Microsoft Execs Push Back On Windows 11's Modern Registry Editor Hysteria

You may have seen reports around the web that Microsoft is going to replace the simultaneously beloved-and-beloathed Windows Registry Editor with a new version based on the WinUI 3 native UI framework, including screenshots like the one below. These stories are in fact mistaken, and Microsoft has no plans to replace "regedit" at this time.

Apparently Windows Latest got a bit overeager when it discovered a sample registry editor application in Microsoft's open-source Reactor repository. The site's managing editor grabbed the source and built the application himself, showcasing it as "Microsoft's new WinUI 3 Registry Editor".


This got him in some hot water with Scott Hanselman and Marcus Ash, both important guys at Microsoft. Hanselman is a VP over many developer-focused areas at Microsoft, while Marcus Ash is CVP of Design & Research. These aren't front-line mooks; Windows Latest annoyed some pretty high-ranking honchos.

Hanselman reacted to Windows Latest's tweet with an angry GIF, complaining "It's a sample. You say it's the new one and and then in the last line of the tweet you point out it's a sample"; technically untrue, as Windows Latest's Abhijith does say the app is a "developer sample preview" in the very first line. However, he does also say that the app is "Microsoft's new WinUI 3 Registry Editor", without establishing that it's not necessarily ever intended for release until the last lines of the tweet.


As for the app itself, it appears to be a simple proof of concept for a registry editor written for WinUI 3. It's fairly unremarkable, as you'd expect for such a project, although that didn't stop social media users from railing against the redesign, as seen below. The reaction is understandable; as a well-established Windows 11 hater myself, it's completely believable that Microsoft would aim to replace a perfectly functional legacy app with an inferior alternative.


That's not what's actually happening here, though, so this is a bit 'much ado about nothing', given that Windows Latest did acknowledge both that Microsoft hasn't announced plans to replace the Registry Editor, and also that the app is a developer sample. Still, it's a reminder to those of us in the industry that even the most corporate of corporations is made up of real people who really read our reporting.