I have to admit that I’m one of those people who was unwittingly spreading the rumour that “Windows 10 is the last operating system”. Apparently that was not an official statement from Microsoft because their official statement in Jul2021 was that Windows 11 will be released later this year.
Pricing for Windows 11 is not yet available, but, just like the upgrade from Windows 7 and 8, the upgrade to 11 will be free for those with existing licenses.
If you are looking forward to getting this on your computer, don’t get your hopes up; the most contentious aspect of Windows 11 is its lofty set of requirements. As it stands, in order to upgrade to it, your computer must at least have 2 cores at 1 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB free storage, TPM (Trusted Point Module) 2.0, and your CPU must be in the list of supported models (7th Gen Intel, Xeon, some Atom/Celeron, Ryzen 2nd Gen). Basically, your computer must have been made since Aug2017. (Ref. https://www.windowscentral.com/official-windows-11-requirements-have-arrived-here-are-compatible-qualcomm-amd-and-intel-cpus). We’re hoping these requirements will be loosened before its release in Oct2021.
The best news is that, if an app runs in Windows 10, it will also run in Windows 11.
Here are the biggest changes in this most recent Windows iteration:
- Icons and windows get a refreshed look; widgets have made a comeback
- Start button only works from bottom bar; and by default it is in the center
- Removed some of the useless stuff: tiles, tablet mode, Internet Explorer
- Added some new useless stuff: Teams, snap layouts, virtual desktops
- And (I’m not sure why, but) you will be able to run Android apps
(I’m simply being thrifty with my words when I call features “useless”. They’re not useless features, they’re just features that will be used by a very small percentage of Windows users.)
As always, there are no “must have” features in the next Windows release. The biggest reason to switch to it will be the impending retirement of Windows 10 in Oct2025.