Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) appears to have decided to entirely skip the idea of Windows 9 and release their next version of Windows as Windows 10.

The company’s new strategy does in fact do what the company has been aiming to do for quite some time. It helps unify the marketplaces and apps while still giving people customizeable experiences depending on the platform that they’re using. So now users can use the same app on their phone, tablet, and PC while also being able to (hopefully) share data across those devices through the cloud. They are also bringing back the start menu and getting rid of the full-page start menu from Windows 8 and 8.1. As a result, you can customize the size of the icons that you have pop up when you engage the start menu and you can also use it for search like you could in Windows 7 and Windows 8. However, now, the search box also does web searches as well, which is a brilliant move on Microsoft’s part because there’s a very good chance that Bing will be the default search engine for that and could help them gain more traction with Bing.

Microsoft has also implemented new multitasking UIs that bring back some of the legacy snap views as well as multiviews that look strikingly a lot like Apple’s own OSX expose. And Microsoft has also improved little things like the command prompt in Windows 10, which has remained unchanged forever, so now you can paste things into the command prompt instead of manually entering them.

Microsoft also appears to be pulling back more from the overall metro UI idea and forcing people to use fullscreen metro apps, but rather more along the lines of what they are familiar with. As many people have said, Microsoft’s jump from Windows 7 to Windows 8 was too drastic and did not allow for people to slowly adjust to change. Really, Windows 10 kind of slots in between Windows 7 and Windows 8 and finds a middle ground between the two. This is a clear recognition from Microsoft of what their users want and the fact that they simply didn’t listen to what people want and instead went on their own direction (Windows 8). Some may blame Ballmer for that move, but really, it had more to do with Sinofsky, who is no longer with the company.

If you’d like to test drive Microsoft’s newest OS, they will have an ‘insider’ preview available shortly to allow people to test out Windows 10 and give them feedback. The OS is expected to launch in the latter half of 2015 and there’s still no word on upgrades or what prices will be for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users. You can download the insider preview here.

The post Microsoft Skips Windows 9, Introduces Windows 10 appeared first on VR World.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is set to unveil its latest version of Windows at an invite-only event in San Francisco on Tuesday — just a month shy of the two-year anniversary of the release of Windows 8 to the general public. While rumors in the press have suggested a number of things about what this new version of Windows will or will not be, the fact is that going into this event there is little confirmed.

The most trafficked rumor about the upcoming Windows 9 release is that it will be offered as a free upgrade to users of Windows 8. While this rumor has been circulated through the press as gospel, the fact is it’s far from confirmed. The rumor comes from BGR, which cites Indonesian technology news publication Detik, which quotes Microsoft Indonesia president Andreas Diantoro who apparently says “the Windows 9 upgrade will be available free of charge to all existing Windows 8 users once it’s released.”

Having Windows 9 as a free upgrade for Windows 8 users would effectively be the same as Microsoft acknowledging that Windows 8 was so poor it was worthy of a free upgrade. It would be an embarrassing mea culpa — and likely this statement isn’t accurate. While Indonesia is an emerging market that has a healthy appetite for phablets, tablets, and low-cost notebooks, having the president of Microsoft’s regional operations for the area make an announcement of this scale is not in Microsoft’s standard operating procedures.

Regional presidents of companies, particularly those in smaller markets, are known to make erroneous statements. That’s the reason why major announcements tend to come from the company’s home country and top executives.

The fact is going into the launch of Windows 9, currently codenamed “Threshold”, there are more questions than answers right now. It’s not known if Microsoft will continue its strategy of marketing Windows as a hardware agnostic platform; Microsoft may realize its mistake from trying to create “one Windows to rule them all” and once again split the mobile and desktop versions of Windows.

But until Windows 9 is officially unveiled on Tuesday in San Francisco, there’s only speculation.

The post On The Eve of The Launch of Windows 9, More Questions Than Answers appeared first on VR World.

An official unveiling of Windows 9 might be closer than many expect, according to one report.

Sources that spoke to The Verge said that Microsoft is planning a press event on September 30 to fully detail the changes to “Threshhold.” The sources that spoke to The Verge also said that a release to developers would occur shortly thereafter, perhaps on even the same day.

While it’s unclear how much different Windows 9 will be from an architecture standpoint; improvements to the Windows kernel are not something users largely requested. This next version of Windows will largely be a refreshed user interface, with a new version of the Start Menu and the absence of the Charms bar.

For Microsoft, Windows 9 represents a great “step backwards” for the Windows ecosystem. Microsoft’s attempt to make a hardware agnostic operating system — to bring Windows to the growing economy of smartphones and tablets — represented a failure on two fronts: Microsoft could not get the big-name hardware wins it needed with mobile devices, and the Metro UI alienated many PC users. To quantify how much of a failure Windows 8 was, consider that Windows 7 still commands half of the total operating system market while the ancient Windows XP has 13.74% market share.

In the desktop world Microsoft has no threat to the hegemony of Windows. Despite all the gains Apple has made with the Mac platform in the last five years, the platform, quantitatively speaking, is still relatively niche. Apple wants to keep it that way and has no plans to alter its pricing structure. However, Microsoft still needs a solid revenue stream from the Windows division. Simply put: the company needs a way to convince users to pay for a new version of Windows twice a decade. Windows 8 wasn’t a compelling enough reason for many to upgrade from Windows XP or 7, which means that Microsoft needs to do its best to create a product that people not want, but need, to buy.

The post Microsoft Said to be Planning Windows 9 Launch in September appeared first on VR World.