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The new taskbar is going for a more streamlined approach.
Windows 11 is still on track for its release this holiday season, though that doesn’t mean the developers are sitting on their laurels. Bug and compatibility testing is still ongoing, and likely will be well into October. As they get closer to release, though, more tidbits about the particular idiosyncrasies of the OS are starting to come out, the latest of which being details about the revamped task bar.
Screenshots of the new task bar have been floating around for a while now, showcasing it’s new, more centralized design and layout. In addition to its outward appearance, the innards of the feature have changed substantially compared to previous Windows iterations. For one thing, it is no long possible to link a program to the task bar by simply dragging it onto it. Paring down features seems to be the name of the game here, as the task bar’s calendar flyout has also had some features removed. Compared to the Windows 10 calendar flyout, which features the date, a large clock, a calendar, and a customizable agenda with Outlook integration, the new flyout is only the date and a calendar. You can, however, add the large clock back to the flyout through the Windows settings.
Windows 11 is missing a long list of features, at least according to Reddit users. Do you think the new OS is missing core capabilities? https://t.co/8EFcqjR1gN
— Windows Central (@windowscentral) August 25, 2021
Apparently, this was a deliberate design choice, as Microsoft wants to redirect users toward the Widgets panel, which is where the new agenda feature can be found. “Thank you so much for giving us your feedback. While we’ll continue to use your feedback to guide the future of features like this, currently on Windows 11, there is a calendar option in the new widgets experience that you can use to quickly see your personal calendar and its events,” they said in a Feedback Hub post.
