Microsoft Offers Possible First Look at Future Windows UI Design
Windows enthusiasts watching Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote at the recent Microsoft Ignite conference were amazed. A run-of-the-mill announcement of a new Teams feature suddenly changed to a slightly different version of Windows than we’re used to. twitter (opens in new tab) and what caught our attention Windows Central (opens in new tab).
This mysterious operating system is briefly shown around 42:42 in this keynote video in Meta Quest’s section on the Microsoft Teams immersive meeting experience. Roughly similar to Windows 11, but (opens in new tab), featuring a floating taskbar, unlike anything you can create in a vanilla OS. Additional features include a floating island-like area at the top of the screen and battery, date, and weather information in the top corners.
Speculation abounds. The Windows lord briefly showed us a glimpse into the internal development version of Windows, an error that the video maker forgot to turn off his UI mods for third parties, none other than Microsoft Designer There are many possibilities, such as mockups. , or a weird Easter egg to see who’s paying attention. It’s not even clear if it’s a desktop or mobile OS, but the battery meter suggests it’s a portable machine. The handwritten appearance of some of the displayed text may also refer to pen input, such as Surface. (opens in new tab)but cables visible at the bottom of the frame suggest a desktop screen.
If this is the future of Windows (Windows 12, aka Next Valley), its UI designers take inspiration from macOS, or Gnome, which a few versions ago transformed a shelf-like dock into a floating flat area. 43 desktops used with Linux (opens in new tab), you can configure the favorites bar to float at the bottom of the screen, although not by default. The bar icons are the same as in current versions of Windows.
Scheduled for 2024, Next Valley will be the second major release since Windows 10 became “the last version of Windows” in 2015. Other than the codename, nothing is known outside of Microsoft’s Locked Vault. However, Windows Central cites a “source” that the new look “represents a design goal Microsoft hopes to achieve with the next version of Windows.”