Summary
Windows 11 is a powerful and feature-rich desktop operating system.
For all of Windows' merits, several factors are preventing it from achieving greatness.
Here are my picks for the things that Microsoft still needs to sort out in its flagship operating system.
As far as operating systems go, Windows is an interesting case: it has a storied history that spans decades, and its consistent development has taken various paths throughout the years. Its modern incarnation, Windows 11 , is the result of several generations of diverging philosophies, ever-changing software expectations, and a mashing up of new and old technologies.
Windows has certainly evolved with the times, but the OS isn't without its quirks. In fact, there are a few issues in particular that I feel stand in the way of true Windows greatness, even after all these years of iteration and relative maturation. Here are 5 aspects of Windows 11 that I feel need to be addressed by Microsoft in order for the OS to continue to stand the test of time.
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1 A consistent (and automatic) dark mode
This should've been tackled years ago
Believe it or not, Windows was once ahead of the curb when it came to offering a dark mode interface option. Microsoft introduced dark mode to the operating system in 2016's Windows 10 Anniversary Update release, at a time when iOS, macOS, and Android still lacked the feature natively.
While some progress has been made since 2016 to broaden the scope of Windows' dark mode across more interface surfaces, Microsoft has failed to deliver a truly consistent dark aesthetic across its entire OS.
Microsoft has failed to deliver a truly consistent dark aesthetic across its entire OS.
Various parts of the interface -- namely older Win32 elements -- still lack support for dark mode, and this is deeply regrettable by 2025 standards. Despite previous reports of an internal effort to darken holdout apps and elements of the OS, we've yet to see meaningful improvements take place.
Thankfully, several third-party apps such as Rectify11 are available that can help improve the consistency of Windows' dark mode. One app in particular, Auto Dark Mode, even brings over the ability to schedule light and dark mode switching automatically, which is another quality of life addition that Microsoft should've already implemented to begin with.
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2 Taskbar size and placement flexibility
A functional regression from Windows 10 to 11
With the release of Windows 11 in 2021, Microsoft re-build the Windows taskbar from scratch to offer a modernized experience. While the new animations and esthetics are appreciated, the company neglected to port over some of the customization options that were previously available in Windows 10's taskbar.
Since then, Microsoft has reinstated some of these legacy taskbar options within newer Windows 11 builds, but two important settings are still missing: the ability to resize the taskbar, and the ability to relocate it from its default bottom-mounted position.
While I've personally always kept my Windows taskbar at the bottom of my display and at its default size, I have colleagues who prefer side-mounting and miniaturizing their UI to save on vertical space. There does seem to be hope, thankfully: Microsoft appears to be working on a new 'show smaller taskbar buttons' option, which might be a sign of more to come.
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3 A unified settings experience
Slowly but surely, we'll get there
With the release of Windows 8 in 2012, Microsoft began a painstakingly slow process that's still taking place to this day: the migration of all of Windows' settings from its antiquated Control Panel over to its modern Settings app.
The company continues to make progress on the settings migration front, but the rate of porting is as slow and drawn out as ever. My hope is that sooner rather than later, the company will make a final major push to complete the daunting task, once again unifying every settings option within a single, consistent app experience.
For the time being, Windows 11's settings are split across two different apps with very different design philosophies. For the sake of both consistency and user convenience, a unified settings app will go a long way in improving the user experience of Windows as a whole.
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4 Reduced reliance on web-based interface tech
Web tech makes for a slow and clunky shell experience
In recent years, Microsoft has made a habit of incorporating web-based tech into the interface and apps of Windows 11. This is problematic for a couple of reasons: web tech is less performant and more power-hungry than native user interface elements, and these web-based components don't match the rest of the operating system's design language or esthetics.
Web-based surfaces within the Windows shell and in Windows apps are rampant -- they can be found in the search interface, the widgets board, the Copilot app, the Photo app's image editor, and more. Perhaps most egregious of all is Microsoft's recent decision to sunset the native-built Mail, Calendar, People, and Win32 Outlook apps in favor of an objectively inferior Outlook web app.
Mercifully, there does appear to be light at the end of the tunnel. Recent Windows Insider builds include some exciting news hidden deep within their code base. It appears that Microsoft is working on transitioning its widgets panel over to native code, and the company recently launched an updated Copilot app that removes much of the web-based tech from the equation.
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5 Improved support for touch navigation
After all, Windows also runs on tablets
With all the user pushback and the overall negative market response to Windows 8, it's no wonder that Microsoft walked back its bold touch-first UI paradigm with the release of Windows 10 . While it's true that Windows 8 was poorly thought out for mouse and keyboard users, I feel that the company overcorrected in its removal of touch optimizations.
These days, Windows 11 lacks the fluid gesture system that made interacting with the OS via a touchscreen such a joy back in 2012. Apps can no longer be closed with a satisfying downward motion, and the excellent left-hand app-switching gesture has been entirely gutted, too.
I feel that the company overcorrected in its removal of touch optimizations.
With a new 11-inch Surface Pro tablet expected to hit the market sometime this spring, there's never been a better time for Microsoft to put some elbow grease into making its OS a more pleasant and gesture-filled experience for Windows tablet users the world over.
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