14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 9 rumors have been swirling around for months, but nobody knows exactly for sure when this new operating system is expected to come out, even though people familiar with the matter indicate that early 2015 is a likely release date.
Now according to a new report, Windows Threshold, which might or might not hit the market with the Windows 9 designation, is very likely to bring some pretty significant changes in terms of licensing costs, as the company is pondering a completely new strategy to bring users to its modern operating system.
Basically, Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet is reporting via unofficial sources that Windows Threshold/9 might be offered completely free of charge to those running Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows 8.1 Update.
This would obviously be supposed to boost the adoption of Microsoft's modern operating system, even though Redmond no longer wants to get people on Windows 8.
At this point, Foley reports, Microsoft's key priority is to convince users to install Windows 7 Service Pack 1, in case they're still running Windows 7, or Windows 8.1 Update, if they are on Windows 8 or 8.1. If this happens, the company would then try to push them to Windows 9 when it becomes available.
Windows 9 is obviously expected to bring some pretty big changes to Windows users, including a brand new Start menu, but also a desktop version of Cortana, the company's personal assistant available on Windows Phone 8.1. Microsoft has already confirmed that Cortana is coming to desktop and Windows 9 would clearly be the perfect timing for this to happen.
People familiar with Microsoft's plans previously revealed that Windows 9 could arrive in April 2015, while others pointed to May or June the same year as dates that are more likely to witness the introduction of a new operating system.
At the same time, unconfirmed rumors indicated that Redmond might also introduce two different preview versions of this operating system before launch, obviously in an attempt to collect feedback and get in touch with users on some potential changes to the operating system.
Some sources have even claimed that Windows 9 beta might be on the stage of the Worldwide Partner Conference kicking off later this month, but Microsoft is yet to confirm its product lineup to be presented at the show.
In the meantime, just take everything with a pinch of salt and let's wait for Microsoft to provide some official tidbits on its new Windows operating system.