14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is set to break the news on Windows 9 next week, during a press event in San Francisco, and although lots of details have surfaced in the last couple of months, it appears that there’s more to come from the world’s number one software giant.
As we’ve reported to you earlier today, the President of Microsoft France confirmed during a local press event that the company would unveil Windows 9 in just a few days, hinting that the September 30 event that Microsoft has started sending out invites for would indeed be used for the public debut of the next OS version.
Now a new statement provided by a company spokesperson to the French version of ZDNet confirms that the next week event is all about the future of Windows, but also adds something that’s as interesting as it is surprising.
“We look forward to seeing you in late September, in San Francisco, for the future of Windows, which actually at this stage does not have a name as such,” the company spokesperson says.
Windows 9 could launch as just Windows
Although it’s a bit odd that Microsoft hasn’t yet decided on a name for the next version of Windows given the fact that we’re only days away from the public debut of the first beta, this could also be a sign that a change of strategy is indeed planned.
Previous reports on Windows 9 indicated that Microsoft might actually drop the numbering naming scheme and go for a much simpler name that would help capitalize on the popularity of the desktop operating system.
Windows 9 could thus launch just as Windows, with Microsoft thinking about using the very same name for all the other platforms, including smartphones and tablets.
The existing testing builds of Windows 9 are called Windows Technical Preview, and this could be another confirmation that the numbering naming could be abandoned from now on.
Large updates instead of new OS releases
The new name of the operating system could help Microsoft switch from launching new stand-alone operating systems to an approach that focuses exclusively on large OS updates delivered on a regular basis.
Sources close to the matter claim that Microsoft is currently considering this strategy, and in case it indeed renames the operating system to just Windows, large OS updates instead of stand-alone releases, as is the case of Mac OS X, could indeed become a priority.
More information, however, will be provided next week, when Microsoft will talk about Windows 9 for the very first time, but also in early October, when the preview will become available for everyone.