So Microsoft has officially
unveiled the Windows 11 operating system. The newest
a version of Windows comes six
years after the tech giant had introduced Windows 10 to the
world.
Windows 11 focuses on a new user
interface, a new Windows Store, and improvements to
performance.
Actually, we knew all of this as
the entire build of Windows 11 was leaked a few days ago.
But Microsoft still managed to
surprise everyone by announcing that Android
apps are officially coming to
Windows 11. Few technical details were shared regarding the
Android app integration during
the event. Apps seem to run in their own container and can be
pinned to the taskbar, resized,
snapped, and are generally treated as if they were native
Windows
apps that are running on your
computer. Microsoft demonstrated apps like TikTok running on
Windows
11 today. Apps will be listed in
the new Windows Store and Microsoft is also partnering with
Intel to use its Intel Bridge
technology to make this a reality. This seems like
an obvious answer to Apple’s
progress with its M1 chips and running iOS apps on macOS.
It was made possible thanks to
the new Macs switching to an ARM-based M1 processor — while
Microsoft has done a lot of
groundwork to integrate Linux into Windows to make it happen.
But there's a catch here.
Microsoft says that the Android apps will be available through the
Amazon
App store which means you could
only download apps that are available in the Amazon App
store.
It's a shame because the number
of apps available through Amazon’s App Store
pales in comparison to the number
available through Google’s Play Store. So disappointed to
see a lack of Google Play
integration but hey, maybe they tried a partnership but Google
did
not want to participate? That
sounds like a very plausible scenario given how Google is operating
lately. I mean one of the big
reasons Windows Phone failed is due to Google reducing to
make
any apps for Microsoft and got
any 3rd party app removed from the Windows Phone Store.
But on the other hand, it's
totally understandable why Google wouldn't
let Microsoft use the play store
on windows 11. You see Google also has its own OS
aspirations,
Google adding Play Store to
Chrome OS made a big difference in terms of app and particularly
game
availability on Chrome OS, so
likely they don’t want to help a competitor by adding
viability with Play Store access
and lose one of the biggest selling points of Chrome OS.
But in any case, having an Amazon app store is still a win for Microsoft and Windows 11
because while there are many webs
equivalents to mobile apps, they’re often lackluster,
and certain apps like Snapchat,
Ring and the majority of home automation apps aren’t
available
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