Windows 11 is now widely available and has some great ideas, but it has received mixed reviews from users and critics. While some users love the new WinUI and design refresh, many feel that the OS sacrifices productivity for modern design and also made fundamental changes to the overall experience for no good reason.
At Computex 2022, Panos Panay, head of Windows and Surface at Microsoft, noted that Windows 11 had the highest quality scores. The company continues to focus on “quality, quality, quality” while adding new features and accessibility improvements to the operating system.
“Energy [at Microsoft] is palpable, again, from a data perspective. You know, people are accepting the Windows 11 upgrade offer at twice the rate we’ve seen for Windows 10 and Windows 10 had this big moment,” Panos declared in a conversation with Nicole Dezen, Vice President of Device Partner Sales at Microsoft.
Unlike Windows 10, Windows 11 is not available to everyone and it is also entirely optional as the company continues to support Windows 10. CEO Satya Nadella has previously said that companies are “adopting Windows 11 at a faster pace than previous versions”, contrary to what many expected.
Panos Panay reiterated Nadella’s statement and added that businesses are rapidly adopting Windows 11, and the pace is “faster than what we’ve seen in previous versions of Windows.”
“…And it has the highest quality scores,” Panos added. “Here is the most important thing for our team: Quality, quality, quality. People who use it find the quality of the product, which is simply great. This also translates into product satisfaction. It’s the highest product satisfaction of any version of Windows we’ve ever shipped.”
Panos Panos says he’s personally a fan of how people are exploring and using new features in Windows 11 while finding ways to be more productive.
“Think about instant layouts. You see the usage on that. It’s just phenomenal. And it was a game-changer for me personally and watching people interact in and out of Windows 11. It was awesome,” Panos added.
Panos noted that Microsoft is taking feedback and listening to customers, and new features are on the way.
For example, Microsoft recently started experimenting with desktop widgets in Sun Valley’s Windows 11 Build 25120 3 / version 23H2. Similarly, Microsoft is also exploring support for tabs in File Explorer to help users multitask and improve productivity.
According to reliable sources, the Windows 11 2023 update is also going to add new tablet features, including the tablet-optimized taskbar that was originally supposed to ship in Windows 11 22H2.
We don’t know what’s next for the Start Menu, but we’ve heard rumors that new customization options are in the works.
With Windows 11, Microsoft moved the Start menu to the center and removed much of the live tiles and customization feature folders it had in Windows 10.
In fact, Microsoft recently released a video explaining that it relied on user feedback to create a new Start menu that everyone would love to explore. The majority of reactions to the video were negative, with people disagreeing with Microsoft.
In the comments, users said they just wish they could customize the Start menu like they could in Windows 10 with live tiles.
The 22H2 version, which is expected to launch this fall, will support a few new options to tweak the startup layout slightly, but groundbreaking changes are still a long way off.
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