From deeply integrated accessibility and cloud capabilities to advanced security, the OS adapts to changing circumstances

Computex Daily, Taipei – At COMPUTEX 2022 on Monday, Microsoft executive vice president and chief product officer Panos Panay and Nicole Dezen, corporate vice president of device partner sales in Microsoft’s Global Partner Solutions organization, delivered a virtual keynote discussing how Windows 11 has improved the “hybrid life” through cloud integration, accessibility, security and innovation by industry partners.

“Windows 11 has the highest satisfaction rate of any version of Windows we have ever shipped”,” Panay said. “Businesses are adopting Windows 11 faster than we saw in any previous version of Windows. We are entering a new era of computing right now,” Panay said. “As the world has shifted to a more hybrid way of working and living, the PC has become more essential than ever.”

Panay said that while his team was building Windows 11 “from our homes, our offices, our kitchens, living rooms,” they were simultaneously “figuring out how that product in the future will empower our customers.”

Windows 11 is designed to adapt to changing circumstances, moving “seamlessly between work, school, home. It’s designed for businesses, it works perfectly for individuals,” he said. “Windows truly is for everyone.”

“Over the past two years, hybrid’s really been a lifeline for us. It gave us these really powerful new ways to work,” Dezen said.

“Hybrid has completely reinvented learning approaches to address the rapidly changing needs of administrators, educators, students and communities worldwide,” she said.

However, she also noted that hybrid work also creates “new demands for device performance.”

Panay and Dezen also discussed how accessibility is foundational at Microsoft, as well as an “incredible amount of innovation from our partners.”

“With an increased focus on performance, on security, sustainability, the devices that our partners are bringing to market right now are just extraordinary,” Dezen said. “I just love seeing these devices. They’re beautiful, they’re powerful and they’re sustainable.”

However, making the Windows PC more valuable to customers takes more than just hardware. Microsoft has deeply integrated cloud computing into Windows 11, and works with partners to “build devices with cloud services in mind from the beginning,” Dezen said.

“Windows 365 essentially takes Windows directly to the cloud,” Panay said. “We’re going to truly bring Azure compute right to your Windows PC.”

The two executives also discussed the changing landscape of the PC industry, particularly amid the shift towards hybrid models.

“You will continue to see demand go up for PCs. It’ll be cyclical, but because that structural increase has happened, we as an industry, we need to be ready to provide products for our customers,” Panay said.

One area in which Windows 11 continues to improve is security. From the widely supported Secured-core PC initiative to the new Pluton security processor, Microsoft and its partners are  working to integrate advanced hardware-based protections into Windows PCs.

“You can be as productive as you want, as secure as you possibly can be, from anywhere in the world,” Panay said.