Windows 11 was officially presented on June 24 and with the new renewed and updated GUI and new animations immediately aroused some interest among Windows users. Made available in an unstable version in the various insider channels, Windows 11 it now covers 1% of PCs, installed only by the most daring and geeks.
But in fact since when Microsoft are you working on this project? Well for years. Many years. It’s probably a project that started with Fluent Design. Announced in 2017 and introduced with the Windows 10 1803 update, Fluent Design is a major overhaul of Modern Design Language 2, aimed at bringing elements such as light, depth, movement, matter and scale. It also features the Reveal effects and the translucent acrylic background. And from there we have a gradual start in the development of what would have been a new, renewed Windows. In fact, a complete renewal of UWP apps was announced shortly thereafter with the new Fluent Design and new, more colorful icons.
Meanwhile, we were starting to talk about Windows Core OS, a new operating system that was supposed to be the real answer from Microsoft to Chrome OS and that it had to be lighter and faster than Windows 10. But we’ll come back later to talk about it.
But the first real proof of the work of Microsoft we have it with an “accidentally posted” insider version through which we got a glimpse of what Microsoft was working. The version in question is 18947 and included a new Start menu without live tiles, a revamped notification center with rounded edges, and a centrally positioned search box also with rounded corners. Unfortunately Microsoft quickly blocked the release of the version by confirming it was an error and removing it.
Towards the end of 2019, talk about Basic Windows operating system until the official presentation of Windows 10 X, the new operating system for devices of the future. Windows 10 X is a new version of Windows Core OS designed for foldable, dual-screen devices like the Surface Neo.
Windows 10X would have been the operating system that should have opened the doors to a whole new generation of laptops, the ones that in 2019 Microsoft saw as the future of mobile devices with typical laptop functionality where instead of the keyboard we would have found another screen identical to the main screen. In addition, Windows 10 x would have had out of tune nooks, new animations, new icons and a graphical interface designed for tablets.
Shortly before the start of the summer, Panos Panai announced that Windows 10x would first arrive on devices with a single screen for reasons related to the ever growing laptop market with the pandemic. Additionally, somewhat muted, it was communicated that initially guaranteed Win32 application support would not be available and would be cloud-based. This means that the only apps that could have been installed would have been the apps from the Microsoft store, which we know are greatly lacking, and the progressive web apps.
And we come to January 2021 when a version of Windows 10 X first comes out that allowed us to see and try out the new home operating system. Microsoft. Despite expectations, things change again in April and Microsoft announced that Windows 10X will not launch in 2021, but some of its features will be integrated into Windows 10.
Meanwhile, in the air, there was talk of Windows Sun Valley, a new version of Windows with a renewed and improved interface. And here, at the beginning of June, an ISO comes out, the ISO of Windows 11 which shows a fresh start and new animations but with a remarkable resemblance to Windows 10.
At the Microsoft event on June 24, the house of Redmond surprises us and shows us Windows 11, a rebirth of Windows and here ends our journey to uncover the history of what lies behind Windows 11.
And in your opinion for how long Microsoft was working on Windows 11? Let us know in the comments