Windows 11 is here. As with every previous mega-update to the desktop operating system of record over the years, the new interface has been met with dissent. It’s no surprise that Twitter is full of outrage over the redesign—and, it must be admitted, some praise, too. The record will show that I’ve never been a hater of new Windows features. I even found things to like in the disastrous Windows 8 release. I was an avid Cortana user, at least while she could still do useful things like shut down the PC or control music.
But a significant difference is that, at least with Windows 8, Microsoft was creating something original and new. I know that software and all other forms of art borrow from others’ recent work, but the Windows 11 interface design is nearly a clone of Chrome OS rather than anything original. Don’t interpret that to mean that Windows 11 is a complete rip-off—Microsoft’s desktop OS has far more capabilities and even some slickness not found in Google’s OS.
How We Got to Windows 11: A Theory
This is my take on how we got here: Microsoft saw Google’s lightweight Chrome OS laptop and desktop operating system cutting into its market share. First, the company decided to create a new competitor to that OS favored by schools, which got us the ill-fated Windows 10X. At some point, people at Microsoft decided that everyone who uses Windows should get a Chrome OS-like interface, not just the markets the company was trying to win back from Chrome OS. There are a whole lot of Windows users who were perfectly happy with the Windows 10 interface, so it doesn’t seem to make any sense that they’d have the new one imposed on them.
It’s a similar scenario to what spawned Window 8: Microsoft saw the Apple iPad taking over the world and decided it must turn its main operating system into a tablet operating system. That did about as well as Windows Phone in the end. Though I will say that, believe it or not, I prefer Windows 10 on a tablet to iPadOS, especially because of the functionality with swiping in from the edges of the tablet (now gone in Windows 11’s “tablet posture.”)
Options I Want to See in Windows 11
Windows 10 will be around at least until 2025, but if you ignore Windows 11, you miss out on its non-drastic but pleasant new features, like Snap Layouts and attractive design materials like Acrylic, Mica, and Smoke. Rounded corners don’t excite me that much, but I’d have no problem with them as long as I could keep the more informative Taskbar, Start menu, and Action Center as they are in Windows 10.
It wouldn’t be a huge lift for Microsoft to offer Windows 10 settings for these three key interface elements in Windows 11—the underlying OS code wouldn’t need to change much. After all, the company had planned to maintain Windows 10 and a separate 10X OS, so simply offering alternative UI options doesn’t like too big of an ask. Apple manages to maintain three OSes for desktop, tablet, and phone, after all. I just don’t see the logic of forcing existing users who are content with Windows to adapt to new procedures to use their PCs.
Here are a couple examples of why the Windows 10 Start menu is more efficient: The Start button (as well as the search box) is always in exactly the same place in Windows 10. In Windows 11, if you open more apps, the button moves to the left. (Yes, there’s a setting to keep it on the left in Windows 11, but it’s not the default, nor is it very obvious.) Also, you see the list of all apps installed on the on the computer with one press of the Start button; getting to them in Windows 11 takes another click.
Windows 10’s Action Center keeps everything together in a well-organized panel with notifications in the top and quick settings in the bottom. In Windows 11, these are separated in a more Chrome OS layout. It can be unintuitive, like pressing the Battery icon doesn’t just display power info, nor does pressing the speaker icon just show sound settings, as in Windows 10.
The Taskbar in Windows 10 makes it far more clear which apps are running. In my setup, running apps get a long taskbar button, and those are shaded to show which app currently has the focus. In Windows 11, you have, basically, the same uninformative Dock you get in Apple macOS (though at least you don’t have the confusion of two different sections/classes of icons).
Microsoft has decided to abandon much of its own years of interface design knowledge in favor of chasing a new competitor. Chrome OS only has under 3% of desktop OS market share with Windows over 75%, according to StatCounter, so it’s a mystery why Microsoft is emulating its interface and trashing years of design experience. My simple plea: Give us an option to continue taking advantage of that well-honed interface.
For more, check out PCMag’s Windows 11 page and read my in-depth review of Windows 11.