- Windows 11 had a change in the tests to optimize the taskbar
- The adjustment caused the date and time to be visualized in the most compact system tray
- Microsoft abandoned the idea due to the negative feedback of the testers, but this seems myopic, and I’m not sure why no options were provided here
Windows 11 will not get a simplified date and time panel in the taskbar, an idea that was introduced in the previous view in the past, and the reason is simple: the testers hated this more simplified aspect (apparently).
The Date and time screen rejig the year fell, so it only showed the day and month, as well as abandoning the AM or PM label of the time. The result was a space saving measure in the system tray, releasing the width of an icon, which worked quite effectively, I thought, to rationalize this part of the taskbar (in the lower right part of the desk).
Zac Bowden from Central Windows recalled that this change had stopped in the tests, and then never reintroduced, and asked in X when he could return, receiving a response from Microsoft’s Brandon Leblanc (Microsoft’s (senior product manager for Windows).
The comments we received was not pleasant. That is why it disappears.July 12, 2025
As Leblanc indicates, there was clearly a lot of negative feedback on this idea and, therefore, it was abandoned.
There was another space savings adjustment that accompanies this change, through which notifications did not appear in the system tray when the ‘not disturbing’ mode was lit. That has also been discarded.
Analysis: An intermediate path is not worth it?
Do we need the year shown on the clock screen in the taskbar? It would argue much not (although it can be useful for time travelers, perhaps, newspapers are more difficult to find these days for that most important year revelation). As for the indication of whether it is the morning (AM) or the afternoon (PM), there may be more case for that, although again, I do not think it is necessary (and use the clock 24 hours anyway, which makes it redundant, of course).
I appreciate that some people do not like the appearance of the new clock information and the date, and that is quite fair. So, my question for Microsoft is: why not only have the option of the configuration you want? It seems a fairly simple commitment to allow people to choose, and in fact an option to have the most compact matter, or the standard date and time, was present in the return tests when. (You can alternate ‘Show time and day on the system tray’ under the date and time options in the configuration application).
Choosing what you want, isn’t this the best of both worlds? And if Microsoft was concerned about confusing people to people, the company could have made the traditional way the default value, and the compact mode a change that needed to opt (by changing the relevant configuration).
I do not see how this was not the chosen path, frankly, unless Microsoft thought that so few people wanted the new design (abandoned) that it was not worth implementing the adjustment (or that the options of the taskbar was increasing unnecessarily, since there are already enough).
Even if it were the case among the evaluators that the change was quite hated universally, which can only assume that it was the case, Microsoft must remember that those Windows experts are more hardcore enthusiastic whose opinions may not reflect the broader computer public. In fact, when looking part of the online reaction, it is clear that there is a certain feeling that the compact view for date and time was appreciated in some sectors (and yes, still demolished in others, to be fair).
Am I simply collecting here? Yes, to some extent, and of course, this is far from being the biggest problem with Windows 11, this is a small comparative fried, naturally, but it still seems strange that Microsoft did not compromise at least here and provided an option.
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