For decades, the Win + R keyboard shortcut has been an essential tool for Windows power users, a reflex ingrained in their daily routines. Many users instinctively type winword to launch Microsoft Word as soon as their PC boots up. Despite its practicality, the Run dialog has long been seen as a visual remnant from the Windows 95 era, lacking the sleek aesthetics of modern operating systems.
Recent reports from Windows Latest indicate that Microsoft is actively working on a modernized version of the Run dialog for Windows 11, featuring a streamlined design. This initiative has been confirmed through detailed engineering insights shared on Microsoft’s developer blogs.
The tech giant announced that the new Run dialog, crafted from the ground up using C# and WinUI 3, boasts an impressive median “time-to-show” of just 94 milliseconds. This achievement was presented as a significant performance improvement, surpassing the old Run dialog by 9 milliseconds. However, rather than receiving accolades, this announcement sparked an unexpected wave of backlash across social media platforms.
Critics, including armchair developers and gaming enthusiasts, took to X to ridicule the 94ms metric, arguing that such a delay is excessive in the computing realm. They pointed out that gaming monitors refresh every 8 milliseconds, and complex AAA titles can render entire 3D scenes within that same timeframe. To the casual observer, this comparison casts Microsoft’s engineering efforts in a less favorable light, raising questions about the time taken to display a simple text box.
Why the Windows 11 modern Run dialog backlash is completely baseless
This backlash stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of performance metrics in computing. It’s crucial to differentiate between Time to First Frame (TTFF) and Frames Per Second (FPS).
In a game like Cyberpunk 2077, rendering three frames in 94ms occurs under what is known as a “hot path” scenario. In this context, the game engine is fully loaded into the system’s RAM and VRAM, with the asset pipeline actively running and the graphics API already communicating with the GPU. This allows for rapid rendering of the next frame since the heavy lifting has already been accomplished.
Conversely, opening the Run dialog represents a “cold path” scenario. When the user presses Win + R, the operating system must intercept the keyboard input, allocate memory for a new application process, and load the necessary frameworks. The modern Run dialog, being a native WinUI 3 application, requires the OS to parse layouts, instantiate UI elements, and query user history before the Desktop Window Manager can render the window on the screen.
Completing this entire cold-path process in 94 milliseconds—a feat faster than the blink of an eye—demonstrates impressive software engineering. This efficiency is achieved through Microsoft’s use of .NET AOT (Ahead-of-Time) compilation, which allows the application to run with the speed of native code while maintaining the advantages of C#.
Thus, the uproar over the 94ms metric arises from a basic confusion between two distinct performance measures. Moreover, this criticism overlooks a critical piece of information shared by Microsoft:
The old Run dialog was slower.
Prior to the redesign, Microsoft collected telemetry data from the legacy Win32 Run dialog, which revealed a median time-to-show of 103ms across a substantial user base of 35 million. This means that the internet is expressing outrage over a new application that is not only richer in features but also faster than its predecessor.
The new Run dialog is a massive functional upgrade.
The foundation of the modern Run dialog draws inspiration from PowerToys Run, allowing Microsoft to refine the design based on community feedback over the years. Telemetry indicated that a mere 0.0038% of users ever clicked the “Browse” button, prompting a design that minimizes clutter and emphasizes keyboard-first navigation.
Additionally, users can now type ~ in the modern Run box to quickly access their user home directory, enabling seamless navigation through the file system akin to a command-line interface. The new design also includes full dark mode support, a welcome upgrade compared to the outdated File Explorer Properties dialog, which is also set to receive a WinUI 3 makeover.
Currently, the modern Run dialog is being gradually rolled out as an opt-in feature for Insiders in the Experimental Channel. Users on the latest build can explore this feature by navigating to Settings > System > Advanced and enabling the “Run dialog” option.
Microsoft’s endeavor to modernize the Run dialog replaces outdated code with a fast, AOT-compiled WinUI 3 application that aligns with contemporary design principles and enhances usability. While the online discourse may focus on milliseconds, the reality is that Windows is evolving for the better.
