Microsoft challenges Apple: announces Windows 11, with new store and compatible with Android

Software developers will be able to use their own payment systems integrated into their apps and will not pay commissions to the Redmond company

The American software giant Microsoft announced this Thursday Windows 11, the first major renovation of its operating system since 2015. The announcement represents a clear challenge to Apple’s business model, as it will include a new Windows store that will allow developers to software use its own payment systems integrated into the applications and do not pay commissions to Microsoft. Something contrary to the policy of the apple company.

Windows 11, which will hit the market at the end of the year, will also allow Android applications, Google’s mobile operating system, to run on the Windows desktop. The apps can be downloaded to the computer from the Amazon application store, with which the software giant has reached an agreement.

Other novel proposals is that Windows 11 will give users the option to configure several desktops, for work, home and games as if it were a Mac. And it also integrates its Teams teamwork and videoconferencing platform, very popular from the start of the covid-19 pandemic, which is now accessible directly from the taskbar. A move that could raise conflicts with Slack Technologies, Microsoft’s main rival. This company, which is being bought by Salesforce for $ 27.7 billion, has filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft in the EU.

The American software giant, which launched Windows 35 years ago, has also wanted to give Windows 11 a different look from Windows 10, its predecessor, and has decided to move the start menu and the icons of the most used applications from the bottom left corner of the screen to the center, and has added a multitasking function that allows you to assign different measures and shapes to the windows.

The current version of the operating system, Windows 10, was launched in 2015 and is currently used by more than 1.3 billion people around the world, according to the company itself, which has decided to renew the software that propelled it to stardom. and that made him dominate the world of personal computers for years. The company suffered from the push for mobiles and tablets, with Apple and Google dominating.

In addition to the aforementioned change in position, the start menu becomes a sort of shuttle adapted to each user, with rounded corners, highlighting, for example, recently used documents or favorite applications.

To some extent, the redesign of Windows 11 brings Microsoft closer to that of its main competitor in the market for computer operating systems, Apple, whose interface already has many of the features that the Redmond firm now adopts.

Next week Microsoft, which recently surpassed $ 2 trillion in market value, will release a preview version of Windows 11 for application developers. When it hits the market, the operating system will be available as a free update for Windows 10 users, although some devices will not have the technical requirements to use it. The specifications required to use it include a minimum of 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM.

The new Windows 11, whose presentation was made 100% online due to the pandemic, will also carry pre-installed Xbox Games Pass, a subscription service from the company that offers access to hundreds of games. The new version of the operating system will also include multiple features aimed at users in the corporate market, such as the ability to seamlessly undock a computer connected to an external monitor to take a call in a quieter room and then return to the docking station .

Today, Windows remains one of the largest technology platforms in the world. Microsoft’s personal computing business unit, which includes Windows, Xbox, console-related software and services, its Surface family of computers and Bing searches, had a turnover of $ 13 billion in its fiscal third quarter ended in March, up 19%. more, in part due to the pull of the PC market. This led to Windows growing 10% and Surface 12%. And this despite the fact that in 2020 Google’s Chromebooks snatched the market from Windows desktops and laptops. Still it retained more than 80% of the market, according to IDC.

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