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Microsoft drops Windows Maps, TV and Movies apps from new Windows 11 installs – here’s what it means for users
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Microsoft seems to have scrubbed Windows Maps and Movies & TV apps from fresh installations of Windows 11, starting with Windows 11 Build 25987, which was released to Windows Insiders, a Microsoft’s official community for Windows enthusiasts and industry professionals to try out previews of new versions of Windows and features.

To be clear, if you’re using a previous version of Windows 11, you won’t be affected by this even if you upgrade to Windows 11 Build 25897. Your Windows Maps and Movies & TV apps will continue to be on your device. Also, Microsoft reportedly hasn’t given any indication that these apps are being killed off, as you can still get them from the Microsoft Store, and they will continue to be updated. 

What it does mean is that if you perform a clean install of Windows 11 going forward from today, those two apps will not be pre-installed. Microsoft has confirmed all of the above in a Windows Insider Blog post, but has not elaborated on why it’s made this decision. NeoWin points out that you can delete them if you like, and doing so frees up only a few megabytes of disk memory. It’s hard to say at this point what the fate of these two apps will be, considering that they’re rarely updated and that Microsoft recently removed offline support for Windows Maps. 

Windows Movies and TV

(Image credit: Microsoft)

What's the impact of this move?

Most Windows users may not even be aware of these apps, so they will probably not be sorely missed by those that do a clean installation of Windows 11 from now on. 

It does, however, look like Microsoft is taking steps to optimize and streamline the Windows 11 operating system in general. In the most recent major version update, Windows 11 23H2, we saw the Chat removed and its functionality be absorbed into the free version of Microsoft Teams. We also saw the removal of the old Mail app. 

These are more minor changes, in my opinion, but attention to detail like this can pay off as Windows has sometimes had the reputation of being a rather cluttered and bloated operating system, especially compared to macOS and ChromeOS. I think this bodes well for the type of operating system Microsoft is trying to turn Windows 11 into, especially with the new intense focus on AI with Windows Copilot and hybrid computing. 

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Copilot AI could soon be available to a lot more Windows 11 users with a big privacy change from Microsoft
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Microsoft has an incoming change to Windows 11 – or at least it’s in testing – that makes some moves on the privacy front over in Europe.

Windows Latest spotted something in an older preview build of Windows 11 that was rather glossed over at the time, but recent happenings with the Copilot AI – which has not been made available to European users for privacy reasons – throw an interesting new light on the change.

The preview build we’re talking about was pushed out in August 2023 in the Dev channel (build 23521), and in the blog post introducing it, Microsoft noted the following: “In the European Economic Area (EEA), Windows will now require consent to share data between Windows and other signed-in Microsoft services. You will see some Windows features start to check for consent now, with more being added in future builds.”

Microsoft goes on to say if this consent is declined by the Windows 11 user, that “some functionality in Windows features may be unavailable.” As an example, Microsoft notes that certain file recommendations may not be made in the Start menu’s Recommended panel.

That’s a potentially intrusive element that we’ve been a bit concerned about – in terms of where the line might lie between recommendations and ads, and how flexible that line might be – so European users will potentially be able to dodge the worst of this.

Not just that, of course, as this consent applies to other (unspecified) Windows features – we’ll come back to that shortly.

As for the progress of this EEA consent change, it appears to still be rolling out to those testing Windows 11 and hasn’t come to everyone yet, as Windows Latest observes.

Windows Latest asked Microsoft about this introduction, with the software giant replying: “We have nothing more to share beyond what’s in the blog post [for build 23521]. This change was previously rolled out to the Dev Channel in August.”

Analysis: A hopeful hint of a timely landing for Copilot?

Presumably this change will be more widely rolled out going forward to testers, because it might tie in with an important factor that recently emerged – namely the availability of Microsoft’s Copilot AI.

As we’ve previously reported, even though Copilot is now officially out for Windows 11 (the release version), it’s only certain regions that can get the AI assistant. Due to stricter privacy regulations in the European Union, Microsoft cannot deploy Copilot to users who live there.

Not yet anyway – but a version of Copilot that’s compliant with EU laws is underway, and those Windows 11 users will get the AI on their desktop in time.

Now, we’re just theorizing here, but it seems like Copilot could be one of the various features that’s bound up with this data-sharing consent measure which is now in testing.

