[Software] Microsoft's first big Windows 11 update lands in February

[King_of_lion]

Recap: Microsoft released Windows 11 to the public last October as a free upgrade for devices running Windows 10. Redmond invested a lot of time and effort into building the new OS, but some features didn’t make the deadline and thus weren’t available at launch.

Microsoft in June 2021 announced plans to bring Android apps to Windows 11 through a partnership with Amazon. The tie in wasn’t ready when Windows 11 shipped, although Windows Insiders did get test the feature in a limited capacity shortly after.

In a recent post on the official Windows blog, Microsoft Chief Product Officer Panos Panay said they will be bringing new experiences to Windows “that include a public preview of how you can use Android apps on Windows 11 through the Microsoft Store and our partnerships with Amazon and Intel.”

The wording here is a bit confusing as it doesn’t explicitly say there will be a public preview of the feature, but a preview of how you can use Android apps in Windows 11.

Panay touched on other inbound features including taskbar improvements such as call mute and unmute, easier window sharing, bringing weather information to the taskbar and redesigned versions of Notepad and Media Player.

Windows 11 is off to a solid start, at least according to Microsoft. Panay said Windows now powers more than 1.4 billion monthly active devices, and that time spent in Windows is up 10 percent over pre-pandemic levels. People accepted the upgrade offer to Windows 11 at twice the rate Microsoft saw for Windows 10. Traffic to the redesigned Microsoft Store is also up threefold.