Microsoft could finally be fixing one of Windows 11’s worst features
macOS 13 has nothing to worry about
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In a newWindows 11insider build,Microsofthas placed a search bar on the desktop for some users, explaining that this is the first stage of an experiment of removing widgets from the Taskbar.
This can be found inWindows 11Build 25120, which is available in the Dev Channel if you’re signed in to the Insider program. Microsoft has said that this won’t appear to all of its users who are signed up to the program, but a restart may solve this for some.
While you can accesswidgetsthrough a button on the bottom left of the Taskbar, this is the first instance in which you can directly use a widget on the desktop.
However, we’ve been here before thanks toWindows Vista. Even though Microsoft is calling this an experiment, it could be the start of fixing widgets as a whole, something that’s been a sore point for Windows users since 2006.
Analysis: A major fix that needs to happen
Widgets have always felt like a challenge for Microsoft that it never managed to solve. BeforeWindows Vistaarrived in 2006, there were a bunch of third-party apps that would place widgets all over yourWindows XPdesktop, showcasing news readers, media controls, weather notifications, and more.
By the time they officially arrived in Vista, they landed with a terrible name, called Gadgets, and were a drain on your CPU, which led to many users switching this feature off.
As the years passed and newer Windows releases arrived, gadgets fast became adistant memory. They were brought back when Windows 11 was released in October 2021, but they’ve always felt restrictive.
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This is mainly due to the fact that third-party developers don’t have access to widgets yet.Apple’s take on widgets has worked well iniOSandiPadOS 15, due to the fact that developers have embraced them, and you can re-arrange them on your home screen whenever you wish.
While they’re still restrictive to a column inmacOSfor now, they’re still more useful than Microsoft’s take, thanks to developers.
However, this is a promising first step by Microsoft, even if it’s just a search bar. PlacingOneDrive, shortcuts to folders, orXbox Game Passwidgets on your Windows 11 desktop would work well. These could cut down the steps from the desktop to your OneDrive in one go for example, but we could be getting ahead of ourselves, as this is an experiment, and features have been removed by Microsoft in the past.
Apple may be planning similar changes tomacOS 13atWWDCin June, which could place widgets on a Mac desktop. But hopefully we see this as a big feature in Sun Valley 2, Windows 11’s next major update, once it arrives later in 2022.
Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he’s written a book, ‘The Making of Tomb Raider’. His second book, ‘50 Years of Boss Fights’, came out in 2024, with a third book coming in 2025. He also has a newsletter called ‘Springboard’. He’s usually found playing games old and new on his Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that’s about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.
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