If so, the good news for those in Europe who want Copilot is that the groundwork to get the AI available over there was already started a couple of months back. And if you think about it, that makes sense – Microsoft would’ve known about this issue for some time, after all, so would surely be preparing for it in advance.

We can hope, then, that the wait for the Copilot AI for Windows 11 users in Europe might be a shorter one than we expected (and perhaps that other regions will follow soon enough, too).

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ChatGPT can finally get up-to-date answers from the internet – here’s how
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OpenAI isn't slowing down with the development of ChatGPT: only a few days after the AI chatbot added support for picture prompts and voice conversations, ChatGPT is now able to once again search the web and return answers that are right up to date.

“ChatGPT can now browse the internet to provide you with current and authoritative information, complete with direct links to sources,” says the OpenAI post on X. “It is no longer limited to data before September 2021.”

What that post doesn't mention is that this is the same functionality that ChatGPT briefly had early this year, before it was pulled in July – users were deploying the feature to get around paywalls and access paid-for content for free. As far as we can tell from our testing, OpenAI has now plugged that particular gap.

As before, ChatGPT uses Bing to search the web – no surprise considering how closely Microsoft and OpenAI have been working together in recent years. OpenAI suggests the feature is best used for “tasks that require up-to-date information”, like planning a vacation or doing some technical research.

How it works

ChatGPT and Bing

ChatGPT knows the iPhone 15 is out, but not who’s playing tonight (Image credit: Future)

Right now, you need to be a ChatGPT Plus subscriber to give the bot access to the web, which will set you back $ 20 / £16 a month. Enterprise users also get the feature right away, with access for everyone else coming “soon” OpenAI says.

Once you've logged into ChatGPT on the web, you need to select the GPT-4 engine, and then pick 'Browse with Bing' from the menu that pops up underneath. You can then start your conversation, and the bot will use information from the web in addition to the data it has access to from its regular training.

We successfully got ChatGPT to tell us when the iPhone 15 launched, and it even linked back to a reputable tech website with more information (though it wasn't TechRadar, sadly). That's one example of how the AI assistant now knows everything that's going on – as long as it's on the web.

The feature is still labeled as being in beta, so expect more refinements and improvements in the future. It's also only as good as Bing's search results, so for anything that the search engine isn't sure on – like tonight's soccer matches in the UK – you might get directed to a relevant website instead of seeing the answers.

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From hype to hibernation – what happened to the NFT crypto art craze?
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Three years in, and the 2020s are already shaping up to be a decade to remember, producing plenty of fads such as the cryptocurrency phenomenon and NFTs. 

NFT stands for “non-fungible token” which doesn’t help clarify a whole lot. But, what happened to them?

NFTs are actually unique digital entities which exist on a blockchain during its circulation. A blockchain is an ongoing ledger which contains lists of records of uniquely identifiable digital entities like crypto coins and NFTs. That’s the “non-fungible” part of the term, meaning it can’t be replicated (which itself is debatable to those of us that appreciate the screenshot function).

They came to the public attention and enjoyed huge popularity in 2021 and 2022. You may even have heard of Bored Ape NFTs, a collection of digital illustrations depicting, you guessed it, apes in a variety of seemingly random costumes. There was a sort of mini gold rush, especially after the explosion of Bored Ape NFTs, to launch the next must-have collection. 

Those digital drawings could really get up there in price, and collectors tried to push them as the next evolution of art. Everydays: the First 5000 Days by Beeple sold for $ 69.3m to a single owner and The Merge by Pak was sold for $ 91.8m to 30,000 collectors that pooled their funds together, according to Dextero. 

The economy NFTs created has sparked plenty of debate about the social, societal, and artistic merits of the scene. 

Opera Crypto browser showing NFT

(Image credit: Opera)

A rude awakening after the daydream

Unfortunately (well, for the people who spent a fortune on them), it looks like NFTs haven’t become the next great art movement, and even celebs and other investors that championed NFTs have lost millions after buying them. 

Now, a study by dappGambl, a community of blockchain enthusiasts that discuss aspects of the crypto market like crypto gambling, has put out an extensive report that claims that the NFT market has crashed. According to dappGambl, the “vast majority” of NFTs are now worthless. 

The study looked at more than 73,000 NFT collections, and the results showed that nearly 70,000 of those (almost 96%) were valued at 0 ETH. ETH is short for Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. However, zero times anything is still zero. 

