Microsoft confirms Windows 11’s File Explorer Properties dialog is a real WinUI rebuild, and more legacy dialogs are moving to WinUI next.
Microsoft says that their plan is to convert more Windows UI elements to WinUI3, while confirming that the new File Explorer Properties dialog was rebuilt from scratch in WinUI, and not just a fresh coat of paint.
Windows 11 has felt inconsistent for a while now. Modern panels are right next to decades-old dialogs, RAM usage keeps creeping up in apps that are supposed to be native, and popular Windows apps keep turning into web wrappers because developers don’t trust Microsoft to stick with a UI framework.
I think we’re already at the point where Linux is more compatible with Windows software than Windows itself is.
The other day I tried installing Star Wars Dark Forces 2 from disk, complete with a ‘windows 95/98 compatible’ blurb on it. Heroic launcher got the installer running without issue and within a few minutes it was playing.
I ended up using the Openjkdf2 engine instead for some nice quality of life improvements, but it was still quite something to see Linux run a piece of software from 1997 so effortlessly.
Long past, if you consider compatibility with older software. ironically, linux is also more compatible with windows software than it is with linux software themselves :D