The software presents new features geared towards productivity, security and video games

Microsoft unveils its new operating system, Windows 11

photo_camera PHOTO/REUTERS - Microsoft

If this past year has taught us anything, it is that the flexibility provided by technology has been vital to keep businesses productive and to keep everyone connected. For this reason, there has been a resurgence of laptops and, with it, the technology giant Microsoft is launching its new Windows 11 operating system, with important visual changes and new features aimed at productivity, security and video games.

This new system is based on the premise that hybrid work and learning, both face-to-face and online, is here to stay, which means that your organisation needs an operating system that allows users to work and learn from anywhere in the most convenient way possible. That's why this new software has been designed for hybrid working and learning.

A substantial change to the screen appearance and layout is the placement of the "Start" button at the bottom centre of the screen instead of on the left side. 

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The new multitasking experience also changes significantly, making it easier to work with multiple windows open at once. You can still drag windows around as well as position two windows opposite each other, but things go further with Snap Layouts, which allow you to easily reposition multiple windows in different positions, splitting the desktop into halves, thirds, quarters and other combinations of sizes.

These organisational options are further enhanced by the so-called "Snap Groups", which allow you to remember configurations of window groupings on the desktop so that you can reuse them whenever you want.

A common complaint from Windows users about security is that security applications are very heavy and slow down the terminal's processing speed. Product manager Panos Panay promised smaller and faster security updates and said they would happen in the background. The software has new built-in security technologies that will add protection from the chip to the cloud.

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Key security features, such as hardware-based isolation, encryption and malware prevention, are enabled by default. In addition, all of these components work together in the background to keep users secure without sacrificing quality, performance or user experience.

In addition, Windows 11 will feature tighter integration with Microsoft's communications platform, Teams. Xbox Games Pass, a subscription service that offers access to hundreds of games, will also be pre-installed.

In addition, users will be able to set up multiple desktops for work, home and gaming, just like on a Mac, to increase productivity and make it easier to make efficient use of the notebook on the go. 

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During the product unveiling, the software's advantageous gaming features were highlighted. The new Windows will offer automatic HDR (High Dynamic Range Imaging) for gaming, which allows for an extraordinary improvement in the illumination and colour of digital images. There will be up to 1000 games compatible with this technology, including: Rocket League, Age of Empires and Doom 64.

The tech giant said it would share more of the profits from its app shop with creators and developers, as rival Apple continues to face challenges to its business model. A preview version of the new system will be released next week to give app developers access to it.

Windows 11 will be available as a free upgrade for existing Windows 10 users, although some devices will not have the right specifications. These include a minimum of 64 gigabytes of storage and 4 gigabytes of RAM.

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When Windows 10 was launched in 2015, Microsoft said it would be the last version of the operating system. It has since announced that Windows 10 will be retired in 2025. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella described the launch as "an important milestone in the history of Windows", but analyst Geoff Blaber of CCS Insight said he did not consider it "a revolutionary step". "The end game for Microsoft is to ensure that the move from Windows 10 to Windows 11 provides significant enough improvements to offset any complaints." 

Forrester principal analyst JP Gownder noted that the new operating system is based on Windows 10 code, which should avoid upgrade failures like those seen in the past with Windows Vista. "However, these nods to the past for the user are a double-edged sword," he added. "They're great for continuity of experience, but they make you wonder what 11 really means" and whether it's really worth the upgrade.

In order to avoid the user inconvenience of upgrading software, Windows 11 is built on the consistent, familiar and compatible foundation of Windows 10, with which the customer is already familiar. According to Microsoft, there are currently around 1.3 billion devices running Windows 10, so the ease of upgrading is particularly important to the company.

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