According to dappGambl, the “vast majority” of NFTs are now worthless.

Beyond that, the study goes on to claim that over 79% of NFT collections were never sold in the first place. The market phrase that Dextero (and other outlets) are using is “demand is outstripping supply” which is a jargon-y way of saying most NFTs aren’t worth very much at all, much to their creators’ dismay. 

Dextero does try to throw NFT creators a bone by providing a counter to the study’s claim, saying that dappGambl’s analysis might be skewed as anyone can mint an NFT or a whole collection of NFTs. 

It seems they’re implying that the sample of 73,000 could include a large number of these everyday-person-minted NFTs, which are not very attractive to buyers.

Anna Tarazevich | Pexels; Bei der Wahl der idealen Krypto-Börse sind so einige Faktoren von großer Bedeutung.

(Image credit: Anna Tarazevich | Pexels)

But what if you look at the “top” NFTs? dappGambl also analyzed the top 8,850 NFT collections according to CoinMarketCap, a top cryptocurrency price-tracking app. It found that 18% of these collections are valued at the floor price of $ 0. 

Meanwhile, 41% are “modestly priced” in the range of $ 5 to $ 100. Less than 1% of the analyzed NFTs hold a price of over $ 6,000. If you compare that to some of the eye-catching big-ticket sales of NFTs’ heyday, it’s quite a tumble. 

Dextero reports that throughout 2021 and 2022, the NFT market was trading at above $ 2 billion a month. That has fallen to $ 80 million, which considering the distribution of values that dappGambl suggests, it still means a pretty large volume of NFTs being traded. Just that they’re not worth a great deal individually. 

What happens next? (Who knows?)

Trying to predict if this is NFTs’ swan song is hard, but things don’t look so hot at the moment and it’s unclear if they’ll ever pick up steam again. Bitcoin has seen huge rises and falls in price, and NFTs might have a similar up-and-down pattern, too. 

In any case, if you invested in any NFTs, it would perhaps be wise to check how they’re doing price-wise and if they hold any value, and perhaps sell them while you can still get some money for them. 

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Popular AI art tool Dall-E gets a big upgrade from ChatGPT creator OpenAI
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If you’ve ever messed around with AI tools online, chances are you’ve used Dall-E. OpenAI’s AI art generator is user-friendly and offers a free version, which is why we named it the best tool for beginners in our list of the best AI art generators.

You might’ve heard the name from Dall-E mini, a basic AI image generator made by Boris Dayma that enjoyed a decent amount of viral popularity back in 2021 thanks to its super-simple functionality and free access. But OpenAI’s version is more sophisticated – now more than ever, thanks to the Dall-E 3 update.

As reported by Reuters, OpenAI confirmed on September 20th that the new-and-improved Dall-E would be available to paying ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise subscribers in October (though an official release date has not been announced yet). An OpenAI spokesperson noted that “DALL-E 3 can translate nuanced requests into extremely detailed and accurate images”, hopefully signally a boost in the tool’s graphical capabilities – something competitors Midjourney and Stable Diffusion arguably do better right now.

Another small step for AI

Although ChatGPT creator OpenAI has become embroiled in lawsuits over the use of human-created material for training its AI models, the Dall-E 3 upgrade actually does feel like a step in the right direction.

In addition to technical improvements to the art generation tool, the new version will also deliver a host of security and safeguarding features, some of which are arguably sorely needed for AI image production services.

Most prominent is a set of mitigations within the software that prevents Dall-E 3 from being used to generate pictures of real-world living public figures or art in the style of a living artist. Combined with new safeguards that will (hopefully) prevent the generation of violent, inappropriate, or otherwise harmful images, I can see Dall-E 3 setting the new benchmark for legality and morality in the generative AI space.

It’s an unpleasant topic, but there’s no denying the potential dangers of art theft, deepfake videos, and ‘revenge porn’ when it comes to AI art tools. OpenAI has also stated that Dall-E creators will be able to opt out of having their work used to train future text-to-image tools, which will hopefully preserve some originality – so I’m going to be cautiously optimistic about this update, despite my previous warning about the dangers of AI.

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Windows 11 update reportedly causes havoc, from gaming glitches to boot failures
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Windows 11’s latest cumulative update has been triggering a whole heap of problems going by a bunch of online reports, including causing havoc for PC gamers in some cases.

This is KB5030219, the compulsory update for September that was released last week and piped to Windows 11 22H2 systems.

