The US end of Microsoft is not ready to reveal anything about Windows 9, but over in China, the division is already teasing an image of the next OS update, which should be previewed later this year, with an official launch in 2015.
Microsoft China has taken down the image, accompanied by the question “Microsoft’s latest OS Windows 9 is coming soon, do you think the start menu at the left bottom will make a come back?”, it looks like HQ has got in contact with the rogue branch.
The Start Menu looks to be a new feature for Windows 9, Microsoft will doll it up with new Metro widgets, mixing the desktop with Metro interface. This new menu was teased at Microsoft’s annual BUILD conference in June.
Windows 9 is “coming soon” according to Microsoft China, we did suspect this would the case. Windows 8 and 8.1 both failed to gain large proportions of the PC market, keeping XP and Windows 7 as the kings of the desktop for another few years.
Microsoft is hoping to break the curse, nobody knows exactly what Windows 9, codenamed Threshold, will bring to the table. Some believe it will be the first free software update, as Microsoft looks to focus more on services and apps sales.
This would be a similar strategy to Apple on Mac OS and Android, who both offer free updates. Microsoft is one of the last companies to offer paid updates, it feels outdated and we expect Satya Nadella sees this as an issue going forward.
Offering Windows 9 for free could completely eradicate most of the factors blocking enterprise and personal from upgrading – cost. Businesses don’t want to pay for new licenses and personal users do not care, especially if Windows 7 works fine.
Keep a look out for Windows 9 this year, Microsoft should be announcing some details later this year.
