14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is expected to break the news of Windows 9 in just a couple of weeks at the BUILD 2014 developer conference, but some designers across the world are already trying to image how the upcoming operating system could look like using the existing details.
This concept created by Jeremy Ross comes with a much simpler and cleaner design for the Start screen, which replaces the controversial and colorful interface of the touch-optimized feature that was introduced in October 2012 together with Windows 8.
As you can see in the picture included in this article, the concept is not at all that complicated and there’s no doubt that simplicity could really come in handy to many users, especially because the upcoming Windows 9 is supposed to make the whole modern platform a bit more user-friendly and more appropriate for desktop computers and laptops.
While Microsoft is very likely to ignore this design and stick to the existing design for Windows 9, word is that the next full Windows release could still bring some pretty big changes for those who are still using a traditional desktop computer with a mouse and keyboard.
People familiar with Microsoft’s development plans said that Windows 9 could bring back the traditional Start menu, clearly in an attempt to make the operating system easier to use with a mouse. The Start menu, however, won’t come with the original features and design, but with a simpler design that would only make it faster to launch the installed apps.
At the same time, in order to give the Modern UI another chance to excite, Windows could revamp Metro altogether by bringing apps right on the desktop.
As a result, users could be allowed to run Metro apps on their desktops, more or less like legacy applications and close them with a single click.
The upcoming Windows 8.1 Update 1 is supposed to pave the way for this new feature by adding a title bar for Metro apps, along with close and minimize buttons, which basically means that dragging the apps to the bottom of the screen won’t be the only way to close them anymore.
What’s more, Windows 8.1 Update 1 will also bring options to pin Metro apps to the taskbar and launch them without accessing the Start screen, while Microsoft might also tweak boot-to-desktop to be turned on by default on PCs and laptops without touch-capable displays.