Windows Latest spotted a catalog of reported gremlins in the works with KB5030219, and that includes the update causing Blue Screen of Death (BSoD) crashes.

On top of that, readers have reported instances of system slowdown to Windows Latest following the installation of KB5030219, and network connection problems, with internet access apparently failing for some post-installation.

There are also reports of PCs failing to start entirely after the update, which is very worrying of course – there’s nothing worse than your system failing to boot after applying an ‘upgrade.’

Another report on Reddit, on the official thread introducing KB5030219, complains about a problem where the Start menu (and search functionality) fails to work for some folks.

That Reddit thread contains quite a number of other issues, including various performance problems (like a very slow right-click menu) and tabs in File Explorer disappearing due to KB5030219, as well as some weird audio glitches. Oh, and installation failures, with the update failing to complete in some cases (a continued problem with Windows 11 cumulative updates for some folks).

And on top of that, as mentioned, PC gamers have been hit here. Windows Latest highlights some apparent performance glitches with Starfield, and a post on Microsoft’s own Feedback Hub claims the Game Pass version of Starfield is experiencing TDR (timeout detection and recovery) errors and crashes.

“After removing the update, the Starfield game ran normally,” the affected gamer observes.

However, Windows Latest further notes that it’s not sure if these Starfield performance issues could be related to Nvidia’s most recent GeForce driver, or to this Windows 11 cumulative update.

One Redditor certainly lays the blame at Microsoft’s door, saying: “It’s definitely a Windows update issue for me because I didn’t update my GeForce driver (I use the studio driver that is still at v536.99) but stupid me did the Windows update and now my PC is exhibiting all kinds of intermittent internet connection problems, lags, slow application startups, etc.”

Another Redditor claims: “Yes! I thought it was the new Nvidia driver I had installed at first, but then rolled it back and [the] issue [performance problem in Starfield] was still present. I then uninstalled update KB5030219 and issue was completely gone. Reinstalled the latest Nvidia driver again and it was fine. Not sure what they broke with that Windows update, but I won’t be reinstalling it until it has been addressed.”

Other reports from PC gamers include Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart misfiring with crashes and freezes.

A ship landing in Starfield

(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks)

Analysis: Return of the timeouts (sadly)

This is a surprisingly lengthy laundry list of serious issues across the board, really. We expect some rockiness to be experienced with any new patch, true, but this kind of level of apparent chaos is a poor show from Microsoft. The range of the glitches, and the performance hits in many cases – for gaming, and operation within the Windows 11 environment in general – make for a truly worrying state of affairs.

What doesn’t help is there’s no admission from Microsoft that there’s anything amiss here, at least not yet. In the supporting bumph for KB5030219, Microsoft simply states that it is “not currently aware of any issues with this update” and leaves it at that.

What’s extra disappointing for us here is that TDR errors were resolved in July, with the cumulative update for that month – so to see them apparently making a return already is a bit of a blow, to say the least.

Hopefully, Microsoft will be investigating the many outlined issues here, because clearly, something has gone awry with KB5030219 – to see this much disgruntled chatter around an update, and such a wide-ranging set of apparent problems, is definitely concerning.

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Google has a plan to save us from AI deepfakes during the US presidential race
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Amidst the rise of AI popularity, Google has decided that political ads that make use of artificial intelligence have to clearly disclose when imagery or audio has been manipulated synthetically. 

Campaigns that put out AI-generated ads on YouTube and any other Google platforms will have to show an obvious disclaimer that users are unlikely to miss, as reported by the Associated Press.

Experts have already been sounding off about the need for widespread regulation and the raising of awareness among the wider public ahead of elections, and it seems they're not the only ones with concerns. 

When and where the new policy will kick in

This political policy update was made by Google last week, with the policy officially kicking into effect in mid-November. Google also announced that it will adopt similar policies for campaign ads in time for elections in the European Union, India, South Africa, and other regions for which Google has a verification process in place. 

AI-generated and falsified media clips have become an everyday occurrence in political media, and generative AI tools are a new way to assist with that. Not only do these tools make it easier and faster to produce misinformation, they also enable bad actors to mimic speech or appearance in photos and videos more realistically. 

