Microsoft would like to bring widgets back to the Windows 11 desktop. Getting started with a Bing Search box

Proposed as an optional update for less attentive users, the new feature brings “interactive content” to the Windows 11 desktop.

In fact, the novelty is just a widget not very different from those used and then abandoned, since the time of Windows Vista (2007). The difference is that now practically everyone owns at least one smartphone and the concept of widgets is no longer so foreign, all that remains is for Microsoft to somehow manage to give them a utility on the format of desktop PCs.

The good news is that the interface for the Bing search engine, superimposed over Windows wallpaper, can be removed relatively easily, if you know how. Thus, users of the latest versions of Windows 11 preview can solve the “problem” by right-clicking on the desktop, followed by selecting the Show more options + Show search option. After checking / unchecking this option, you will also need to restart your PC for the changes to take effect.

Somewhat funny is that the goal that Microsoft wants will most likely not be achieved anyway. Unlike 2007, most Windows users now spend most of their time using the web browser. And since it already offers a search feature in the most convenient location possible – the address bar, adding another widget to your Windows desktop has little chance of convincing users to use a web browser other than the one they’re already familiar with. . Nor does the argument of attracting users to the Edge browser weigh too heavily, since displaying search results on the Windows 11 desktop is met with the same damaging strategy, in which redirecting users to an unfamiliar web browser will hit inevitably rejecting it, in favor of the already familiar solution.

For now, it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will go further with “officializing” this experiment, risking even more dislike from users who have accepted the Windows 11 upgrade without much conviction.