Cortana, IE Pushed Aside as Windows 11 Focuses on Features People Want

In the hype surrounding Microsoft's Windows 11 announcement, most of the focus has been on what's new. But according to the company's official specifications page for the operating system, quite a few features of Windows 10 will be going away as well, or at least being moved from the head of the class to the back of the room. The Cortana voice assistant will no longer be a part of the initial boot experience (hooray!) or pinned to the taskbar. Internet Explorer will come disabled by default (huzzah!) in favor of Edge. The Software-restricted S Mode will stick around, but now will be available only on Windows 11 Home, whereas previously it was also a part of Windows 10 Pro. For those with convertibles and slates, Tablet Mode is also going away (along with Live Tiles), to be replaced by "new functionality and capability" when a keyboard is attached or removed. Timeline, the feature meant to let you continue where you left off as you move across Windows devices (but mostly just felt like a creepy record of your Windows activity) is also going away, though Microsoft says "some similar functionality is available in Microsoft Edge." Lesser changes include the old version of the Snipping Tool being replaced by the newer Snip & Sketch (though apparently under the old name), Microsoft Wallet getting the axe (did literally anyone use that?) and Quick Status, which displayed info on the lock screen, getting the boot. The full list of Windows 11 "Feature depreciations and removals" can be found here. All in all, it looks like most of these changes and removals will likely be well received. But of course, much of the new Windows experience depends on what replaces the features and functionality that is going away. For much more on that, see our Windows 11: Everything You Need to Know story. 

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