Windows 11 will bring three basic visual effects (or, as Microsoft says, materials). Mica repaints part of the window according to the background color, Acrylic creates a frosted glass effect (blurs the meaning of transparent and translucent), and Smoke darkens the background to make an important announcement stand out better.
visual effects (“materials”) Windows 11 (from left): Acrylic, Mica, Smoke
Of course, there are also classic effects such as shadows and, unlike Windows 10, so-called round corners. However, Microsoft believes that visual effects could cause some users to worry about performance requirements or the visual smoothness of such a solution. The company’s official statement probably has doubts to dispel:
| Performance is really our top priority and we want to assure you that all the new fun functionality (Mica and rounded corners) is super fast and won’t affect [chod] OS. For example, the Mica is specifically designed for higher performance than things like Acrylic. […] We’ve optimized performance for rounded corners, so you shouldn’t notice any difference from square corners. |
Microsoft also tried to refute the allegation that Windows 11 was visually copying the Mac OS.
To be fair, to say that whoever resembles the transition of Windows 10 to Windows 11 from square to round corners is probably Mac OS, then probably doesn’t remember much, as all versions of Windows released in the last ~ 20 years except Windows 10 had round corners. From this point of view, it is more of a return from tiles to coloring books. On the other hand, when it comes to the centered start panel, Microsoft can say whatever it wants, but (politely speaking) it won’t disprove the inspiration in Mac OS, which looked like this 20 years ago.
The very assurance of the slow-motion and smooth rendering of round corners, which Windows XP already had> 20 years ago and which did not cause problems even to the older graphics hardware at the time, seems a bit funny today. Similarly, effects with transparency / translucency, which have been widely used by Windows Vista (which will be 11 years old at a time when it is widely available).
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