Microsoft’s Windows 11 ads usually feature a beautifully designed OS with blooming wallpapers and fluent designs. Unfortunately, in real life, the 2nd most popular OS doesn’t look anywhere close to what Microsoft’s marketing department wishes it to be. However, the company was planning to introduce two really interesting customization features.
And now, it seems like Microsoft added another nail in the coffin of cool customization features that never see the light of the day.
In March 2023, Albacore, a well-known Microsoft watcher found a setting in a pre-release Windows Insider Build that enables a user to add depth effects to their desktop wallpaper.
As seen in the post, the option was found under Settings > Personalization > Background, where Microsoft added a “Depth effects” toggle with the description “When available, use AI to add depth effects to background images”.
Considering AI was all the rage a couple of years ago (and still is), it was only wise of Microsoft to add AI customization features to Windows 11.
A few months prior to this discovery, Apple showcased its “depth effect” to its lock screen customization suite in iOS 16. It was so well received that most Android manufacturers were quick to follow suit.
Microsoft’s AI Depth Effect for Windows 11 Desktop Background
From the looks of it, Microsoft too didn’t wait to ask its developers to enable a similar feature.
Just two months later, Albacore managed to get an app-hosted demo of Microsoft’s AI depth effect on a Windows wallpaper. AI-based layer segmentation gives the image an illusion of depth as you hover the mouse pointer over it. Tablets with accelerometers and gyroscopes get sensor-based parallax effects too.
The effect was only available for a few backgrounds and the tech to enable this already existed, though it wasn’t easy.
Windows Latest had also seen references to the feature and by now, the depth effect should have already turned up on Copilot+ PCs with dedicated NPU. However, the lack of any sign of this feature leads us to believe that Microsoft likely canceled the project for reasons unknown at the moment.
Even as Microsoft is leaning heavily on AI to improve its market share, it’s sad to see basic AI customization features like depth effect getting canceled.
Dynamic Wallpapers
Microsoft didn’t stop here with its pursuit of canceling cool customization features, as they also put an end to the development of the crowd’s favorite dynamic wallpapers.
Microsoft Designer shared a Behance profile link that flaunted the Windows 11 dynamic wallpapers feature, but was soon taken down.
The feature was originally intended for Microsoft’s educational users who likely use low-cost hardware. The idea was to get the users interested in the new centered Start menu and Taskbar, using dynamic wallpapers with elements that bloomed from the center.
Live wallpapers or dynamic wallpapers are essentially looped animations of abstract objects. The Windows Creative Direction team also gave dark and light versions of each of the wallpapers to make customization feel more personal.
Did Microsoft cancel Windows 11 dynamic wallpapers?
Albacore mentions that the dynamic wallpapers feature was part of Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2, but was scrapped from Windows 11 24H2. Apparently, the feature was almost ready to roll out but didn’t make the cut yet again, for reasons known only to Microsoft.
These same system components also powered the AI depth effect that Microsoft seemingly canceled.
The whole smartphone landscape is focusing on AI-powered features that have little to no impact on users’ productivity. So, Microsoft’s decision to cancel such customization features may be another attempt to clear the path for the company’s plans to build productivity features.
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