Windows 11: Microsoft's Cortana is not yet familiar with the new operating system

Enlarge image

Cortana figure from the Microsoft game "Halo"

Photo: Microsoft

"Windows 10 is the last version of Windows," claimed Microsoft's technology evangelist (yes, that's a job) Jerry Nixon in the summer of 2015 - a few weeks before the current version of the operating system was published.

Nixon now has to regret this announcement: Because the next version of Windows has appeared on the Internet and is called Windows 11.

Of course, the phrase shouldn't mean that Microsoft will stop developing PC operating systems.

Rather, Nixon wanted to explain that Windows 10 should be developed and expanded in regular small steps.

You no longer need new version numbers or names.

Windows 10, it was said, should be further developed like a service and continuously improved with the same name.

This is obviously also the level of knowledge of Cortana, the Windows 10 assistant function named after a character from the video game "Halo". When asked by "The Verge" editor Tom Warren whether Windows 11 is real, the artificial intelligence replies dutifully, that according to microsoft.com there will be no Windows 11.

It's just stupid that Warren Cortana asked the question on a PC whose Windows identifies itself very clearly as Windows 11:

The fact that he was able to do this at all is due to the fact that a pre-release version of the next Windows has appeared on the Internet, a good week before the unveiling by Microsoft planned for June 24th.

Initially, screenshots of the software were published on the Chinese portal Baidu.

A little later, a so-called ISO file made the rounds, a virtual DVD, so to speak, with the complete operating system.

Many curious people have apparently already installed it on their computers.

Enlarge image

Windows 11 screenshots on Baidu

Photo: Baidu

One should be extremely careful with such experiments.

Finally, the promising file could also hide a malware program that, under the guise of supposed innovations, loads malware onto the PCs of curious users.

One can assume that by now at the latest, variants of the Windows 11 ISO file are on the way that do exactly that.

The editors of "Golem.de" are apparently aware of such dangers. They obtained the software, but as a precaution did not install it directly on a PC, but in a so-called virtual machine, i.e. in software that only simulates a complete PC .

This protects the actual computer from malware.

The verdict of the PC experts: "It is actually not much more than a major, visual update of Windows 10." However, they also point out that it is probably an early development version.

As previously rumored, the corners of screen windows are gently rounded in the new Windows version.

The start menu has got a tidier look, is no longer divided into boxes and lets the background shimmer through slightly.

In addition, the "Start" button, which is used to switch off the computer, has moved from the left to the bottom right.

The file explorer, on the other hand, looks familiar.

According to "Golem.de", however, Windows 10 still appears to be in the core of the new operating system and the system settings are also identical.

But there was one noticeable change after all: Windows 11 announces itself with a new start tone when booting, which sounds far less bombastic than in many previous versions:

It was already apparent that the start-up sound would be changed when Microsoft published a best-of of the start-up sounds for Windows 95, XP and 7, which had been slowed down by a factor of 4000 a few days ago.

more on the subject

• Expiration date: Microsoft sets the end of Windows 10By Matthias Kremp

• Strange Windows Marketing: Can You Relax With That Sound?

• Farewell to the startup sound: This man turned Windows off his legendary melodies

It has now been shown that Cortana is capable of learning.

Shortly after Tom Warren reported on "The Verge" about the leaked Windows 11 version, the voice assistant responded to the question of whether Windows 11 was real with a reference to Warren's article.

Microsoft has planned the official presentation of the new Windows for June 24th.

Then at the latest we will find out whether there are still a few new features in the new edition that are not included in the leaked version.