Windows 9 will get a completely new design and will therefor differ greatly from Windows 7 and 8.
Sources from Neowin with access to early test versions of Microsoft’s latest operating system say Windows 9 will be a major update for PC’s, tablets and smartphones.
In April next year Microsoft will roll out a major update for Windows under the name Windows Threshold, which is expected to be Windows 9.
Windows 8 is well known for its tile-based user interface, which makes it relatively easy to use for tablets and laptops with touch-screens. The desktop environment within Windows 8 was however nearly the same as the one in Windows 7.
In Windows 9 the interface would be getting a completely new look. Just like recent versions of iOS, Mac OS X and Android Windows 9 will be getting a so called flat design. This means that there will be less depth effects and that icons and graphics will not resemble components from the physical world. The design will be simpler and more graphical.
It is unclear how the tile-based interface from Windows 8 will be changed in Windows 9. It is clear however that desktop users will be able to skip this touch-screen interface and that apps within this touch-screen interface will become simpler.
The taskbar in Windows 9 will be drastically changed, receiving a set of new functions. So would the taskbar in Windows 9 be getting ‘mini live tiles’ at the bottom of the screen, showing different types of live updates. Microsoft would thereby also be testing with the possibility to add new widgets to the start screen and the implementation of speech assistant Cortana.
This Monday a screenshot was leaked showing a new Windows start-menu, which will most probably be introduced with an update to Windows 8.2 this September. It’s unclear if the start-menu will also appear in Windows 9.
