Microsoft Windows 11 will see its first major update of 2022 in July and it will allow third-party developers to publish widgets
In the first major update of 2022, Microsoft Windows 11 will finally allow third-party developers to publish widgets in the Microsoft Store. The update, codenamed Sun Valley 2, is likely to be released in July 2022 to mark the one-year anniversary of Windows 11.
While the update also brings a bunch of new upgrades and features, the one that gets the most talk is the third-party widgets. This information was given by the official FireCube Studios Twitter account. Highlighting the details of the update, the tweet reads, “Information about third-party add-ons, publishing add-ons, and more. It looks like Microsoft will be officially announcing third-party widgets soon.”
Windows 11 Update: Third-party utilities and more
Widgets have always been an area of great potential for Microsoft. But so far, Microsoft Windows 11 only supports widgets produced by the company. Currently, the Widgets available in Windows 11 include weather, news, and traffic in addition to functions of general interest such as displaying items from Outlook, Photo Gallery, and to-do lists.
But with this new update, widgets can become a lot more useful and users can have more options to choose their favorite widgets. Moreover, this will give the entire developer community a new impetus as they will be able to build custom widgets based on different user segments.
In addition, the Microsoft Windows 11 update will also see some quality of life changes such as drag and drop support for the taskbar and the ability to lock the taskbar to different edges of the screen. Currently, the taskbar is locked at the bottom of the screen and cannot be moved elsewhere, which is a complaint of many users. With this new update, it looks like Microsoft is listening to the feedback.
There are quite a few customization options that also come to you with this latest update. Users will now be able to pin more apps to the Start menu. Users can also pin recommendations to the Start menu. It is also expected that the update will include improvements to the Windows Subsystem for Android and the management of snap groups. The update will also feature many bug fixes and backend tweaks to make using Windows 11 faster and experience a more seamless experience.
