A little under a week after making it official, Microsoft Corp. has released the first insider preview edition of Windows 11 and has teased that the full release may be coming in October.

News that Microsoft was working on a new version of Windows came unexpectedly earlier this month when screenshots leaked showing that Microsoft did not intend to update Windows 10 but replace it instead. Windows 10, released in 2015, was said by some at Microsoft to be the last version of Windows ever to be released, with the company updating the operating system instead of bringing out new versions.

Windows 11 builds on the work Microsoft started in 2019 on a simplified version of Windows dubbed internally Windows 10X. Work on Windows 10X was reportedly abandoned in May, and though Windows 10X may never come to market, many of its design features appear in Windows 11.

The first Windows 11 Insider Preview build on the Microsoft Dev Channel, Build 22000.51, has been released to allow developers to try many, but not all, of the new features in the operating system.

In a blog post to the Windows Insider Blog, the new user interface is highlighted and described as offering “beautiful, fresh, calm visuals and sounds,” making it sound more like a tropical beach holiday than an operating system. “From rounded corners to the centering of content and new animations, this new visual design extends across multiple areas of Windows 11,” the new UI is said to offer.

As noted previously by Microsoft at the launch event, new features include a redesigned start button and taskbar, both centered on the screen, abandoning Microsoft’s left-centered focus introduced with Windows 95. The taskbar also contains a new notification center and quick settings to make navigation faster for users. File Explorer has had a makeover with what Microsoft describes as a modern, clean look and brand-new command bar, while Windows will also offer support for themes, including both a dark and a light mode.

The date of the full release of Windows 11 remains open to speculation. Microsoft had previously said that it would be coming for the holidays, suggesting the Christmas-to-New Year period, but The Verge reported that the date may be Oct. 20. The evidence is apparently in press images for Windows 11, which shows the Oct. 20 date in the taskbar alongside the time set to 11:11 a.m.

Image: Microsoft