AI-generated video has already been used by the political campaign of one of the current forerunners for the Republican party in the US, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

DeSantis’ campaign put out an ad that depicted his GOP opponent and Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, positively embracing Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as one of the chief medical experts who advised Trump during the COVID pandemic. In a similar vein, the Republican National Committee (RNC) released a wholly AI-generated ad depicting what it imagines the future to be under Joe Biden. 

Looking at AI and deepfakes on a federal level

In an effort echoing Google’s new policies, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has begun looking at implementing regulation to moderate AI-generated ads such as ‘deepfakes’ (doctored videos and images of real people). Advocates on the issue say this should help steer voters away from misinformation. It’s easy to see how regulation of this sort could help – deepfakes can come in the form of political figures saying or doing things they never expressed in real life.

Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar is a co-sponsor of legislation that would demand similar requirements to Google’s policy law; potentially deceptive AI-generated political ads will have to include disclaimers disclosing the fact. Sen. Klobuchar commented on Google’s policy in a statement praising the company’s move but also stating that “we can’t solely rely on voluntary commitments.”

Multiple states have already passed or have begun discussing legislation to address deepfake technology. 

This new policy does not mean all use of AI by political campaigns is banned – there are notable exceptions for altering content in ways that don’t change the substance and content of the advert. For instance, this includes using AI tools for media editing and quality improvement purposes. It also will apply largely to YouTube, along with the rest of Google’s platforms, and whatever third-party sites exist within Google’s ad display network.

What are other tech giants' policies?

As of this week, Google is still the only platform to put a policy like this in place in what is probably a proactive effort. I expect other social media platforms will have to follow if their existing policy is insufficient, especially if more widespread legislation comes into place.

Meta, parent company of Instagram and Facebook, doesn’t have an AI-specific prescriptive policy but does have a general blanket policy against “faked, manipulated or transformed” audio and imagery for misinformation purposes. TikTok bans political ads altogether. The Associated Press reached out to X (formerly Twitter) last week for comment on the issue, but it seems the X team is a little busy just keeping the platform from falling apart and didn’t issue a comment. 

This is concerning. Right now, it’s still very much a wild west of sorts when it comes to the use of AI for political gains. I very much appreciate any proactive efforts, even by tech companies, because to me, it shows they’re thinking about the future – and not just capturing audiences in the present. 

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The Apple Vision Pro could already have a potential competitor – A cheaper headset from Meta
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The Apple Vision Pro has caused quite a stir since it was announced at WWDC 2023, and its odd-but-captivating design has prompted several competitors to begin development of their own premium AR headsets, including Meta. 

The rumors swirling around the supposed Meta headset suggest that the company has partnered with LG to launch the mixed reality device at some point in 2025, with pricing set lower than the staggering price point of $ 3,499 of the Apple Vision Pro. 

Wccftech reports that the potential headset will feature the same ‘Pro’ tag, with the official name said to be the Quest 4 Pro. The partnership between LG and Meta mirrors that of Apple and Sony, so we can expect LG to be in charge of display production. 

More choice is always welcome

With the potential launch date set for a few years from now, it seems likely that Meta intends to see how consumers take to the Apple Vision Pro. The report from Wccftech suggests that a cheaper model of Meta’s headset will retail for $ 200 in 2024, with the Quest 4 Pro following a year later at an undisclosed price. 

While there are still a lot of mixed feelings surrounding the Apple Vision Pro leading up to the launch, it could be a good sign that other tech companies are looking into offering cheaper alternatives. 

Apple may be able to argue that the high cost of its headset is a result of the premium design and features offered, but if competitors like Meta could jump on the wagon and provide something similar for cheaper, Apple should start feeling a little nervous. 

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YouTube hatches plan to protect your favorite musicians from AI copycats
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YouTube announced that it’s working with Universal Music Group (UMG) to create a new program that would ensure artists and rights holders would be properly compensated for AI music.

The program, called YouTube’s Music AI Incubator, will create a partnership with music industry talent like artists, songwriters, and producers to decide on how to proceed with the advent of AI music. According to YouTube, “In 2023 alone, there have been more than 1.7 billion views of videos related to AI tools on YouTube.” And the video hosting and streaming site is interested in harnessing that level of viewership.

UMG was most likely chosen as the first partner for this problem because of its reservations toward AI, most likely due to the issue of music being fed into algorithms to train it and then recreated into new songs without compensating any of the artists involved. 

