Last week, Microsoft released the newest version of their operating system, Windows 11.  We’ve been testing it and it looks like a nice step in the evolution of Windows.  These days, operating system updates are smaller, incremental updates rather that huge “re-imagining” of the software, which is good.

So, what’s new?  Well . . . lots of little stuff, not much big stuff.  It has an updated look, more modern, more colorful.  There is going to be tighter Microsoft Teams integration for consumers, which is interesting, though we’ll see whether anyone uses it.  They plan to be able to run Android apps in Windows 11, though this feature isn’t available yet.

As IT professionals, we mostly want Microsoft to not break the things that work.  In its infancy, Windows 11 will have its issues like any new piece of software.  We’ll wait until after the first couple of updates before using it full-time.

For our clients, we do not plan to update any workstations to Windows 11 currently.  Any new workstation purchases will have Windows 10 on them.  There are no business reasons to upgrade.  Windows 10 will be supported for another 5 years.  Once Windows 11 has been out for a while longer, we’ll decide on when new machines will get Windows 11.

Should you update your home machine?  Again, I would say “not right now”.  The way people usually get their new operating systems is when they buy a new computer.  If you are in the market for a new personal machine and the new one will have Windows 11, then it is fine, and you can use it without a problem.  But it isn’t worth the hassle and possible problems to try to upgrade an existing Windows 10 installation.