1. Windows 11 will include a new interface
The next version of Windows will be called Windows 11 and it will include a new interface. Microsoft has been working on a new interface for Windows 11 for a few years now, and it looks like the company is finally ready to show it off. Windows 11 will be a free upgrade for Windows 10 users, and it will launch sometime in 2019. If you have been running Windows 8 or 8.1 for the past couple of years, then you may have noticed some design and layout changes (particularly in the Start menu) this past year, but Windows 11 has a few features that are worth highlighting.
For starters, the Start Menu is a lot more unique this time around. Simplified, it shows only the apps and pages you have open right now and also automatically scrolls to the top of your apps list. If you want to see more options, clicking the magnifying glass icon in the upper right of the Start Menu takes you right to the All Apps screen.
You can also click anywhere on the Start Menu to navigate even further into that area. And if you want to know what else is on the Start Menu, click on the gear icon in the lower right and you’ll be taken to the Settings menu.
Related to the Start Menu changes, the task bar is bigger, and it scrolls with a more organic feel. You can minimize any individual task by clicking on the icon in the taskbar and convincing your task manager to give it a more organic view.
The Get More Apps option in the Windows Settings makes finding apps much easier. Just double-click on the categories you want and it will take you to all of the apps installed on your PC. Double-click again to get an overview of all of the apps you’re using on your PC.
In addition, internet explorer will be integrated more fully in the Start Menu. Click on the internet explorer icon in the top-right and you’ll be taken to the standard internet explorer page.
2. Windows 11 will have a focus on cloud computing
Windows 11 will be Microsoft’s next-generation operating system, and it’ll be the company’s focus on cloud computing for the next decade.
Microsoft By the time this post is published, Windows 10 will likely be 3-4 years old and not have received any major updates since 2015. Windows 7 received well over half a decade of major updates between 2005 and 2010.
Microsoft’s effective lockdown of the world’s banks The U.S. banking industry, the largest in the world at over $5 trillion, relies heavily on finance software from Microsoft.
Slate | Source: Microsoft It’s impossible to investigate this fully, but I’d guess that banking software accounted for some $3-5 billion in Microsoft’s revenue for 2015.
The Nokia deal Just a couple of weeks before, Nokia signed a $1.1 billion deal with Microsoft, effectively doing a Microsoft a favor by letting them dominate Europe’s mobile phone market.
Microsoft was the #2 best-ranked company on Wall Street, and its stock price is valued at over $610 billion. Maybe Nokia made Microsoft just a tiny bit better at search.
Announcing Cortana (yes, really)
Microsoft loves computers, hires smart people, and launched groundbreaking innovations like Cortana a few years ago. Cortana is the next step in that continuum and is coming to Windows 10 on July 29.
Microsoft There has been much written on talk of conversational search and what it means for search. It’s very likely (though not confirmed by Microsoft) that the phrase “universal search” was coined by Microsoft’s head of Channels, Yusuf Mehdi, during Microsoft’s search announcement at I/O in 2014. Basically, it means that Cortana’s voice recognition technology can understand natural language and match it to results across different devices in an intelligent way.
3. The operating system can handle a lot of data at once
Android is a great operating system for those who use a lot of apps and want to be able to manage their data. The operating system lets you control the amount of data that each individual app uses and can even shut off data access to background apps that you don’t need to use.
You have the ability to manage all home, work, and multimedia calendars, as well as personal and gallery apps for your photos, videos, and music. You can sync with other Windows devices, such as computers, tablets, and smartphones. You can easily pin important apps to the Task Bar for easy access when you add them or create new ones.
3. Cortana on the web: How to use Cortana to make the most of your Internet experience
Cortana Previously known as “If This Then That,” Cortana is Microsoft’s answer to Google Now and Siri. You can ask Cortana just about anything and she will answer your question. She is also a personal assistant that can keep track of your calendar and even pay your bills for you. She can also highlight upcoming meetings and reminders for appointments.
