June 24th has come and gone. Thankfully, Microsoft has fulfilled upon its promise of details regarding the upcoming version of the Windows Operating System. The cancelled Windows 10X, and Windows 10 Sun Valley projects, have been replaced by Windows 11. The day before the announcement, I had the happy opportunity to try out the leaked build in a Virtual Machine. Here’s Microsoft’s YouTube video introducing Windows 11:
And here’s a 60-second summary of the June 24th Event, also released by Microsoft.
Here are the main points to remember:
All-new appearance
The appearance of Windows 11 resembles a cross between Windows 10X and the Sun Valley interface, with maybe one or two whole new things showing up. Perhaps the most immediately noticeable difference is that the Start button and Taskbar icons are now positioned at the center, rather than the left hand side. Don’t worry… you can change this back if you like. There’s also a widgets flyout, all-new themes, and a few of the apps have been totally redesigned.
New Microsoft Store
There’s going to be an all-new Microsoft Store on Windows 11 – with Android Apps as well. Yes, Android Apps on Windows 11, through the Amazon Appstore, which brings apps like TikTok and Kindle to Windows! That’s not all, though: Microsoft is going to allow app developers to use their own commerce engines within the Microsoft Store – and if they use the Microsoft Commerce Engine, Microsoft will only take a 15% cut from their profit, compared to Apple’s 30%. If a developer uses their own commerce engine, Microsoft takes 0%! Another important thing to note is that now, Win32 apps can also be distributed through the store. Microsoft, at the event, did flash Zoom showing up in the store for a second, so that’s rather exciting!
MS Teams integration
This one hasn’t showed up in the Insider Preview build yet, but based on the released information, it looks like there’s going to be a videochat icon on the taskbar which will allow you to instantly chat or meet with your Teams contacts. For Microsoft, this is a very strategic way to get lots of people to use Microsoft Teams.
Here are a few other minor points to notice:
The Taskbar can now only be positioned at the bottom of the screen.
Tablet mode has been completely removed from Windows 11.
The right side of the Taskbar looks a lot like Chrome OS now. The Action Center has been replaced by two separate Quick Actions and Notifications panels. The Quick Actions panel has some very strong Chrome OS vibes…
That’s all for now, and see you next Windows Update!
Looking to use Microsoft Edge, LibreOffice, Gimp, Inkscape, or Thunderbird on your ChromeBook? Well, as you know, it’s not possible. But what if it really is? In this article, we explain how you can enjoy all of these apps on your ChromeBook.
Installing the Linux environment on your ChromeBook
Well, before you can install any of these apps, you need to enable the usage of Linux on your ChromeBook. All of the content in this article has been personally tested by Tech Terrain Today, so you don’t have to worry about any errors. To start, open the ChromeBook settings app. In the sidebar, click Linux (Beta), and click Turn On.
This launches an extremely straightforward Linux setup wizard, which we won’t cover because it’s so simple. Once you get to the last step, your screen should look like this:
Now once that’s done you can follow this link to download MS Edge.
To install the app, you will double click it in the files app and see a dialog like this:
Clicking Install installs Microsoft Edge. For reference, here’s a screenshot of Edge running on a ChromeBook:
Keep in mind that the ChromeBook version of Microsoft Edge has limitations. For example, you cannot sign in with a Microsoft Account, nor can you set it as your default browser on a ChromeBook, because ChromeBooks only let you use Chrome as your default.
To install Thunderbird open Terminal and type this code: sudo apt-get install thunderbird
To install Inkscape type: sudo apt-get install inkscape
To install LibreOffice type: sudo apt install libreoffice
To install Gimp type: sudo apt-get install gimp
All these apps should now appear in your ChromeBook’s Start Screen in a folder called Linux Apps. Thank you for stopping by to read this article, and please subscribe to our newsletter to get new articles right in your Inbox!
If you have a Mac, then you will notice that you in System Preferences, you can add Google, iCloud, Yahoo, AOL, and more accounts to your Macintosh, but there is no option to add a Microsoft Account.
Why should you add your accounts to your Mac?
The primary reasons why one might want to add their Internet Accounts to their Mac would be to read and send Email using Mac Mail, see their Contacts in the built-in Contacts app, and access their Calendar using iCal (not to be confused with the iCalendar ics format). Additional benefits would include access to Notes in the Notes app and to-do lists in the Reminders app.
Adding the Microsoft Account
In the Internet Accounts section of System Preferences, click the + button. Then, click “Exchange”. Type your information, which is your full name, your email address for your Microsoft Account, and your Microsoft Account password. If you have 2FA enabled, you need to generate an App Password and use that.
Then, tick the apps you want to use your Microsoft Account with.
Here’s what each option means:
Mail: brings your Outlook.com email to MacMail.
Contacts: brings your people.live.com address book to the Mac OS X Contacts app.
Calendars: brings your calendar.live.com calendars to iCal.
Reminders: brings your Microsoft To-Do task list to the OS X Reminders app.
Notes: brings your Outlook Notes to the Mac OS X Notes app. For more information on Outlook Notes, go to Outlook.com and select Notes in the folder list. These notes are also available in Office for Android, the Windows 10 Sticky Notes app, http://onenote.com/stickynotes/, and your OneNote Feed.
