The company is looking for new developers to improve Windows code

Jun 17, 2014 06:19 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is looking for a new software development engineer that could help improve the Windows code and replace what the company calls “longstanding pieces of code” to accelerate development.

While the job ad, which was first spotted by Neowin, doesn't tell much about this new project, it does reveal that Microsoft might be planning some pretty important changes to the Windows code, which in the end could lead to several new options and an improved UI in the next full Windows release.

Microsoft says that the new software development engineer would work on “a product that you use every day, and can make it better,” suggesting that Windows is indeed the target of this new project.

At the same time, the company explains that the developer will work on “UI surface that are so ubiquitous that even your mom will understand what you work on.”

Reading between the lines, this might actually be a different way of saying that Microsoft is working to make modern Windows a bit more intuitive and easier to use, as many people described Windows 8 as a confusing platform that made it difficult to perform simple tasks, such as shutting down the computer.

Windows 9 could be the operating system that might benefit from this entirely new approach, with sources close to the matter suggesting that the next full Windows version could come out as soon as April 2015. Windows 9 is also projected to include some pretty important features, including the Start menu and a desktop version of Cortana, Microsoft's very own personal assistant that's currently available on Windows Phone 8.1.

Here's the job description posted by Microsoft on its Careers website, along with some of the responsibilities of the new employee:

“As a developer on the team you will be responsible for leading the creation of high-quality architecture, design, and implementation of top-level Windows UI surfaces. You will collaboratively make product decisions on how best to deliver on our customer promises and scenarios.

You will make engineering decisions to either iterate on legacy UI components or to replace/refactor longstanding pieces of code with new code in new frameworks (such as XAML) to accelerate development. You will figure out how to make UI testable and measurable to allow more agile iteration while maintaining high self-host quality.”

Microsoft obviously remains tight-lipped on what's going to be changed in the Windows code, but expect more details to be unveiled soon, as work on the next full Windows release continues.