Windows 11 is official, and here’s what we know about the release date, new features on the way, and everything else about it.
After what seemed like ages of waiting, Microsoft has finally announced what it’s calling “the next generation of Windows”. Windows 11 is a major, major change. It’s representative of a big shift in how Microsoft delivers Windows, but it’s also a big UX overhaul as well. On top of that, it’s getting Android app support, a new Store, and much more. Here’s what we know so far! Navigate this page: The official Windows 11 release date is this holiday season. The timeline is just very different from a normal Windows feature update. Normally, new features arrive in the Dev channel of the Windows Insider Program over the course of six months to a year. Insiders test them out, they give feedback, and things evolve. Once the Windows 10 feature update RTMs, it goes to the Beta channel. It sits there for servicing for a few months, and then it goes to the Release Preview channel shortly before release. This is different because Microsoft hasn’t been letting people test this as features have been developed, aside from the few missing from the public previews. How can Microsoft announce something on June 24 and have it ready in time to ship this fall? There are a few answers, one of which is that Windows 11 has been ready for a while and Microsoft hasn’t told you. Windows 10 Insider Previews have continued to ship, but the Redmond firm is stripping out the Windows 11 shell. There are a few parts that won’t be ready in time for Windows Insider testing, such as the new Microsoft Store, Android apps on Windows, and Teams integration. The preview is available in the Dev and Beta channels of the Windows Insider Program now. OEMs are already installing on new laptops and desktops. This holiday season, Windows 11 will be available to everyone with a compatible PC as a free update. Windows 11 won’t have a specific release date until we get pretty close to it. If you want to try out the preview, you’ll need a PC that meets the minimum requirements. Check out our guide for getting started with Windows 11 here. If you want to try out some workarounds for getting it installed on unsupported PCs, we’ve got a guide for that too. Back when Windows 10 was announced, it was going to be the last version of Windows. After that, we’d have Windows on a service, and the plan was to let it evolve over time. In fact, I’m sure Terry Myerson knew that there would have to be a big design overhaul at some point, and he thought that would be a Windows 10 update. Also, to be clear, a developer evangelist named Jerry Nixon was the only one that actually said that Windows 10 was the last version. Microsoft just sort of didn’t correct it, seemingly confirming Nixon’s remarks. Still, this was absolutely Microsoft’s internal mindset at the time. Here’s the big issue though. Everyone that said Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows doesn’t work there anymore. Panos Panay is in charge of Windows now, and he’s something of a showman. A good way to think of this is a rebrand, but a rebrand that’s coming at a time where there’s a big UX overhaul. Under the hood, this is the same Windows 10 that we’ve known for years, and it could have shipped as a Windows 10 update. The new brand is about creating excitement around the idea that this is brand-new. This is not what Windows 10X would have been, because that was only going to arrive on new PCs. Windows 10X was never going to be sold as retail licenses either. With Windows 11, there won’t be any technical reason that you can’t go ahead and install it on any PC. Microsoft will continue on with Windows as a service, so this will be a free upgrade. But also, don’t expect this to be confirmed as the last version of Windows or anything. We’ll probably get Windows 12 in a few more years. We actually asked how version numbers will work with Windows 11, since it’s going to be updated once a year now instead of twice a year. There’s no need for H1 and H2 anymore. Microsoft wouldn’t comment. Windows 10X was supposed to be the real next generation of Windows. Along with a complete visual overhaul, it had a lot of under-the-hood changes like running all apps in containers. Microsoft recently announced that it’s dead, and a lot of its features are being folded into Windows 11. While it had been rumored long before that as Windows Lite, Windows 10X was actually unveiled alongside Microsoft’s Surface Neo as a dual-screen OS. It eventually abandoned its dual-screen ambitions, promising to deliver it on single-screen devices, like cheap laptops. Panos Panay actually wrote in a blog post that he wanted to meet customers where they’re at, even though you’d have to buy a new PC to get it. Things pretty much fell apart from there. There were some Windows 10X emulators that came out when Microsoft has big plans, but when the single-screen build leaked, it couldn’t even run Win32 apps anymore. Instead, we’re getting Windows 11, which will have the UX elements from Windows 10X. Windows 11 will be a free update for Windows 10 users this holiday season.
