14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 9 is probably the only thing in the world that could really give Microsoft’s modern operating system a chance to succeed, especially after the dramatic fall of the famous desktop platform experienced after the launch of Windows 8.
Approximately 10 percent of computers worldwide are currently running Windows 8 and 8.1, which isn’t quite the best result for Microsoft more than one year after the launch of its modern operating system.
Windows 9, however, will arrive in about one year, which could be an indication that Microsoft itself is aware of the slow uptake of Windows 8 and 8.1 and wants to tackle it aggressively with the release of a new full release.
No confirmed information about Windows 9 is available right now, but plenty of details reached our ears via unofficial channels, with Microsoft expected to break the news on Windows 9 in April at the BUILD developer conference.
In the meantime, we only heard unconfirmed details about Windows 9, so take everything here with a pinch of salt until April when Microsoft should officially share more on its future OS version.
First of all, Windows 9 isn’t going to be free. While everybody would clearly love that, this isn’t going to happen, especially because both Windows and Office are Microsoft’s cash cows right now, in both the consumer and enterprise markets.
It appears that Microsoft is actually working to make the desktop a lot more useful by bringing back the famous and extremely popular Start Menu in Windows 9.
This feature, however, will only be available on desktop builds of Windows 9, so versions supposed to be installed on tablets won’t have it. This decision pretty much makes sense, especially because the Start Menu would only come in handy on desktop PCs where consumers use a mouse and a keyboard, while tablet buyers could safely stick to the Start screen.
Plans to release Windows 9 are scheduled to be unveiled, as we said, at the BUILD developer conference where the new CEO would officially take the stage and talk in front of the audience for the first time. Windows 9 development would debut later that month, so Steve Ballmer won’t be at the helm of the company when Microsoft goes ahead with plans to develop a new operating system.
Windows 9 will be internally codenamed Threshold, but it’s very unlikely to hit the shelves with this name. Microsoft is thus trying to show potential buyers that Windows 8 has evolved and thus address the confusion created by this particular OS version after launch.
Even though it’s a bit hard to believe that Windows 9 could get through all development phases in just 12 months, it turns out that Microsoft is actually preparing three milestones for the projects, so developers could get several versions for testing purposes.