Microsoft confirms Windows 9 event for September 30, Technical Preview to follow soon after
Microsoft confirms Windows 9 event for September 30, Technical Preview to follow soon after
Microsoft has sent out the official press invites for an event in San Francisco on September 30, where we are almost certain that Windows 9 (codenamed Threshold) will be unveiled. The Windows 9 Technical Preview should be handed out to event attendees, and should also be available online on September 30 or very soon after.
The invite itself is fairly mysterious, saying only “Join us to hear about what’s next for Windows and the enterprise.” The recent leak of the Windows 9 Technical Preview strongly suggests that Windows 9’s official unveil will happen at the event. Presumably, from the invitation’s mention of “the enterprise,” we’ll also see Windows 9 Server — which is very similar to Windows 9, but with a bunch of additional features that make it better suited to handling enterprisey tasks, such as virtualization and managing large data sets.
As we’ve covered previously, Windows Threshold (we don’t actually know if it’ll be called “9” yet) seems to be mostly oriented towards appeasing Microsoft’s massive base of conventional mouse-and-keyboard PC users. On the Desktop side of things, the Start menu is returning, the Charms bar is being removed, Metro apps can now be run in a window, and virtual desktops will make their long overdue debut. You can see many of these features in the video embedded below. We’re not sure if Cortana will make it into the Technical Preview or not.
We’re sure that Microsoft will also tweak the Metro/Start screen side of things, but so far we haven’t heard much from the leak/rumor mill. We have heard that Microsoft will much more formally split the Metro and Desktop side of things, so that touchscreen/tablet users don’t have to use the Desktop and vice versa — but how this will actually be implemented by Microsoft remains to be seen.
There are a few leaks that suggest that there will be a separate/different version of Windows Threshold for ARM-based devices — i.e. Windows Phone devices and any ARM-based Windows tablets — released in early 2015. It isn’t entirely clear if this build will mark the end of the line for the Windows Phone OS. Microsoft has a lot of loose ends that it’s trying to tie up into a more cohesive, unified experience — One Windows — but as yet there aren’t any exact details on how this will be achieved. There is also fairly good reason to believe that Windows Threshold (or whatever it ends up being called) might even be the last major version of Windows, with all future updates taking the shape of one-click upgrades — much like Apple’s OS X.
Microsoft’s event on September 30, and the subsequent release of the Windows 9 Technical Preview, should hopefully answer some of these questions. I have a feeling we may have to wait a little longer to find out the true fate of Windows Phone and the Metro interface, though; I’m not sure even Microsoft knows what’s going on at this point.
Now read more of our extensive Windows 9 coverage — or if you’re currently stuck with Windows 8, read some of our tips and tricks to make it less painful.
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