My Windows 11 Experience | By Ahmed Belaid
On Windows, the internet was born and grew up. It’s where many of us wrote our first notes, played our first games, and watched our first videos, as Microsoft has successfully dominated the personal computer operating system for decades.
Just like Windows 10 was free to upgrade from Windows 8.1 and Windows 7, Windows 11 is now free to upgrade from Windows 10 as well.
I have personally been using it for less than a month as my primary operating system, and here’s what I’ve learned so far.
New Modern Design
“Redesigned for productivity, creativity and ease”, That’s what Microsoft says about it. For me, the first thing I said after seeing the new design is ‘ this is smooth!’. Throughout the user interface, Microsoft has added new animations, user interface, motions, and a transparency effect. They simplified the design and gave it a clean and modern look.
Just like MacOS, the start button and taskbar are now centered to make it easier to quickly find what you need and that way makes it aesthetically beautiful, but you still can change it to the left by going to settings.
The new design of the start button is now flat like the Microsoft logo, a shift from the 3D design on Windows 10.
By right-clicking on it, you can display a list of features, that I called ‘hidden’ as I looked up the internet to find them, for example, the Task Manager, run, etc.
New fresh start menu, search bar, and widgets
It is the definition of simplicity, it’s quieter now and it displays pinned and recommended apps in a little window. The search bar is on the upper part but it has another whole button next to the windows icon that shows the recent apps used, no matter what platform or device you were viewing them on earlier, even if it was on an Android or iOS device.
Taskbar corner icons are redesigned too, as they have a new minimalist look now to put us in control and bring a sense of calm and ease.
I noticed that in the taskbar, I could not remove the chat icon from the Microsoft team, it is now integrated there permanently, and as Microsoft said “ we want to continue to make it easy for people to stay close with each other no matter where they are. And we don’t want the device or platform you’re on to be a barrier.”
Another icon that I could not remove is the widget icon, I don’t like how windows kept imposing some features that some of us may dislike. However, as we frequently check our phones for news, weather, and notifications. We now see a similarly personalized experience from windows. When you open your customized feed in the widget’s icon, it slides across your screen like a pane of glass, allowing you to continue doing what you’re doing without disturbing it.
Multitasking experience & Settings
Windows 11 has improved its multiple windows experience as it is now more flexible to help you organize your windows and optimize your screen real estate so you can see what you need just the way you want in a layout that’s visually clean.
They are called Snap Layouts, Snap Groups, and Desktops
Upon launching the Settings app in Windows 11, you will be noticing the new huge changes. The System panel is the first thing you see. Its clean, basic appearance makes it simple to locate a certain setting. Unlike Windows 10, there is no overview screen with a wide menu of icons that shows all of the areas. In its place, a new sidebar has appeared.
A new panel of the Sub-Menu Button will open in the right half of the window as soon as you click one of the options in the sidebar.
And yes, Control Panel Is Still a Thing!
My thoughts on Windows 11
Windows 11 undoubtedly breaks up the monotony of Windows 10 and gives your device a new lease on life. The learning curve is low due to changes to the Start Menu and Windows Search, but users will be able to enjoy their machines again in a few days.
However, that Windows vibe has diminished, and Windows 11 now feels more like a visually pleasing Linux distribution or even MacOS but it is certainly Faster, more secure, and familiar for IT.
To my huge surprise, windows 11 performs better than Windows 10 on my laptop, my experience so far with this version is good for developing, gaming, or even editing. I’m optimistic about the final build as I will keep on using this version of Windows until the next update but for now, it doesn’t seem to be the case that Windows 11 will add something that won’t run on Windows 10 so you don’t have to make a decision super quick.
What are your thoughts on Windows 11? Drop them in the comments below.
Written by Ahmed Belaid.
