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

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.