What excites you about Windows 11? Inquiring minds want to know….

Are you already using Windows 11? If not, are you planning to move to Windows 11 this year?

I want to know — so I have two unofficial, unscientific surveys asking what you are most excited about when it comes to Windows 11. The first survey focuses on your home computer, including what OS you’re using now, your upgrade plans and what you like/dislike about Windows 11.

For reference, Microsoft has put together a website that recaps some of the items it’s excited about.

For instance, the company touts Chat from Microsoft Teams to connect  one-on-one with other PC users. (Note: if you already have Teams using a school or corporate account, you will need a separate application for the business Teams account. It will actually indicate Microsoft Teams (work or school) and have a solid icon. The personal Microsoft Teams icon will have a white icon.) I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer, but I would be more exited if there was a single icon that would pivot based on what credentials a user logs in with.

Microsoft also argues that Windows 11 simplifies the user experience with intuitive navigation and easy organization. For those of us with 30 years of Windows experience or who flip back and forth between various versions of Windows at home and in the office, one of the first things to do is move the menu to the left side of the screen. Remember there are lots of third-party tools to customize and move the menu around.

Microsoft also says Windows 11 brings “balance” to the desktop with the tool snap assist. “Effortless to use—just drag windows to the edge of the screen to activate in just a few clicks,” the company says. I still believe the best balance involves having more than one monitor. Even at home, I have a main monitor and a portable USB monitor; having more than one monitor means I can snap an application from one screen to the other.

Also highlighted: the wonderful world of widgets in the form of photos, weather, the world news, stocks and more. Mind you, Microsoft has brought these same or similar widgets to Windows 10, and the company supposedly plans to open them up to third-party tools. But that just reminds me of Vista widgets, which were touted as delivering similar information to Vista but then were blocked and removed because of security risks. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft will allow widgets to actually be opened up.

Finally, Microsoft touts enhancements to touch, voice, and pen input and thus has brought innovative devices and features.

In my own situation, I have one home computer that supports Windows 11, so if I want to standardize on Windows 11, I will need to upgrade.

In the office, the situation is a bit better, but I still have several computers that can’t upgrade to Windows 11.

If you manage systems at the office, this survey focuses on your deployment plans. Windows 11 22H2 has been described as the equivalent of “Service Pack 1” for Windows 11, making it a good time for businesses to start testing and rolling out Windows 11. With that in mind, the survey questions ask whether you’re planning a major deployment of Windows 11 now.

I’ve seen some interesting early responses. One person saw the push for Windows 11 as a way to force companies to upgrade aging computer systems. While they see the Windows 11 hardware requirements as somewhat artificial, the processor and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chip requirements mean newer systems are needed.

Many companies keep using systems that should have long since been retired. Typically, in my office, systems fall short not because of TPM 2.0, but because of the processor. (The supported AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm processors exclude some computers that I have deployed.) Other devices don’t have a compatible graphics card to support DirectX 12 or later with WDDM 2.0 driver. Not only will moving to Windows 11 push me to upgrade my systems, it’ll do the same for many companies.

Microsoft is in the process of testing out tabs in File Explorer (it’s currently in a recent Insider Preview build). I do find it interesting that Microsoft did not adjust File Explorer to expose file extensions by default. That’s one of the key things I change whenever I get a new computer for a more secure operating system.

Do let me know what, if anything, excites you about Windows 11. I’ll recap the results down the road.