While big additions are missing from Microsoft’s first Windows 11 build, it does include a few changes that could improve the experience of using your PC.
With Windows 11, Microsoft is introducing modern touches to the experience of using a PC. Most noticeably, a new design is meant to help users more quickly get what they’re looking for. The changes go beyond the surface, though. Microsoft is changing the rules of its app store to bring more variety and even bring Android apps to the PC, and adding enhancements that promise to boost gaming. New touchscreen controls and a better way to configure windows on screen might make it easy to sit in front of the computer for long periods. Much is on the line. Windows is central to Microsoft, as companies use it for their employees’ devices and consumers use it for entertainment. The current version, Windows 10, is the top PC operating system in the world, and the company doesn’t want to lose that leadership position as it faces competition from the likes of Apple and Google. On Monday, less than a week after revealing Windows 11, Microsoft released its first preview build of Windows 11 to people participating in the Windows Insider Program, giving people their first chance to try out what’s new. If you want to test it yourself, go to the Settings app in Windows 10 and opt-in under the Windows Insider Program section. Just be warned: The software is still new and not very extensively tested, and it contains some issues, which means you might have to figure out workarounds. If you’d want to keep Windows bugs to a minimum, then you probably shouldn’t upgrade yet. Microsoft plans to start rolling out the upgrade more widely later this year and into next year. 1. Start button. Perhaps the biggest change is the movement of the Start button from the left corner of the task bar to the center, along with icons for open applications and icons that have been pinned to the taskbar. The change will take some time to get used to. Instinctively you want to move your mouse to the left, and after you do that and click near the edge of the screen, nothing happens.
