Microsoft may be focused on Windows 8 right now, but the software giant is also said to be working on Windows 9 with the intention of launching it next year.
Paul Thurrott, a long-time Windows insider and tipster, recently reported that Microsoft already has plans to launch Windows 9 in April of 2015. On his blog, Winsupersite, Thurrott says; “To distance itself from the Windows 8 debacle, Microsoft is currently planning to drop the Windows 8 name and brand this next release as Windows 9. That could change, but that’s the current thinking.”
The new version of software has been talked about in some corners of the Internet previously, going by its internal codename of ‘Threshold’. According to Thurrott’s sources, Microsoft isn’t too pleased with the performance of Windows 8 and this is precisely the reason for launching another major version of software with a whole new name within just two years.
There was around three years between the respective releases of Windows 7 and Windows 8, but Microsoft is now set to update again to Windows 9 within two years. Thurrott says; “Windows 8 is tanking harder than Microsoft is comfortable discussing in public, and the latest release, Windows 8.1, which is a substantial and free upgrade with major improvements over the original release, is in use on less than 25 million PCs at the moment. That’s a disaster”
Microsoft is said to be revealing the first official news on Windows 9 at its annual BUILD developer conference in April of this year, although unlike in years past, it will not be giving an early version to developers to try out. This is because development of the software will begin in the same month.
As for what Windows 9 will entail, we’re currently unsure. There’s talk of Metro 2.0 as a key point of focus for Microsoft, with the aim of fixing the current Windows 8 interface and making it more user friendly as well as workable on desktop PCs. Asides from that, nobody really knows what could feature in the new software, but a focus on touchscreen devices such as tablets will be a likely continuation from Windows 8.
Are you a fan of Windows 8 or are you eager for Windows 9’s arrival to fix the current situation? Let us know in the comments.