Microsoft is prioritizing memory management and performance improvements for the WinUI framework before rewriting core Windows 11 components like the Start menu and Agenda view in native code. The company plans to move WinUI to the Windows system compositor and has already made significant investments in reducing RAM usage. The current Start menu's All apps list and Recommended feed are built using React Native, contributing to performance issues that Microsoft aims to address before transitioning more components to WinUI.
Enterprise developers have been hesitant to adopt WinUI due to performance concerns and missing features, including inadequate system tray implementation and limited data controls. Microsoft is adding built-in DataGrid and Charting controls to reduce dependence on separate libraries and encourage enterprise adoption. The company is also dropping the version number from WinUI to signal its long-term commitment and assure developers that no new framework will replace it.
Microsoft acknowledges that framework overhead negatively affects Windows performance, and optimizing WinUI is necessary before shipping more first-party features built on the native framework. The company is internally testing memory usage, performance, and reliability fixes ahead of the Start menu rewrite, which should reduce stuttering on low-end hardware and lower overall RAM consumption. While exact performance metrics remain undisclosed, Microsoft aims to address feature gaps and demonstrate its commitment to WinUI's future development. The improvements are expected to benefit both system performance and third-party application development.
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