Microsoft has officially unveiled Windows 11 this morning, which brings a visual overhaul along with new features and improvements to the operating system. Along with that, the company has also announced that Microsoft Teams will be directly integrated into the taskbar of the new version of Windows.
“Meetings are how many of us get work done, and we all have stories about talking on mute or needing to be sure everyone can see the presentation you’re sharing. To help, we have also created deeper integration with collaboration and communication apps like Microsoft Teams to make it easier to mute or unmute your mic or share your desktop or even a single application during a meeting directly from the desktop taskbar,” said Wangui McKelvey, General Manager, Microsoft 365.
The built-in Microsoft Teams experience in Windows 11 will be powered by the personal version of the app, making it easier for existing users to use it to connect with friends, family, and colleagues. It will let consumers start a chat or video calls directly from the Taskbar and quickly send messages, documents, images, and more. The new chat app will enable users to reach out to anyone globally on all platforms and devices.
In addition to Microsoft Teams integration with Windows 11, the software giant has also announced some under the hood changes that should make the app better on all platforms. Indeed, the desktop version of Teams is finally transitioning from Electron to Edge Webview2. “We are moving away from Electron to Edge Webview2. Teams will continue to remain a hybrid app but now it will be powered by #MicrosoftEdge. Also Angular is gone. We are now 100% on reactjs,” Rish Tandon, CVP of Microsoft Teams Engineering wrote on Twitter.
This change should bring some highly anticipated performance improvements for users, and Tandon noted that it should cut the memory consumption of Teams to half. Moreover, the new architecture will also help to bring significant changes to the Teams collaboration platform, including support for multiple accounts, reliable release cycles, work-life scenarios, and more.
Apparently, the new Microsoft Teams integration in Windows 11 will replace the built-in Skype experience in the operating system, and the chat app will come pinned to the Taskbar by default. Let us know in the comments below if you think this move will help Microsoft bring more users to Teams.