In March, Windows president Pavan Davuluri confirmed his plans to Address serious “paint spots” in Windows 11 that have eroded user trust and generated a wave of negative sentiment around the operating system, generated by Microsoft’s relentless push towards AI and shittification while neglecting core Windows fundamentals such as performance and reliability.
Of course, what Microsoft says externally doesn’t always reflect what it really thinks internally, but in this case, my sources say the company is We’re serious about making Windows 11 a platform people are proud to use. By late 2026 and early 2027, Microsoft is striving to have Windows 11 in a much better place.
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Performance, craftsmanship and reliability
These are the three central pillars of the Windows K2 initiative.
These pillars are what drive the Windows experience. If one of these pillars is left behind, the entire product is affected. With Windows K2, Microsoft is working to ensure these three pillars are strong by addressing feedback directly from users and Insiders, analyzing telemetry data, and conducting focus groups with customers.
I have been told that K2 also looks inward, at the teams themselves. It’s not just about addressing feedback and fixing Windows 11, but also about how teams internally can better contribute code to the Windows product. I understand that there is a big internal cultural shift happening right now that is driving the K2 initiative.
In the past, Windows was obsessed with agility. I wanted to deliver new features as quickly and frequently as possible, but ultimately this came at the cost of quality and reliability. While teams were able to release new features quickly, users became frustrated with an operating system that never stopped and became increasingly problematic.
One of the biggest internal cultural changes I’ve heard about is that teams are no longer striving for fast shipping. The obsession with agility has been replaced by the obsession with quality. I understand that new features are now not allowed near public preview builds before reaching a certain quality bar internally, and while that bar has always existed, the bar is much higher now.
There is also a lesser-known fourth pillar: community. The Windows K2 initiative is eager to rebuild a community of fans and enthusiasts around Windows. It’s bringing back Windows Insider meetings and designating members of the Windows team to be more progressive on social media and in forums to respond directly to people’s comments online.
Performance and reliability
Performance is a top priority for the Windows K2 effort. In documentation seen by Windows Central, Microsoft is aware that it has let performance decline in apps like File Explorer and Games, as well as system UI elements like context menus. Windows 10 is often found to be faster than Windows 11 in certain benchmarks, and the company is taking steps to change this.
For games, Microsoft views Steam OS as a benchmark and is working to optimize the platform so that SteamOS and Windows gaming performance is comparable. In the next year or two, he believes Windows will be able to truly go toe-to-toe with SteamOS in gaming performance on identical hardware due to fundamental changes coming to the platform in the coming months.
File Explorer will also get major performance improvements, speeding up file browsing and processing and improving search speed within the File Explorer app, with capabilities like “instant file name search.” The company considers a third-party application called File Pilot as a benchmark for these improvements.
Windows Update will also be improved, with the goal of making Windows 11 reliable enough that a restart will only be necessary once a month. Also expected are internal changes designed to make Windows updating more seamless, such as only updating the display and audio drivers on reboot rather than during active use.
I’m told there’s also a concerted effort to unlock Windows 11, focusing on minimizing idle memory usage and reducing the operating system’s overall footprint so it runs better on lower-end hardware and smoother on high-end systems and portable gaming devices.
Craft and UI
Craft is also a big area of focus for K2, as it addresses user experience complaints and brings back fan-favorite features that have been missing since the start of Windows 11. Microsoft has already confirmed plans to bring back the ability to move and resize the taskbarone of Windows 11 most requested features.
The K2 initiative is also driving teams internally to lean more on their internal Windows UI framework. WinUI 3 is a core aspect of K2, with performance improvements in the works to ensure these native UI surfaces are faster and more reliable so they can be used in more areas of the system, even where legacy interfaces such as Run and Control Panel currently exist.
One of the ways I’m told this is happening is with a new System Composer for WinUI 3, which will reduce latency and memory overhead in the UI so that elements like the Start menu and the taskbar are always responsive and available to use, even under heavy system load.
In fact, with this new composer implemented, Microsoft is rebuilding the Start menu from the ground up with WinUI 3 natively. I’m told this new Start menu will be up to 60% faster and more responsive than the existing one, as well as being sporty. more customization options such as the ability to change its size and hide menu sections.
The K2 project also addresses some of the big issues surrounding enshittification. I’m told Microsoft is removing ads from the Start menu, which is no small feat from a financial perspective. It also plans to prevent MSN from appearing by default in the Widget Panel, prioritizing the Widget Panel with MSN as a secondary functionality rather than the primary one.
K2 evolves
Windows K2 has no end date. It is an ongoing initiative that essentially defines how Windows should be built and what should be prioritized in the future. The goal is to fix Windows 11 and reposition the platform as something people are proud to use and maintain consistently.
It’s a positive move that Windows desperately needs and is helping position the platform as a viable competitor in the future. The changes and improvements that are part of the Windows K2 initiative are already beginning to ship, and many more will ship in preview over the summer.
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