Some of Microsoft’s Worst Ideas Are Getting a Second Chance In Windows 11
I am genuinely excited for widgets, translucent windows, and Android apps on Windows to get a new lease on life
Multiple times throughout Microsoft’s Windows 11 event today (when I could watch it, anyway), I felt a strong sense of déjà vu. Windows was getting a new look with translucent windows! There’s a new dedicated space where you can find widgets! And, for what feels like the hundredth time, there will be a kind of hacky workaround that lets you run Android apps on Windows!
Time is a flat circle and all that.
It’s a little odd to see Microsoft pulling out the full version number treatment for an operating system — especially after claiming that Windows 10 would be the “last” version — for a collection of features that could easily be a seasonal update. An updated Start Menu, better app snapping, and multi-monitor support that doesn’t completely fall apart if you change monitors are among the headline features, proving that operating systems are finally, mercifully, boring.
But some of the most notable features that Microsoft is putting in Windows 11 are those that it has tried to do before. And I couldn’t be happier, because the Microsoft of 2021 seems like it’s competent enough to execute on the ideas that past versions of the company completely botched.
