Saturday, November 23

    As 2014 comes to a slow end, and 2015 bringing us new technology, Microsoft is hard at work on their newest operating system, Windows 9; or at least that’s what we’re calling it for now. It may be safe to say that the days of clever naming schemes of XP and Vista are gone.

    Over the previous week, two German based websites leaked a large assortment of screenshots showing off new features of Windows 9. Hitting towards a Windows 7 desktop style, but carrying over the Windows 8 metro applications, Microsoft appears to be reaching out to both the PC and tablet market, again.

    Ever since the release of Windows 8, customers have kicked and screamed about the lack of a start button and most importantly a start menu. As the start button returned, the start menu did not. Third party applications like ClassicShell and Start8 have been helpful for those who miss the start menu, but it was a shame to see Microsoft make the move to remove it in the first place.

    Mary Jo Foley, a writer at ZDNet, reported that Microsoft may trash the Windows 8 Charms Bar for an old classic style Windows 7 start menu. As shown in the screenshots, the new designed start menu is certainly different with icons being moved to different places and the right hand menu being designated for metro applications.

    The German based websites, ComputerBase and WinFuture, are the ones who leaked the collection of twenty Windows 9 screenshots. ComputerBase even has a live YouTube video displaying the new Windows 9 start menu and it’s different functionally, whilst WinFuture has screenshots representing IE 11, multitasking, and other Windows features.

    Since January of this year, I have been using Windows 8.1 both on my laptop PC and tablet. With additional software from ClassicShell, Windows 8 is a fine operating system in my mind, but I am still not a fan of the metro style homepage or applications. From the looks of these screenshots they seem to be going away and instead Windows 9 appears to have a virtual desktop for users who enjoy those metro style applications.

    As I am excited for the new Windows environment, we need to keep in mind that these screenshots do not represent the final product. Microsoft will surely have more changes to come and other UI fixes. Some other technical news websites questioned Microsoft about these new leaks, however, a comment was never received.

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