t downloaded the Teams app, you can still connect with them via two-way SMS.
Windows 11 also gives you a more natural way to connect with friends and family through Teams, allowing you to quickly mute and unmute or start a presentation directly from the taskbar.
Delivering the Best PC Gaming Experience Ever
Gaming has always been a fundamental part of Windows. Today, hundreds of millions of people around the world play games on Windows and find enjoyment and connection with their loved ones and friends through games. Windows 11 unlocks the full potential of your system’s hardware, putting some of the latest gaming technology to work for you. Such as DirectX 12 Ultimate, which can enable breathtaking, immersive graphics at higher frame rates; Direct Storage for faster loading times and more detailed game worlds; and Auto HDR for a wider, more vivid range of colors for a truly immersive visual experience.
A Faster Way to Get the Information that Matters to You
Windows 11 brings you faster and closer to the news and information you care about with Widgets – a new personalized feed powered by AI and best-in-class browser performance from Microsoft Edge. Even when we’re at our most focused and creative, we need a break – a moment to connect with the outside world or mentally reset ourselves. Now, you can open a similar curated view directly from your desktop. When you open your personalized feed, it slides onto your screen like a sheet of glass, so it doesn’t interrupt your work. For creators and publishers, Widgets also opens up new spaces within Windows to deliver personalized content. We aspire to create a vibrant pipeline for global brands and local creators, in a way that both consumers and creators can benefit from.
An All-new Microsoft Store where Favorite Apps and Entertainment Come Together
The new Microsoft Store is your one-stop trusted place to discover, create, play, work, and learn apps and content. It’s been rebuilt for speed and with an all-new design that’s beautiful and easy to use. Not only will we bring you more apps than ever before, but we’re also making it easier to search and discover all content – apps, games, shows, movies – with curated stories and collections. When you download an app from the Store you have peace of mind knowing it’s been vetted for security and family safety.
We’re also excited to announce that we’re bringing Android apps to Windows for the first time. Starting later this year, people will be able to discover Android apps in the Microsoft Store and download them through the Amazon App Store – imagine recording and posting videos from TikTok or using Khan Academy Kids for virtual learning from your PC. We’ll have more on this experience in the coming months. We’re looking forward to this partnership with Amazon and Intel using their Intel Bridge technology.
Creating a More Open Ecosystem that Opens New Opportunities For Developers and Creators
We’re taking steps to further open the Microsoft Store to open up more economic opportunities for creators and developers. We’re enabling developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) to bring their apps, whether they’re built as Win32, Progressive Web Apps (PWA), Universal Windows Apps (UWP), or another app framework, to reach and connect with more people. We’re also announcing a progressive change to our revenue share policies, where app developers can now bring their commerce to our store and keep 100% of the revenue – Microsoft takes nothing. App developers can still use our commerce with a competitive revenue share of 85/15. We believe creating a more open ecosystem will ultimately benefit our customers – giving them secure, frictionless access to the apps, games, movies, shows, and web content they want and need.
Faster, More Secure, and More Familiar for IT
For IT, Windows 11 is built on the consistent, compatible, and familiar Windows 10 foundation you know. You’ll plan, prepare, and implement for Windows 11 as you do with Windows 10 today. The familiar management experiences you have today – such as Microsoft Endpoint Manager, Cloud Config, Windows Update for Business, and Autopilot – will support your environments of tomorrow when you integrate Windows 11 into your estate.
Just like with Windows 10, we are deeply committed to app compatibility, a core design principle of Windows 11. SoftwareDiscountUSA team stands behind our promise that your apps will work on Windows 11 with App Assure, a service that helps customers with 150 or more users fix any app issues at no additional cost.**
Windows 11 is also secure by design, with new built-in security technologies that will add protection from the chip to the cloud while enabling productivity and new experiences. We have worked closely with our OEM and silicon partners to raise the security baseline to meet the evolving threat landscape and the needs of the new hybrid work world.
