The Windows Insider team returned last week from the Christmas holidays releasing the first Windows build 10 beta of 2021, which introduced several new features on the operating system. Selected Dev channel insiders can indeed see a new display mode for news on the taskbar, but by 2021 there will be many other news that we will see on Windows 10 , also and above all on a stylistic level.

Microsoft’s operating system restyling by the end of the year is not an absolute novelty and, with the internal name of Sun Valley, the company is considering introducing a major Windows redesign 10 already for the update 21 H1 expected for the second half of the year. Panos Panay himself spoke last year about accelerating innovation on Windows 10 , confirmed by a Microsoft job announcement in recent days in which the newcomer to the company will have to send a clear public message: “Windows is BACK”.

Windows 10, the new design by end 2021?

The message will be accompanied by “a radical visual renewal of Windows experiences “ , but the new plan that has never been formalized. In the meantime, however, Windows Central’s Zac Bowden has shared a series of concept screenshots showing some of the details that will be changed, based on his information. Among these, the new Start Menu with rounded corners and separated from the taskbar immediately catches the eye.

The new Floating Start Menu appears as a draggable window above the toolbar applications, according to Bowden’s first mockup, and perhaps it can be moved by the user to an arbitrary point on the screen. Other parts of the operating system could also undergo the same treatment, giving a less edgy look to the UI.

According to Bowden we will see other news, such as on the feature Snap Assist which will consider each tab open on Microsoft Edge as individual windows. Snap Assist is the gesture that allows you to move the foreground apps to the right or left, or in the corners of the screen (with Win + directional arrows). The function will be redesigned to manage the individual Edge tabs, and to remember the settings for each app when connecting or disconnecting an external display.

Sun Valley will introduce, according to the source, a new simplified taskbar , similar to the one that will be implemented on Windows 10 X and a new screen on battery usage in Settings. Finally, a new “dashboard” feature should be introduced in the Tasks screen which includes some information about personal or work or school Microsoft accounts, such as recently used Office documents or appointments marked on the Calendar.

It is not certain that all the functions will be implemented on the operating system in the final version, or if we will see them already in the coming months within a Windows Insider build 10. Microsoft has not yet officially talked about Sun Valley, and the new Insider builds – as per the company’s new modus operandi – will not introduce features that are specific to an exact version of Windows 10. The 2021 will still be an important year for Microsoft.

L ‘arrival of Windows 10 X on the first alternative devices to Chromebooks with Google operating system will mark the the beginning of a new era for the Redmond company and for the design of its software. It will be to be seen what will be the footprint that Panos Panay will leave on the Windows environment, all in search of the stylistic coherence that has always been the Achilles heel of the latest version of the OS.

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