14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft's massive job cuts, which is set to target 18,000 employees, will affect every single division within the company, including the Windows operating system business.
As we reported to you yesterday, Microsoft is reportedly planning to fire some Windows testers and ask product managers to learn new skills in order to streamline the development process of new operating systems and reduce the time needed to bring a new product from the company's labs to the market.
But it's this international reorganization the one that could actually slow down Windows development on the short term, which means that work on Windows 9 could be impacted and thus push the new operating system back for a few months.
Since yesterday's job cut news reached the web, we've heard from our readers that Microsoft is indeed doing the right thing by reducing its headcount, but given the fact that the company is now working to regain lost trust and bring back users who switched away due to Windows 8, timing might not be right.
According to previous rumors, which Microsoft has never confirmed because it didn't talk about Windows 9 until now, the next full Windows version is expected to be released in April 2015, obviously if development goes as planned.
Two different beta versions are said to be prepared for interested developers and testers, one of which could be released as soon as this year.
There are some voices, however, that pointed out that Windows 9 might actually be launched in mid-2015, with May or June more likely to witness the debut of the operating system. While the reason for the difference between these two dates is not known, it could actually represent Microsoft's safety net.
In case something bad happens when working on Windows 9, Microsoft might push Windows 9 back for a few months, and since no public announcement has been made, it would be really hard to call this a delay.
What's more, there are also some reports indicating that Microsoft is also working on a third update for Windows 8.1, which could be launched in early 2015 depending on the speed of Windows 9's development process. If the company needs more time to complete work on Windows 9, chances are that Windows 8.1 Update 3 could be released, otherwise the new OS version might see daylight at the scheduled date.
Keep in mind that these are all rumors and they should not be taken for granted, at least not until Microsoft provides us with more information on Windows 9.