Summary
Windows 11 limits Taskbar customization—moving it to the screen sides is missing.
Microsoft may restore Taskbar side-placement as it shifts focus to Windows 11 maintenance.
Ex-Microsoft exec Mikhail Parakhin says he fought to keep Taskbar options; macOS copied the Taskbar.
If you ask me what my biggest complaint with Windows 11 is, it’s that it doesn’t give you a lot of options to customize the Taskbar. Now, I have never coded a programming language before, nor will I probably ever, but I don’t feel likecoding up a feature that allows people to move the Taskbar to whatever side of the screen they like isn’t particularly resource-intensive for Microsoft.
Fortunately, if the rumors are true, it seems that Microsoft is actually re-adding the old Taskbar options back to the Windows 11 version. And yes, this is something worth hearing rumors about, even if it’s pretty insubstantial. Well, it turns out that not all of Microsoft supported the idea of locking down the Taskbar, as an old Microsoft head has claimed that they were a big supporter of allowing people to place the Taskbar on any side they like.
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Mikhail Parakhin says they “fought hard against the decision” to take away Taskbar management
It’s reassuring to hear that it was a controversial decision, at least
As spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft’s ex CEO of Advertising and Web Services, Mikhail Parakhin, heard the news about Microsoft potentially re-adding the option to change the Taskbar location on Windows 11. They took to X to say that, while Microsoft wanted to scrap the Taskbar customization options, they would have preferred it to stick around. They even claim that macOS “copied” the Taskbar customization options from Windows, which had been around since the 95 era.
Fortunately for Mikhail, Microsoft is reportedly changing gears from an AI-first approach to a Windows 11 maintenance session. People haven’t been pleased with Windows 11’s performance and stability lately, and it seems that Microsoft has taken note. If this report is true, then it makes total sense that Microsoft has suddenly gained interest in adding the Taskbar controls. After all, if they’re trying to do damage control after the latest headline-defining updates that Windows 11 has gone through, adding a much-requested feature is a great way to do that.
If you’d rather not wait for Microsoft to implement the change and want to take matters into your own hands, there are plenty of tools out there that you can use. Check out these apps you can use to customize your Windows 11 PC for some inspiration.