You can get Cortana’s help by using the Windows voice search integration with the Cortana API. Once you have set up your Cortana account, it will be available everywhere Cortana is supported on the internet.
The date and time are still a major part of Cortana’s web interaction, as you can use her to try to set calendar appointments from your calendar and ask questions of a person you’ve never spoken to. For example, you could ask Cortana to set a meeting appointment for 3 pm on Thursday at your gym and have a text message or email update you with the location and time.
Note: Cortana cannot update schedules and events from our calendar app. You can, however, use Cortana’s web interface for setting reminders to meet with us in the future, and see upcoming events and deadlines we share with everyone else in your Microsoft community.
4. Windows 11 is going to be made for the enterprise market
Microsoft has already said that Windows 11 is going to be made for the enterprise market. The company has also said that they’re not going to be upgrading current versions of Windows to Windows 11. It’s not clear yet whether they’re going to charge for the upgrade to Windows 11, but they’re definitely going to be charging for it.Interestingly, Microsoft has announced a few upgrades to Windows 10 that are going to be released as free updates. We don’t know exactly when those updates will go live, but we’ll keep you updated as we learn more. Microsoft has made a few updates to the Edge web browser, so if you haven’t already downloaded the browser, you can do that now. The first announcement of those was in late June when they updated the Edge browser to speed up and refresh more frequently. Since then, they’ve been quietly rolling out updates.
Here are some of the most notable features of Windows 11 as announced so far:Core Internet Explorer
Microsoft is deprecating support for older versions of Internet Explorer. IE6, IE7, and IE8 users have been getting slow performance and serious security vulnerabilities from these older versions.
In Windows 10 the new version of IE will be supported up to IE11. The company also has EdgeHTML in progress, which will provide support for modern progressive web browsers. EdgeHTML is currently in “Early Access” and will be released when it’s ready.
The Edge web browser will now allow you to right click inside of an image and choose “Open in New Tab”. DuckDuckGo
You no longer need to have Windows 10 on your computer in order to use DuckDuckGo. Although I support their goals, Microsoft has not been transparent about their plans with DuckDuckGo and it’s currently impossible to see how you can shorten the antibias or privacy settings that were included with Windows 10. However, I do know that the most recent Windows 10 update contains a new feature called “Find Websites that appear behind other sites” that appears to be DuckDuckGo’s new privacy setting.
5. The operating system is going to make life easier for IT departments
The new Windows 10 operating system is going to make life easier for IT departments. In the past, IT departments didn’t have a lot of control over how their users used their computers and what programs they could install, but Windows 10 allows IT departments to easily install applications and control the settings on the machines.So when an IT department rolls out a new PC or Mac in the future, they can rest easy knowing they can update the software, remove viruses, update drivers, and control the installation of applications. Windows 10 also allows IT departments to delete and reinstall discs including software and drivers. Contrast Windows 7 with Windows 10 and you will see the difference. In Windows 7, IT departments had to wait until after the software was installed on a new PC or Mac before they could remove the software, install an updated driver, and update the operating system. If an IT department needed to do a lot of the same tasks in Windows 10, Microsoft built a lot of new tools that would make deletion and reinstallation much easier. An example of this is the Windows Elevated Security Configuration (Elevated security is a Sophos product level security feature that allows an organization to update sensitive files without requiring IT approval). If you recall, Windows 7 required that an IT department get involved with these steps in order to install updates, but in Windows 10, all updates must be approved by IT before they are installed. This means that all IT staff is involved in installing software updates. Microsoft also created a feature called ‘First Click Logging’ that tracks the search activity once someone starts surfing the web on a new PC or Mac. If a Windows 10 installation is complete and a user opens a new web browser, the Windows 10 installation logs are automatically sent to Microsoft for analysis. The logs contain a time stamp, device ID, operating system, and browser information, which helps the company understand how the user interacts with the web.