A day after folks started digging into a leaked build of Windows 11, more details about the next version of Windows are starting to emerge. First of all, despite some significant changes to the taskbar, start menu, and other UI elements, the operating system is largely the same as Windows 10 under the hood. Second, it looks like you can disable many of the new features if you’d prefer to make Windows 11 look like Windows 10.
In other recent tech news, after removing listings for Aukey and Mpow products from its store last month, Amazon has done the same with RAVPower. This time the penalty seems to come in response to a recent Wall Street Journal report indicating that RAVPower was including a card in some packages promising to pay customers $35 to leave positive reviews. That’s a violation of Amazon’s policies, but it’s one that some companies have been using for ages.
It’s a shame, because honestly all three companies make some decent products. I have some RAVPower batteries and Mpow headphones and they offer decent bang for the buck (and nobody paid me to say that). But they had been engaging in shady promotional practices. Of course, they’ve been doing that for a long time, but Amazon has only recently taken action… presumably after being called out on enabling these companies.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
- Amazon has removed all RAVPower product listings [@nicnguyen]
RAVPower appears to be the latest casualty of Amazon’s crack down on sellers that try to game the reviews system by bribing customers to leave positive reviews. Like Aukey and Mpow before it, the accessory maker’s products have been removed from Amazon. - You can make Windows 11 look just like Windows 10 (because it’s really not that different) [@WithinRafael]
Don’t like the look of Windows 11 (based on the leaked build making the rounds)? There’s a toggle that lets you move the taskbar back to the left side of the screen, and a registry edit that will return the Windows 10-style Start Menu. - Windows 11 SE mode discovered in the leaked Windows 11 build [@fakirmeditation]
It looks like the Windows 11 equivalent of Windows 10 in S Mode will be called Windows 11 SE. It’s basically a simplified OS with fewer settings. But unlike S Mode, it seems to support Win32 apps. - The future of Xbox backward compatibility could be in the cloud (xCloud, that is) [Xbox]
Microsoft plans to bring Xbox Series X/S games to older Xbox one consoles through its Cloud Gaming (xCloud) game streaming platform. That means you’ll need a subscription, but it also means you’ll be able to play Flight Simulator without new hardware. - Purism shows off new features coming to PureOS for the Librem 5 smartphone [LinuxSmartphones]
A lot of these features are old hat on platforms like Android and iOS, but they’re new to the Librem 5. For example, a fully functional camera app is being packaged with the OS, you’ll be able to toggle WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular functionality from the quick settings pull-down, and there’s support for automatic screen rotation. - GMK NucBox Review – A palm-sized Windows 10 mini PC [CNX Software]
When I reviewed the GMK NucBox 2.4″ mini PC last year, I spent some time testing Ubuntu on the tiny computer. Now CNX Software has a more detailed look at Windows & Ubuntu performance, noting that 3.5mm audio jack and fan control don’t work with Ubuntu. - Pandemic Push: Tablet Shipments up 53% YoY in Q1 2021 [Counterpoint]
Tablet shipments were up 53-percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020 according to Counterpoint. Apple continues to dominate the space, with Samsung taking second place. Lenovo seems to have caught up with Amazon in third. - Motorola Defy 2021 [@evleaks]
The Motorola Defy 2021 smartphone will be a rugged phone with mid-range specs, a MIL-STD-810H tested design, IP68 resistance, and a washable case. Evan Blass has leaked images and specs (Snapdragon 662, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 5,000 mAh battery).
Motorola Defy 2021 pic.twitter.com/NdKY7BYb0h
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) June 16, 2021
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It looks like Microsoft is ending Live Tiles with Windows 11. Hooray! I never liked them anyway, and what a waste of system resources!. It’s good to see Microsoft moving on from the Windows 8 Metro Tiles fiasco.
…Not exactly? They just moved them over into a big widget drawer. It’s not stuff you can put all over your desktop as with Rainmeter widgets. Also you have to have a Microsoft account to see a single one of them, but if you do sign in with one I’d imagine the drawer might auto-populate and keep updating them constantly.
I’m going to need to look into Rainmeter again, see if I can’t find a complete taskbar replacement because what’s in the leaked .iso has been severely cut down.
At least Open Shell still works. The actual start menu seems practically designed to slow you down.
I recall reading articles about Amazon sellers somehow hijacking a totally different/old product’s page to sell their product. This results in having reviews for both the previous product and the seller’s product to make it look like a lot of people bought it. Unless you read the reviews and then get confused about most people talking about headphones on screen protector page.
Has Amazon done anything about that?
Found an article about it: https://www.consumerreports.org/customer-reviews-ratings/hijacked-reviews-on-amazon-can-trick-shoppers/
It’s from 2019. I wonder if anything has changed since then.
They also need to purge all Vine Voice and top 1000 reviews, and default to showing newest rather than most helpful reviews.
I’ll predict that Windows 11 is basically an update of the Start menu and taskbar, and that’s what it is meant to be. Secondly, therefore, it’ll be delivered as a free update to Windows 10. Third, I bet Microsoft themselves “leaked” this in order to temper expectations. And fourth: This update isn’t going to be officially called Windows 11. Perhaps it’ll be called “Sun Valley Update”. And the twist is: Windows from this point on will just be branded indefinitely onward as… Windows. They’re dropping using numbers and letters in marketing new versions of Windows, just as we no longer refer to Chrome, Firefox and most other applications by their version numbers.
Windows 10 product keys will serve to activate systems installed from the leaked .iso, as will old methods of pirate activating it (like HWID), suggesting a free “upgrade” but of course they can change that.
I don’t think the leaked .iso represents the sun valley update because of some leaked screenshots allegedly of that still calling it “windows 10”, plus windows 10 has had an end-of life date of October 2025 (and that’s been the case since 2015). Also, there’s a lot of obvious “Copy Apple!” (but really badly) in the leaked .iso, and MacOS is currently on 11. They skipped Windows 9 for the same reason, matching MacOS version numbers.
It looks like they got rid of the ability to move the taskbar to some location other than the bottom of the screen, and there are no options to see anything but icons at a fixed size on the taskbar.
Not even registry edits work.
Also, it looks like your computer HAS to have TPM 2.0 and secure boot and 4gB of RAM or windows 11 won’t install. I’m not sure if secure boot actually has to be enabled or if the TPM has to be installed.
There are reports that this leaked version won’t install on any system. It will only install on a virtual machine. (Another reason why there are suspicions this was leaked by Microsoft.)
Since I wrote that, I’ve now heard that people were able to get it to run outside of a VM by “replacing two files in the sources directory”. I’ve also seen screenshots from within Windows 11 of it running without secureboot or TPM, suggesting that the need to have those things is arbitrary and potentially going to be used to try and keep you from installing anything else.
It’s nice that Amazon is actually taking real action against fake reviews. I hope the FTC continues to pressure them on this and journalists keep track of/write about it.