14 DAY TRIAL // More details are emerging on the next big release of the Windows product family, with some rumors now suggesting that Microsoft is also pondering a cloud-based version that could change the traditional Windows concept.
Information provided by Windows leaker WZor, who has until now leaked plenty of accurate details about Windows projects, reveals that a cloud-based version of the operating system is also prepared for Windows 9.
Of course, no specifics have been provided, but it appears that the cloud-based Windows 9 could be intuitively-called Windows Cloud and be based on a mixed concept storing information locally and in the cloud.
According to these rumors, Windows Cloud could be split in two different parts, one that would include the essential data to boot and stored on the local drives, and the other one that’s entirely stored in the cloud and holding information regarding user accounts and settings.
Windows 9 is reportedly coming in spring 2015, but although the software giant was expected to share some news on the project at the BUILD 2014 developer conference in early April, the company actually decided to stay completely tight-lipped on the project and focus on Windows 8.1 details.
With former cloud boss Satya Nadella now at the helm of the company, Microsoft clearly seems to be more interested than ever in a cloud-based version of Windows, especially because the company continues the migration towards a devices and services approach. Windows as a service would clearly play a key role in this strategy, so Windows 9’s launch could indeed be the right timing to do it.
Satya Nadella said with every single occasion that a cloud-first world is Microsoft’s priority, as it goes on with efforts to make Windows available from virtually everywhere.
“At the end of the day, if you look at our daily life, we have a set of activities that we do. We could be reading, we could be capturing, we could be listening, collaborating, organizing, researching. These are all activities that we do across a variety of devices,” Nadella said.
“We're not bound, in fact, to one device, one place or one time. And the real goal for us is to step up to provide the applications and services that empower every user across all of these devices and all of these experiences. So that's perhaps the job No. 1 that we do, which is to empower people to be productive, do more across all devices.”
Microsoft doesn’t talk too much about future projects, but hopefully the company will share more details on what’s to come for the Windows product family in the coming months, as the debut of another Windows 8.1 update is also approaching.