And while UMG cracked down on AI music on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube through copyright strikes, pulling songs, and filtering out AI tracks, it also entered a partnership with artificial intelligence music company Endel earlier in 2023 to create AI-assisted music. This shows that it does have a willingness to work with AI, but on its terms.

AI

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Balancing rights with progress

According to Rolling Stone, UMG repeatedly stated that there’s potential for AI to assist artists in the song-making process. Music industry stakeholders, however, should draw a hard line on practices that infringe on artists' intellectual property and draw ears away from ‘real’ human-produced music.

It seems that YouTube also understands that desire to both use AI as a tool to assist artists, as well as set up structures that would guarantee permission and compensation for any music used to train these AI models. The official blog post discusses how YouTube has balanced protecting the rights of copyright holders with users over the years, as well as its content ID that “ensures rights holders get paid for use of their content and has generated billions for the industry over the years.”

YouTube also noted its existing policies that protect against “technically manipulated content” that could be used to mislead users or make false claims. And it’ll work to apply new standards to make sure AI isn’t used for “trademark and copyright abuse, misinformation, spam, and more.”

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan stated that “I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity of AI to supercharge creativity around the world, but recognize that YouTube and the promise of AI will only be successful if our partners are successful.” We’ll see how much that statement holds true, depending on the success of this program.

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Windows 10 gets some love from Microsoft with updated Photos app
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Despite concentrating on its latest version of Windows, it seems Microsoft is still keen to bring new features to the ageing Windows 10, with a revamped Photos app apparently coming soon.

After bringing the Windows Backup app to Windows 10, after initially only offering it to Windows 11 users, there's been a further indication that Microsoft will continue making features and apps that were originally thought to be only for Windows 11 also available for Windows 10.

The next such app to join the Windows Backup app is the modernized Photos app, as reported by Neowin and X (formerly Twitter) user @techosausrex. The early preview version of the app is now supported in Windows 10, giving a pretty solid nod that it will be released in a future Windows 10 update.

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The new Photos app for Windows 10

It has also apparently been somewhat confirmed by Microsoft as the current version of the Windows 10 Photos app now states that “a new update for the Photos app is coming soon with exciting enhancements,” as evidenced by Neowin.

What users can expect in the new Photos app is a more sophisticated interface, improvements to photo library management, better integration with OneDrive, a refined “Memories” feature, a multi-window capability and multi-screen usability, and upgraded abilities to import from external sources.  Another anticipated development is that the built-in video editor will be swapped out for Microsoft’s web-based video editor, Clipchamp. 

How to install the new Photos app

If you’d like to try the new Photos app for Windows app before it’s available in a future update, you can do so by following these steps: 

First, you need to go to https://store.rg-adguard.net. 

This will allow you to generate a direct link for the new Photos app from the Microsoft store. 

Second, make sure the first drop-down menu shows “URL (link)” and paste this link into the long middle URL box: 

https://www.microsoft.com/store/productid/9WZDNCRFJBH4 

Third, in the smaller drop-down box next to the URL box, select “Fast” and click the checkmark button directly next to it. 

Then, you may have to scroll down a bit (if you can’t see the long list of available links) which should show up in a table. You want to find the link that looks exactly like this: 

Microsoft.Windows.Photos_2023.11080.4003.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe.msixbundle

Next, you have to right-click this link and from the menu that appears, select Save link as. Allow for your device to download the file. 

Finally, you’ll want to open the file you just downloaded and click Update. This will prompt Windows 10 to update the app and allow you to open it. 

Woman using free video editing software on laptop

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Things for users to consider

It’s worth noting that the Windows 10 Photos updated app won’t work exactly like the Windows 11 version, at least for now. For instance, the Windows 11 Photos app allows for iCloud integration as the Windows 10 version doesn’t. Also, if you install the updated Photos app and find that you don’t like it as much as the older app, there’s an easy way to downgrade to the previous version. You can go to Settings in the Photos app and click the Get Photos Legacy button, and this should revert your Photos app.

I appreciate Microsoft’s approach to enable users to adjust their Windows experience to their liking, no matter what version they are using. If you like the older version of the operating system, you can get most apps and features in Windows 10 that you’d find in Windows 11. 

Microsoft’s continued support for Windows 10 by bringing new apps and features to the older operating system, despite the existence of Windows 11 (which the company clearly wants its users to upgrade to), is good to see, and hopefully will put pressure on other companies (especially Apple and Google) to continue to bring new features that are compatible with older operating systems.

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