12/48

Windows 11 overview

Windows 11, version 24H2, also known as the Windows 11 2024 Update, is now available through Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Windows Update for Business.

Today begins 36 months of support for Enterprise and Education editions of Windows 11, version 24H2. We recommend that you begin a targeted deployment in your organization now to verify that your applications, devices, and infrastructure are working as expected with the new release. To help you plan, this post outlines some of the features and enhancements that will help you get exceptional experiences while keeping your business data, apps, and people secure on any device.

Windows 11, version 24H2 includes all the features and capabilities delivered as part of Windows 11 Continuous Upgrade, which is now enabled by default. These include
Windows 11 features

Windows 11 will get a completely new design. Microsoft clearly needs a good reason to reverse its previous claims and still abandon Windows 10 by introducing a new operating system number. And the brand new design is great for that. The Redmond giant has been preparing a redesign of the update codenamed Sun Valley (“Sun Valley”) for a long time – apparently it went under this designation Windows 11. The Sun Valley project has been flashing on the network for a long time – Microsoft regularly published details about the new interface style, insiders shared earlier unknown information and popular designers in their circles drew realistic concepts based on all this data.
Start and system elements will float above the bottom bar. Start is the business card and face of every latest version of Windows. It is not surprising that in Windows 11 the developers will reshape it again, but not as functionally as visually – the Start window will float above the bottom bar. We have to admit that this small change makes the system look much fresher. Judging by information from the network, Microsoft will not radically change the “innards” of this menu – the innovations will only affect the design of the window itself. The control panel will also be floating and its design will be exactly the same as in “Start”. The action center will be combined with the control buttons together – similar ones have long been used by some other operating systems. Almost all mentions of this new menu suggest that it will be insular – the control buttons will be on one separate panel, notifications on another, and specific elements (like the player) on another separate one.
Right angles disappear, replaced by fillets. In fact, insiders and concept designers do not agree on this point – some believe that Microsoft will not change its traditions and keep right angles, while others believe that in 2021 Microsoft will follow the fashion of fillets. The latter fits better into the definition of “all-new Windows” – just the floating menus aren’t enough to consider the new design truly new. Rounds are expected to affect virtually everything in the system, from context menus and system trays to all application windows. True, even on this question, the opinions of designers differ – some draw curves in all possible elements of the interface, others combine them with right angles.
There will be a translucent background with a blur everywhere. There is disagreement on the web about the island style of window display, corner rendering and menu levitation effect, but almost everyone is unanimous on the transparency of the windows. The vast majority of design leaks and renders show transparency and blur in all windows, whether it’s at least the Start menu or Explorer. Moreover, these effects are even in the assembly of the canceled Windows 10X operating system, which Microsoft developed for devices with two screens and weak gadgets in parallel with the Sun Valley project.