14 DAY TRIAL // There are several new features coming in Windows 9 and one of them is the virtual desktop option that allows users to better manage running apps on their computer and organize their work better.
This is one of the most requested features on Windows, but although it’s already available in other operating systems, such as Linux, since a few years ago, Microsoft delayed its official launch until Windows 9.
As you most likely know if you’re a Microsoft enthusiast, the first pack of screenshots showing Windows 9 in action leaked a couple of days ago, revealing and confirming lots of new features that are expected to be part of the upcoming operating system.
Among them there’s also a multiple/virtual desktop option that exists in the current testing builds and is already being tried out by some of Microsoft’s partners who received them.
Easy management from the taskbar
As you can see for yourselves in the video below, Windows 9’s virtual desktops feature will be easily accessible from the taskbar thanks to a brand new dedicated icon. It’s not yet clear what happens if you remove this icon, but the company is also expected to introduce keyboard shortcuts as well.
Clicking on the taskbar icon launches the multiple desktop screen, which looks very similar to the classic ALT+TAB app switcher, allowing you to choose any of the active desktops and switch to it with just one click.
A preview is also offered, along with the running apps, and you’re allowed not only to quickly close any of the desktops, but also the programs that are running on it.
At this point, nobody knows for sure if there’s a maximum limit of desktops implemented in Windows 9, but this is very likely especially when thinking about the impact on system performance.
Could launch in Windows 9 preview
Microsoft is projected to launch the first Windows 9 preview build later this month and from what we’ve heard, the virtual desktops feature is very likely to be included as well.
While many of the new options that Microsoft wants to implement in Windows 9 might actually be locked in the preview, this is not the case of virtual desktops, as the company wants feedback as soon as possible in order to improve it as much as possible before the public launch.
Windows 9 preview will see daylight in late September, but the full version of the operating system should launch in April 2015, approximately one year after the debut of Windows 8.1 Update.
Full information about this new project shall be provided by Microsoft itself in a press event scheduled for September 30.
