Microsoft’s Build 2022 kermesse starts with the classic inaugural barrels which, waiting for other surprises, has put on the plate what will revolutionize, and not a little, the user experience in Windows 11.
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On day one of the Build 2022 event organized by Microsoft (still digitally, as from 2020 due to a pandemic), the hi-tech giant of Redmond unveiled several news relating to the Windows 11 ecosystem with the direct or indirect involvement of users mainstream.
It starts with the Android subsystem which, via the Amazon AppStore, will allow the use of Android apps on Windows in Italy (in addition to Japan, UK, France and Germany) by the end of the year. This layer, finally based on the Android 12.1 version of the AOSP (Android Open-Source Project) known as Android 12L, will improve the integration with Windows in various aspects, just think of more sophisticated networking technologies and refinements in the management of notifications.
Thanks to Adaptive Cards, developers can now create, as complementary experiences for Win32 or PWA apps, third-party widgets, but always relegated to the location at the bottom left, on the taskbar, to the right of the search lens. Third-party developers, having removed the relative waiting list, will be more comfortable in proposing their Win32 applications in the Windows Store: right here, thanks to Microsoft Advertising, they will be able to create and display advertising campaigns to reach the most suitable audience for right moment.
The apps downloaded from the Windows Store will behave like those of smartphones after a system restore: in this way, by going to the Library section of the app market in question after logging in with their account, a prompt will ask the user if they intend to restore (with annexed data) the apps previously installed, or select only a few to be reloaded.
Some aspects of synergy are very interesting: the applications that create and store content on the cloud, according to Microsoft’s wishes, may in the future be able to display this content in the most common dialog boxes for files, or in familiar environments of the operating system (e.g. in the File Explorer formerly known as Explorer), so that users are helped in finding a particular content seamlessly between various devices. Windows Search will also benefit from the integration, in particular with the Windows Store: in this way, searching for the name of an app (included in the said store) from Start, the most relevant results from the Windows Store will be included, with the possibility of ‘install what you were looking for directly from this position.
A particular update of Windows and of its Chromium-based Edge browser will ensure that the PWA apps generated with the latter will present more natural notifications in the appropriate section of the operating system, provided that they will only bear the name and the icon of the PWA, and they will no longer pass as coming from the browser. In addition, these PWAs will appear in the Windows sharing panel and will be able to be associated by default when opening certain file types.