Talking Tech 29th June 2021

Windows 11

Windows 11 - New UI, new features, and new sounds.

Tech folks seem to like the new look of Windows 11 with its new UI interface.

NB - windows 10 21H2 will still be released at the end of this year, with Windows 10 being supported until October 2025.

Bottom line, Don’t Panic, if your machine is fine, leave it alone for now.

New PC’s coming out now will show that they are Windows 11 ready.

Developer build of Windows 11 out this week, new PC’s in spring will come with Windows 11, but full version downloadable not until early next year 2022.

Keynote was 1AM June 25 in Australia.

Initial problems with stream.

Was not Audio Described.

It was an OK keynote, not as inspiring as an Apple Keynote.

Windows 11 will be a free upgrade to existing PC users.

Minimum specs: 64 Bit CPU, 4GB RAM, 1GB clock speed, 2 cores, and 64GB storage, only slightly higher than Windows 10 requirements.

Secure Boot and TPM V2.0 according to the Windows 11 page is required for existing PC’s and new.

Secure boot and TPM causing a lot of confusion for existing PC users, here is an article explaining TPM and secure boot.

https://arstechnica.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2Fgadgets%2F2021%2F06%2Fheres-what-youll-need-to-upgrade-to-windows-11%2F%3Futm_brand%3Darstechnica%26utm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_social-type%3Downed%26utm_medium%3Dsocial

No more 32 bit version of Windows, but 32 bit apps will be supported.

Microsoft will require an Internet connection and a Microsoft account to setup Windows 11 Home.

Microsoft kicks Cortana out of the boot setup process for Windows 11.

Windows 11 has a Mac OS style Dock bringing the Start button and Apps to the middle of the screen.

Better multi-tasking in Windows 11 with Apps and App Windows.

Windows 11 adds Widgets to help serve content that matters to you (whether, news, sports scores etc).

New Commission free Microsoft Store if developers use their own Ecommerce systems.

Windows 11 to better support touch gestures with larger touch targets, and supports haptic feedback for pens on touch screens and tablets.

Microsoft is bringing Android apps via the Amazon App Store to Windows 11 (very questionable whether these will work with assistive technology).

Windows 11 built for gamers.

In the Keynote it sounded like Microsoft Teams was part of the OS on the Task Bar now, but it appears its only Teams Chat, still have to download the full version of Teams if you want to use it.

Voice Typing which is just an enhanced version of Voice Dictation will apparently punctuate correctly and allow basic edit voice commands such as “delete that”. Yet to see how well this works with Assistive Tech.

Skype will still be around until Windows 10 I’m assuming goes away in 2025. But, not pre-installed.

Internet Explorer finally not pre-installed on Windows 11.

Windows 11 will move to a yearly feature update model.

Windows 11 Landing Page

Besides details about Windows 11, also including a link to download the PC Health app to see if your PC will be able to run Windows 11. On my surface Pro it wouldn’t tell me as for some reason it decided it was a work PC and not a personal one.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11

Link to the Microsoft Keynote Event for Windows 11:

https://mediastream.microsoft.com/events/2021/2106/HGS8/player/HGS8-3.html

All up, a very messy presentation leaving folks exactly wondering if Windows 11 will run on their PC;s and exactly when it will be available.

As of this show going to air, no news from the Microsoft Accessibility Team on Windows 11, just a generic statement that information will be coming.

Amazon Echo Smart Speaker Line Up

A bit of a switch of gears.

I am really liking my Amazon Echo Dot 4 gen, and Amazon Echo Dot 4 Gen with Clock around the house. Nice neat small speakers with great sound. About the size of a cricket ball with easy to use tactile buttons.

The Echo 4 Gen itself, which is the size of a Grape Fruit keeps the same stylish design as the Echo 4 Dot Gen, and again with excellent sound for filling a room.

If you really want to fill a room with amazing sound, you’ll find the Echo Studio works extremely well where it try’s to fill the whole room/space with sound. Like a big cylinder much like the full sized HomePod, but no where near so much base noise. Again, excellent tactile buttons.

Finally, the Echo Show 5, 8 and 10 screens work also well, particularly with the 10 moving to keep you in focus when on a video call. Still tactile buttons, and excellent sound.

NB for people relying purely on the inbuilt screen reader, some elements of some skills may not work. For example, asking for a list of scrambled egg recipes, the inbuilt screen reader will not read this screen.

For low vision folks, this issue may not be a problem.

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