14 DAY TRIAL // Paint hasn't dried yet on the new Windows 8.1 Update, but Microsoft is already working on a second pack of improvements for Windows 8.1, but also on an entirely new operating system very likely to be called Windows 9.
Microsoft hasn't talked too much about these new products, but we do know that they're both in development at this moment and according to an article published in the Seattle Times and spotted by Neowin, everyone within the company is working on the next Windows version.
The article, which actually describes the ascension of Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president and manager for Windows Phone Program Management at Microsoft, and David Treadwell, corporate vice president, Operating Systems group, also includes a reference to the next OS version prepared by Microsoft, pointing out that all engineering teams have been asked to participate to the project.
While such news might not be surprising given the company's One Microsoft reorganization plan, the source notes that “almost all of Microsoft's engineering teams — from Azure to Office, Bing to Skype — took part in the crafting of a priority memo prepared by Treadwell’s team that states what the company will be including in its next big release of Windows.”
Treadwell himself admitted in an interview for the aforementioned source that thanks to Microsoft's reorganization, things are far better right now and the internal divisions are working with each other easier than before.
“Before, there was a Windows team, a Windows Phone team, an Xbox team. While there was general agreement of the value of (having a) common core and consistency of design, there were organizational lines that we had to cross to achieve that. There just aren’t these barriers now,” he said.
As you can see, it's not clear whether the “next version of Windows” they're talking about is the upcoming Windows 8.1 Update 2 or the all-new Windows 9, but there's no doubt that something exciting is very likely to be announced soon.
Windows 9 is said to be in the works right now and a public beta could see daylight in the early days of 2015. According to leaked documents, the new OS version could launch in April 2015, approximately one year after the debut of Windows 8.1 Update.
Of course, Windows 9 is projected to bring quite a lot of improvements, including the addition of Cortana, Microsoft's personal assistant that's currently available on Windows Phone 8.1 but it is very likely to be released for tablets and PCs in the coming months.