Windows 11 with native Android apps via Amazon, and more

Microsoft’s announcement for Windows 11 was delivered yesterday. It wasn’t just the new features and design elements, but also a big change in support for Android apps.

Shortly:

• Microsoft officially announced Windows 11, the first major Windows upgrade since 2015.
• There’s a luscious, totally over-the-top 2m42s video (YouTube) that will catch up with you shortly that introduces many of the main Windows 11 themes, including the new simplified glass-look user interface, the new Start menu, better ways to snap applications and windows, new ones PC game elements, widgets including paid developer options, and a new Microsoft Store – more on that below.
• Gaming is also getting special attention, with automatic HDR and faster loading times.
• The Windows Store opens instantly, with developers receiving 100% of sales while the heat is raised on Apple. (Games are not included, with a 12% charge.)
• Windows 11 will be a free upgrade for Windows 10 users.
• It comes, says Microsoft, “from this holiday”. This unspecified date was reported as late October.

The biggest surprise:

• A real surprise came at the presentation: Microsoft is bringing Android apps natively on Windows 11, via Intel Bridge technology and via the Amazon Appstore.
• That means you can run Android apps right from your Windows computer without the need for emulation.
• It’s not limited to Intel-powered PCs either, as Intel’s runtime post-compiler brings Android apps to x86 platforms, which AMD is a part of despite Intel technology.
• PCs with ARM processors are also supported, details to follow.
• By the way, some people without a supported CPU(Microsoft) will miss the Windows 11 upgrade which could become more controversial once millions miss it …

Amazon twist:

• Really, the twist here is that Microsoft is partnering with Amazon’s Appstore for Android apps.
• The billion dollar elephant in the room is the Google Play Store, nowhere to be seen.
• That means I’d suspect Microsoft couldn’t come to terms with Google in terms of PCs with Google Mobile Services, or that Google wanted their ChromeOS devices to be the only ones offering Google apps, or both.
• Microsoft and Google have a somewhat strange relationship: the Windows Mobile vs. Android story feels like a distant past, but they’ve never played well when it comes to mobile apps, even when it’s a collaboration on the Surface Duo device gave .
• That makes running native Android apps less good on Windows because the Amazon Appstore is terrible. Amazon takes 30% by default, just like Apple and Google, so there are few benefits.
• I could pass Amazon a pass if it was a brave little upstart, but Amazon isn’t exactly a little gamer.
• Years ago, Amazon really pushed its platform forward by offering free premium apps, which at least got some acceptance (just like Epic did with free games on its PC app platform).
• Browse the Amazon Appstore earlier today, and while there are obviously no Google apps, there are plenty of others missing too (Slack, Asana, Pokémon Go, Philips Hue app), and the platform is simply malnourished compared to Google Play.
• Regardless, I can’t imagine Windows won’t let you sideload APKs, and in the later developer briefing, Microsoft said there will be a Windows subsystem for Android, as there was for Linux.
• Does Amazon benefit from it more than Microsoft?

Likewise: Here is a list of features that are deprecated or removed in Windows 11 (MSPowerUser).

Yes, yes, the 2020 Olympics are coming, but so are the Paralympics! And one of the best sports to watch, wheelchair basketball, now includes Formula 1 technology(ABC).

• The teams don’t use hybrid electric motors, which can easily be illegal on the pitch.
• What then comes to wheelchair basketball? Carbon fiber seats, the same material used by F1 drivers and in America’s Cup yachts.
• That means lighter and faster setups, for more speed and agility on the courts.
• (The write-up is a very pro-Australian Paralympic piece, but hey, you love to see the competition out there!)

Have a nice weekend,

Tristan Rayner, Managing Editor.