Windows 11 overview
Windows 11, version 24H2, also known as 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 Windows 11 Enterprise and Education, 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 article describes some features and improvements that will help you deliver a great experience while helping you secure your business data, apps, and people on any device.
Windows 11, version 24H2 includes all the features and capabilities delivered as part of Windows 11’s ongoing upgrades that are now enabled by default. These include
Windows 11 features
Windows 11 will benefit from a completely new design. Microsoft clearly needs a good reason to reverse its previous claims and abandon Windows 10 by introducing a new operating system number. And the brand new design is perfect for that. The Redmond giant has long been preparing a redesign of the update with the code name Sun Valley (“Sun Valley”) – apparently Windows 11 was under this name. The Sun Valley project has been flashing on the network for a long time – Microsoft regularly leaked details of the new interface style, insiders shared previously unknown information and popular designers in their circles drew realistic concepts based on all this data.
Startup and system items will float above the bottom bar. Start is the business card and face of every latest version of Windows. Not surprisingly, in Windows 11, developers will reshape it again, but not so much from a functional point of view as from a visual point of view – the start window will float above the bottom bar. You have to admit that this small change makes the system feel much fresher. Judging by information from the network, Microsoft will not radically change the “interiors” of this menu – the innovations will only affect the design of the window itself. The control panel will also float and its design will be exactly the same as the “Start” one. The action center will be combined with control buttons – similar ones have long been used in some other operating systems. Almost all mentions of this new menu indicate that it will be insular – the control buttons will be on a separate panel, notifications on another, and specific items (such as the player) on a separate one.
Right angles will disappear, replaced by grids. In truth, insiders and concept designers disagree on this point – some are convinced that Microsoft will not change its traditions and keep the right angles, while others are convinced that in 2021 Microsoft will follow the network fashion. The latter better fits the definition of “brand new Windows” – just hovering over the menus isn’t enough to make the new design count as truly new. Networks should 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 display style of the island window, the design of the corner and the levitation effect of the menu, but almost everyone agrees on the transparency of the window. The vast majority of design leaks and renders show transparency and blur in all windows, whether it’s the Start menu or Explorer. These effects are also present in the build of the canceled Windows 10X operating system, which Microsoft developed for devices with two screens and weak widgets in parallel with the Sun Valley project.