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Just six short years after declaring Windows 10 the last Windows operating system ever, the company has announced Windows 11. But when will you get it, and why should you care?
Windows 11 will be arriving during the delightfully vague “holiday 2021″. That likely means November, but it gives Microsoft a window to push out to December in case the developers break something or find a bug at an inopportune moment. However, current users of Windows 10 won’t likely see a free update until next year, meaning a new PC will be the only way to get it before then.
Windows 11 introduces a new widgets pane, as well as redesigned notifications and settings.
Minimum requirements for Windows 11 are quite low. So if you bought a PC off the shelf in the last four years, and it’s currently running Windows 10, you should be eligible for that free upgrade. Microsoft initially offered a “PC Health Check” app via its website, which would determine if your PC met requirements, but it’s been temporarily taken offline after many users found it confusing.
A big part of that is something called Trusted Platform Module, or TPM. Almost every modern computer has this, but depending on how old yours is (and whether it was custom built), it might be an outdated version or not turned on, meaning a lot of computers that should be able to run Windows 11 were failing the PC Health Check.
Right now it’s unclear if an up-to-date TPM will be a final requirement for Windows 11. If so, it should be a simple matter of turning it on in your computer’s BIOS settings, which will require someone with a little computer expertise.
As for whether you should care about Windows 11, that depends entirely on how you use your computer.
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Do you like pastel colours, rounded corners and the ‘Start’ button moved to the bottom middle of the screen for no apparent reason? Then Windows 11 has the aesthetics for you. (You can move the Start button back to the left if you want.) Of course, everything from the file explorer to the settings have had a modern design overhaul too.
The bigger, more useful change is the broader Microsoft Store with support for a lot more different kinds of programs, including Android apps via the Amazon store. And all your updates will now happen in the background, saving you from constant restarts.