V11 introduced a colored diff-view: red for differences, green for matches. You could see exactly which rung of ladder logic differed between the offline project and the connected PLC before downloading.
For veteran engineers accustomed to the grey, utilitarian interface of Simatic Manager, V11’s colorful, icon-heavy, and ribbon-menu UI was a shock. The workflow was different. Concepts like "know-how protection" (encryption of function blocks) and "PLC data types" (UDTs) were handled differently than in legacy software. tia portal v11
While earlier versions supported the S7-1200, V11 was crucial in introducing support for the advanced controller series. The S7-1500 was designed specifically for the TIA Portal environment. V11 allowed engineers to leverage the advanced diagnostics, system functions, and motion control capabilities of these new CPUs, marking a shift away from the aging S7-300 platform. V11 introduced a colored diff-view: red for differences,
Despite the performance "stories," V11 introduced several concepts that are now industry standards: The workflow was different
Do not start a new project on V11. The benefits of modern versions (V16-V19) – performance, security, OPC UA, library handling, and especially S7-1500 V2.0+ firmware features – are too significant to ignore.