Microsoft unveils Project Zenith: distraction-free Windows 11 for local AI development

Microsoft's Project Zenith is a "distraction-free Windows experience" for developers

Microsoft is giving its developer-optimized Windows experience a name: Project Zenith. While the software maker originally announced a similar developer-optimized Windows effort at Build earlier this year, Project Zenith is designed for new developer-focused devices with 64GB or more of unified memory. "Project Zenith devices come with a preconfigured Windows setup for development and a set of tools curated for what developers reach for first," explains Logan Iyer, CVP of Windows platform and developer at Microsoft. "On these devices, developers can run 30B+ parameter models locally and unmetered -- accelerating experimentation while helping reduce reliance on metered cloud tokens." AMD announced the first Project Zenith device on stage at IFA earlier today, a miniature PC powered by Ryzen AI Halo chips. There will be more Project Zenith devices "in the coming months," including ones with different silicon. These Project Zenith devices will include pre-installed developer tools like Visual Studio Code, GitHub Copilot, PowerToys, WinAppCLI, and Windows Dev Skills. The File Explorer has also been configured to show file extensions, hidden files, and the full path in the title bar. Microsoft has also disabled recently used files and folders and sync provider tips, as well as enabling long-path support. Start menu tips and account notifications are also turned off, and the PowerToys Command Palette is enabled by default. Some of these changes feel like ones that should just be enabled by default on every Windows 11 install, particularly anything that removes the annoying distractions in the operating system. Microsoft has been on a mission this year to greatly improve Windows 11, and Project Zenith is the developer-side effort. "Project Zenith is the result of listening to developers about what they need from Windows today, and where they want the platform to go next," says Iyer. "As AI continues to transform software development, we are committed to evolving Windows alongside the community that builds on it."

Microsoft announces Project Zenith, a clutter-free Windows experience meant to entice developers - Engadget

Continuing the trend of trying to make Windows 11 suck less, Microsoft today announced Project Zenith, a new "ready-to-code distraction free Windows experience" for powerful developer hardware with 64GB of RAM and gobs of memory bandwidth. Project Zenith will first be available on AMD's Ryzen AI Halo mini-desktop at first, with more devices to follow. Clearly, the focus is on local AI development -- a timely move as cloud AI token costs start to rise. Microsoft's Windows Platform CVP Logan Ayer says Project Zenith will let developers "run 30B+ parameter models locally and unmetered." The goal, really, is to cut the crud out of Windows to create a more Linux-like experience. Ayer says Project Zenith will have tools for multiple languages and runtimes pre-installed, and Windows itself will be more developer-friendly from the get go, with settings like full file extensions and hidden files enabled by default. "Project Zenith is not about prescribing a single workflow," Ayer wrote in a blog post today. "You can continue to configure, extend, and personalize your environment around the tools, languages, and frameworks you prefer. It is about beginning from a better baseline, shaped by the settings and tools developers reach for first, so a new device works with you to accelerate your workflows." While it's nice to see Microsoft making Windows 11 more streamlined, continuing the efforts it announced earlier this year by removing forced Copilot AI integration, it's strange to see Project Zenith restricted to incredibly expensive developer hardware. I'm sure many indie developers would love to have a cleaner version of Windows, but demanding 64GB of RAM in the age of the RAMaggedon seems inexcusable. (Especially because Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI and its overall AI push is a big reason memory prices have skyrocketed.)

Microsoft finally admits Windows 11 needs a serious cleanup, but the update is reserved for developers only

A lifelong musician, Hamed plays multiple instruments, including guitar, bass, and oud. He is equally fascinated by smart-home technology and can happily spend hours geeking out over connected lights, speakers, sensors, and automations that make everyday life a little more interesting. When he isn't covering the latest tech news, he explores more creative topics on his Medium blog, works on his music, or clears his head by riding his motorcycle. * Project Zenith is a ready-to-code Windows 11 experience, decluttered and preconfigured with dev tools like VS Code and Terminal. * It comes preinstalled on AMD Ryzen AI Halo PCs with at least 64GB unified memory and 250GB/s bandwidth. * It's not a new version, but rather a preconfigured Windows 11; most settings are replicable via Windows Developer Config. The market for AI work is hot, as we've previously seen with a surge in local LLM builds on Apple Silicon Mac Minis. Now Microsoft is targeting developers and people handling demanding AI workloads with Project Zenith, hoping to strengthen Windows' appeal as an alternative to macOS-based development setups. Project Zenith is a new "ready-to-code" Windows 11 experience designed to remove distractions and come preconfigured with tools developers would typically install themselves. According to Microsoft's official announcement, Project Zenith will first become available on devices powered by AMD Ryzen AI Halo before expanding to hardware from other chipmakers and PC manufacturers. Despite the badass name, Project Zenith is not a new Windows edition. It is still the same Windows 11 available elsewhere; Microsoft and its hardware partners simply configure it differently before handing it to the buyer. A Windows 11 with some sensible defaults But only reserved for exceptionally powerful PCs In order to qualify to run Project Zenith, a PC must come with at least 64GB of unified memory and 250GB/s of memory bandwidth. Microsoft says that hardware will let developers run AI models with more than 30 billion parameters locally without burning through cloud tokens. The interesting part, however, is what Microsoft has done to Windows itself. With Project Zenith preconfigurations, File Explorer shows file extensions, hidden files, the complete folder path, and its "Details" pane by default. Long-path support is enabled, and things like recently used files and sync-provider tips are toggled off. What's more, Microsoft enables Command Palette and disables Start menu tips and account notifications. I think this is Microsoft finally admitting that Windows 11 feels better with some of its annoying features removed. You can already make the regular Start menu considerably cleaner by disabling every suggestion, but Zenith machines ship that way. Other changes include Windows Terminal and Visual Studio Code being pinned to the taskbar. You can also expect runtimes, source-control utilities, and some other developer tools preinstalled on Zenith. PowerToys is a worthy mention in the list of preinstalled tools, especially as Microsoft continues giving it quality-of-life features that Windows itself still lacks. Project Zenith also fits a wider cleanup effort inside Microsoft. The company recently stripped unnecessary tools from the Windows 11 Photos viewer to make it faster and less distracting. That said, limiting its most thoughtfully configured Windows experience to premium developer hardware is a rather odd choice when the clutter has nothing to do with RAM or memory bandwidth. The good news is that you don't actually need a Project Zenith flagship computer to reproduce most of its software experience. Microsoft's open-source Windows Developer Config uses WinGet Configuration to install common development tools, configure WSL, enable developer-focused features, and turn off several Windows distractions on pretty much any PC.