- Windows 11 taskbar repositioning is a top priority fix for Microsoft
- An executive has also been candid about the progress with dark mode.
- This new openness and transparency from Microsoft, and the way more executives are interacting with users, is promising for the future of Windows 11.
It seems like we’ve moved into a very different space with Windows 11, as Microsoft executives are busy dealing with comments on social media about what needs to be fixed. And as more revelations emerge about what’s going on behind the scenes, I’m increasingly hopeful about the future of the operating system.
As Windows Central tells us, one of the big changes being made in Windows 11, namely the taskbar repositioning work, has become a top priority at Microsoft, according to internal sources.
It’s about being able to move the taskbar away from the bottom of the screen, where it has been firmly anchored since the launch of Windows 11, and other customization elements, such as having a more compact bar (which is useful for smaller screens).
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These features will work very similarly to how they do in Windows 10 (as you’d expect), although moving the taskbar will be implemented slightly differently (it won’t be draggable directly, you’ll have a selection of options within Settings).
Windows Central informs us that repositioning the taskbar is a ‘priority 0’ task, which is the most urgent level, and resizing the bar is a slightly lower but still important ‘priority 1’ matter.
So we should soon be able to move the taskbar in Windows 11, unless Microsoft has a lot of trouble running this smoothly.
Elsewhere, Windows Central also reports that Marcus Ash, Microsoft’s head of Windows design and research, has provided an update on dark mode in Windows 11.
In case you don’t know, the introduction of dark mode has been a painfully slow process for Windows 11, taking what seemed like forever to gradually progress through more areas of the interface. And there are still numerous jarring sections that remain stubbornly white, when they should be a dark, eye-pleasing shade with the mode enabled.
In response to a question on
While it’s not a firm promise, it’s nice to get a response, and it’s an open and frank response.
Analysis: precious hope for the future
It’s great to see more Microsoft executives now communicating with Windows 11 users in a refreshingly frank and largely positive way. This is in addition to many responses that have been given recently on
The inability to move the taskbar to the sides or top of the Windows 11 desktop has been an issue for a long time, so it’s great to see this being one of Microsoft’s top priorities. It may not be a feature that everyone needs, but those who do want it have been vocal about its absence for years.
Clearly, there is a new push within Microsoft to stay glued to social media and respond to common complaints about Windows 11, and incorporate them to fix them. Now, whether all of the additional issues that have arisen and been addressed in this way (aside from the many promised fixes laid out in Microsoft’s extensive initial blog post) will be resolved is another question.
However, the way Microsoft executives are behaving now gives me hope that this is a completely new attitude from the company as it realizes serious threats to its desktop operating system dominance, such as macOS being boosted by the new and very well received MacBook Neo.
We’ll soon know how serious Microsoft is about fixing everything that’s wrong with Windows 11, which seems to be the end goal, as monthly fixes have been promised, starting immediately. Therefore, we should see the taskbar work included in testing soon enough, barring unfortunate complications as noted.
The other point that skeptics will no doubt realize is that if Microsoft is going to act quickly here, can it also avoid breaking things? Because in the past, even when Microsoft moved slowly, features somehow ended up broken. This is one of the biggest potential obstacles of all, and Microsoft must invest enough resources to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
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