A supposed leaked screenshot from Microsoft’s Windows 9 has offered a glimpse at the operating system’s Start menu.
The image which was posted from the Threshold preview build of the software, shows the app blocks combined with the traditional interface.
Windows 8 was for all intents and purposes Microsoft’s way of out and out shooting itself in the foot, murdering the iconic Start Menu and Start Button combo, that we have had since the dawn of windows and had come to know and love, replacing it with the poorly laid out maligned Start Screen. Gone were the vertical icons bar as we know them and in came the tiles from the company’s colour fascinated, square designers honestly it looks like something a 4 year old would design. But the leaks of the new proposed Start Menu looks a good deal better and more economical than the Start Screen ever was.
As far as I can tell from this picture window 9 will essentially be the bastard-child of the two prior iterations, although it appears to have taken more from seven and still too much from 8. The unintuitive full screen sequence of unending cubes, which was designed for use with a touch screen and in fairness works with one (how many have them and who wants them), is an eyesore and a digital hell to navigate. Bringing back a simple, thin tidy interface will for me anyway make life a lot easier and streamline the usage. The integrated live although I am not a fan and hate the term apps are handy when users need to keep an eye on constantly updated information.
Although the Windows 8 branding appears on the screenshot, Neowin claims that it is in fact from an early internal version of Windows 9, which is yet to be rebranded.
Previous reports suggest that Windows 9 will take a back-to-basics approach with greater support for keyboard and mouse users and touchscreen functionality entirely optional.
The preview build of Windows 9 is expected to debut in the autumn, with the latest update to Windows 8.1 due next month.