So I have been beta testing the new phone side bar and have some thoughts on the subject.

First off, I truly believe that a side bar does in fact showcase a missing part in a traditional windows 11 start menu. The start menu has always seemed to be missing a certain something. Having the sidebar does make the start menu look more complete.

Second, stardocks windows pro style does in fact have a really useful sidebar. Perhaps, the folder options on a sidebar is more useful then a phone link. This has been a great idea by stardock.

However, Microsofts gui and color scheme does beat start 11's pro style gui. I really like the detached sidebar look a lot. Also, having the sidebar the same color as the rest of the menu looks better to me as well. Microsofts sidebar looks great.

So basically, stardock wins in usability, but Microsoft wins in design. I would like to see start 11 update their side bar here.

Additional notes, I do kind of like the phone shortcut on the sidebar. Phone integration on Windows 11 has come a long way. But, I am not sure it deserves the whole sidebars space. A mix of folders and phone intigration would be the best of both worlds in my opinion.