Windows 11 gets a fresh Start in latest Canary build

Meanwhile, Microsoft resurrects Edit and kills .NET 3.5 SP1 on demand

It's taken a while, but Microsoft has finally made its redesigned Start menu available to Canary Channel Windows Insiders, while also removing .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 as a Feature On Demand, and adding Edit, the command-line text editor.

The Start menu is the most eye-catching development and represents a long-overdue update for Canary Channel testers. After all, it turned up in the Dev Channel for Windows Insiders in June.

There remains no "make it work like it did before Windows 11 messed everything up" option, but the Start menu has grown for users with the screen real estate to accommodate it, and gained additional options, such as a category view to group applications. There is also integration with Phone Link via a collapsible page opened with a mobile device button next to the Search box, although European Economic Area (EEA) users will have to wait until later in 2025 to access the iOS and Android device options.

More notable for administrators is that .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 has been removed from the list of Features On Demand.

Support for this component began on November 19, 2007, and is set to continue until January 9, 2029. The component is a relic from a bygone era, with support for long-retired operating systems, including Vista and Windows 7.

From Windows 10 1809 and Windows Server 2019, .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 was defined as a standalone product with five years of mainstream support followed by five years of extended support.

Although newer iterations of the .NET Framework are now superseded, 3.5 SP1 has remained supported, largely due to the number of legacy applications that depend on it. Microsoft said: "Customers running business-critical applications that still depend on .NET Framework 3.5 can access a .NET Framework 3.5 standalone installer located here."

Also in build 27965 is the welcome arrival of the command-line text editor, Edit. Microsoft showed off a revival of the tool at its Build conference in May, and it was a welcome blast from the past in an era where simple text editing tools appear unable to escape needless AI features (yes, Notepad, we're looking at you). Previously a download, Edit is now delivered with Windows, ushering in an era of lightweight text editing we haven't seen for several versions of the OS.

Now, if only a retro version of the Start menu were also available. PROGMAN.EXE anyone? ®