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The Windows 11 rollout: Microsoftâs most-botched announcement ever
The 'Big Reveal' for Microsoft's new operating system wasnât so big and revealed very little. And what it did reveal was often wrong. So what gives?
When Microsoft releases a new version of Windows, it often powers up the hype machine and lets it rip. Just think back to Windows 95, when Microsoft paid the Rolling Stones $3 million to use âStart Me Up!â as the operating systemâs theme song, draped a 300-foot Windows banner over Torontoâs CN Tower, and lit up the Empire State Building in red, yellow and green, the companyâs colors.
Total marketing launch price tag: $300 million, according to the Washington Post. (Thatâs more than $500 million in todayâs dollars, taking inflation into account.)
Recent launches have been more sedate. But even when Microsoft speaks in a quieter voice, it still generally gets the basic facts about its new operating system right, and clearly outlines what it believes are the benefits of moving to it.
At least, until Windows 11 arrived, that is. Microsoftâs Big Reveal for the new operating system on June 24 wasnât so big and revealed very little. And what it did reveal was often flat-out wrong or misleading. It may well have been the most botched product announcement in Microsoftâs long history.
Letâs start with the most basic of basics â what kind of hardware you need to run the operating system. If the company could get anything right, you would expect, it would start with that.
But no. Thatâs not what happened.
For the announcement, Microsoft put together a variety of materials detailing what hardware is required to run Windows 11. The companyâs Windows System Requirements page formally spelled out what's needed. And its Compatibility for Windows 11 documentation, put together by the companyâs engineering team for Microsoft partners, also described the new operating systemâs hardware requirements.
But there was a problem. The two documents disagreed with each other about an extremely important hardware spec: the Trusted Platform Module (TPM). TPM is an international standard that in the words of David Weston, director of enterprise and OS security at Microsoft, is used âto protect encryption keys, user credentials, and other sensitive data behind a hardware barrier so that malware and attackers canât access or tamper with that data.â
The Windows System Requirements page said TPM version 2.0 is required to run Windows 11, while the Compatibility for Windows 11 documentation said only version 1.2 would be required.
Thatâs no small matter. Many millions of older PCs have TPM version 1.2, but not version 2.0.
Things got worse from there. Microsoft released a compatibility checker that anyone could download to see whether their PC would be able to run Windows 11. When the checker came across a system that had version 1.2 of TPM, it reported that the PC couldnât run Windows 11, but didnât say why. That led to mass confusion among people whose hardware specs met or exceeded those on the Compatibility for Windows 11 documentation, and so assumed their PCs would be able to run Windows 11.
Even more confusing: Some PCs have TPM 2.0 built in, but the computersâ firmware disabled it. So the checker reported the PCs couldnât run Windows 11, when in fact they could if their owners took a few small steps to enable TPM 2.0 via firmware.
In addition, thereâs also some confusion about which precise chipsets will be able to run Windows 11 and which wonât.
Since that initial screw-up, Microsoft has made clear in its documentation that version 2.0 of TPM is required. It still needs to better detail which chipsets will run Windows 11. And the downloadable compatibility checker has been taken offline, replaced by a page describing Windows 11 hardware requirements.
The other problem with the announcement was the lack of a clear reason why anyone might want to upgrade to Windows 11 from Windows 10, even for free. In a blog post, Microsoftâs Panos Panay, Chief Product Officer, Windows + Devices, highlighted new Windows 11 features, such as a Start Menu that is centered rather than anchored to the bottom left of the screen; new ways to arrange windows on the screen; widgets for things like news, weather and stocks; and better gaming.
But he never explained why those new features are important enough to want Windows 11.
It was, to put it mildly, an underwhelming sell. (Where are the Rolling Stones when you need them?) The post is full of marketing drivel like: âItâs modern, fresh, clean and beautiful. From the new Start button and taskbar to each sound, font and icon, everything was done intentionally to put you in control and bring a sense of calm and ease.
Feeling relaxed yet? Oh, sorry, not yet, because for that you need to upgrade to Windows 11.
A botched product introduction, of course, doesnât necessarily mean the finished product will be a bad one. But based on what Iâve heard and seen from Microsoft so far, Iâm not holding out much hope. It may well be one more example of what-you-see-is-what-you-get.
And so far, what weâve seen is only miscues and errors.
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Windows 11 has leaked. It's a bunch of BS
Windows 10 was supposed to be Microsoft's ultimate PC operating system. The promise: Windows 10 would forever get updated twice a year, bringing tweaks, the occasional fresh coat of paint and new features to keep your computer up to date.
But now, six years later, Windows 11 is on its way. We can only assume Microsoft (MSFT) got bored, because what we've seen so far of Windows 11 doesn't feel like anything revolutionary.
A complete internal version of Windows 11 has leaked online. You can download it from some sketchy websites, but we wouldn't recommend it. Still, it's there, and it appears legit.
Based on the leak, Windows 11 is full of mostly small visual changes.
The taskbar icons are centered, giving Windows a decidedly MacOS look (don't freak out â it can be left-justified if you're old school).
The Start menu ditches live tiles for pinned apps.
We've got a new Windows logo: four equal-sized rectangles instead of the trapezoid Microsoft has been using for Windows since the 2012 release of Windows 8.
All the Windows icons have been redesigned with a more colorful gradient and a slightly more 3D appearance.
Windows will have rounded corners.
When you click the maximize button, you get options about how you want to lock the window in place -- side by side with another app, a grid of three or a grid of four.
It's got fancy shmancy new wallpapers that ditch stylized photos of light shining through windows for something more floral.
Also, it's not a visual change, obviously, but Windows 11 is bringing back the startup jingle (the first since Windows 7).
That's ... pretty much it. Microsoft will reportedly update the Microsoft Store, but that wasn't featured in the version of Windows 11 that leaked.
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