Windows 9

[Puck Ultimate]

Microsoft is going to preview Windows 9 (codename Threshold) on September 30th. It is speculated that Windows Technical Preview will become available for download on the same date.
I've encountered some rumors about Microsoft's plan to unite future Windows OSes under single name "Windows" (instead of Windows 9, Windows Mobile, etc.).

Number of leaked videos of an early build ( 9834 ) showcases several potentially useful features such as dedicated / unified notification area and multiple desktops / workspaces. Windows 9 is bringing back more traditional start menu and the ability to run Store Apps in windowed mode (more like a traditional piece of software rather than a separate platform altogether).

What do you think?

Personally I'm very excited about multiple workspaces. This feature has been available in Linux / OS X for a very long time already but in Windows 8.x and earlier this functionality is available only by installing additional software (Dexpot, VirtualWin, etc.). While usable, those softwares are imperfect and in real life they often just get in the way with casual crashes and other stability problems.

If it wasn't for the ugly file system I'd probably consider completely switching to Windows, lol.

[MentaL]

[George SS]

All I can see is that they brought back the start menu of the windows 7 o.o ... unless it's all a hoaks. But then how will touch devices operate?

[404]

Windows 9 looks smooth... Probably gonna be as buggy as Vista, but hey.. gonna start somewhere..

Seems as if they've combined Windows 7 & 8...

The Start menu Icon shortcuts next to the Apps list is very neat... I can see myself using it a lot.. and it would save a lot of space on the desktop..

hang on, who cares about space on desktop when you can make multiple of them lol..

[Puck Ultimate]

All I can see is that they brought back the start menu of the windows 7 o.o ... unless it's all a hoaks. But then how will touch devices operate?

Apparently, mobile / touch devices are keeping Windows 8-like full screen tiles. I get the feeling that Windows 9 is specifically aimed at traditional desktop users. A completely unified experience across all devices doesn't really seem viable which is why Win8 wasn't globally successful with it's attempt to stuff Apps down everyones throat...

Probably gonna be as buggy as Vista, but hey..

With Microsoft everything is possible but I think they learned their lesson already :) I don't think they can afford to release another crap product, reputation wise.

[sunnyboy]

I'll stick with my windows 7. It can do everything a windows 8/8.1/9 can do, but even better with features we like and no bull crap we hate

[שเ๒єtгเ๒є]

Finally the app windows are real windows again. As many people say, every 2nd OS is good. The idea of the new start menu is okay, and finally people can choose what they like. (Why not instead in Win8 already???)

Just one thing I still miss from Win7 in Win9:

(referring to the transparent Aero theme that is alive when moving your window)

Why did you remove it entirely, Microsoft? I'm disappointed.

[George SS]

Finally the app windows are real windows again. As many people say, every 2nd OS is good. The idea of the new start menu is okay, and finally people can choose what they like. (Why not instead in Win8 already???)

Just one thing I still miss from Win7 in Win9:

(referring to the transparent Aero theme that is alive when moving your window)

Why did you remove it entirely, Microsoft? I'm disappointed.

Probably because it was an eye candy. A lot of people had to turn it off to have decent FPS in games or apps, so now they otpimized it, you no longer have to turn it off, in fact, you can't turn it off at all. Though the transparency is only present on the taskbar if I rememmber well.

[sonnyeb]

I'll stick with my windows 7. It can do everything a windows 8/8.1/9 can do, but even better with features we like and no bull crap we hate

Sad that microsoft's gonna stop providing support for it some time in the future.
Hope we find a better version by then.

[GohanSSJ]

I've encountered some rumors about Microsoft's plan to unite future Windows OSes under single name "Windows" (instead of Windows 9, Windows Mobile, etc.).

So what you are saying is that they are going to revive Windows Mobile and they are gonna use Windows CE again? Shit man, you got some insiders knowledge that no one knows about. Because all I read is that they are going to further combine Windows with Windows Phone.

Windows 9 looks smooth... Probably gonna be as buggy as Vista, but hey.. gonna start somewhere..

Why would it be buggy? Windows 8 was smooth from the start. Why you ask? Because it was Windows 7 with some modications.

Apparently, mobile / touch devices are keeping Windows 8-like full screen tiles. I get the feeling that Windows 9 is specifically aimed at traditional desktop users. A completely unified experience across all devices doesn't really seem viable which is why Win8 wasn't globally successful with it's attempt to stuff Apps down everyones throat...

With Microsoft everything is possible but I think they learned their lesson already :) I don't think they can afford to release another crap product, reputation wise.

Dude, do you not get Windows 8? How is it that no one seems to understand MS?

MS was forcing Windows 8 down your throat, so that you would actually get somewhat used to it. No one would ever use the metro interface, if they hadn't forced it, because people don't like change.

Look at what MS has accomplished. Lots and lots of touchscreen devices have been released, tablets, convertibles, all in ones etc, none touchscreen devices are becoming the exception, which is what MS wants.
Quite some apps have been released, now even though it's still not that big, when they combine it with WP, it's quite impressive.
And most important, people have gotten used to metro, they might not always like it, but people do get used to it. In fact lots of people that used it for a bit on their non-touchscreen device, will say that it probably works well on touchscreen devices, while those who have used it, are largely positive about it.
Sure, MS hoped it would have been a bigger succes, but they forced it down our throats, we got to know it, the platform grew, now they release a 'new' Windows (which is just 8 with some modifications), people will be positive, will use what metro has to offer in terms of apps, while touchscreen devices with Windows will continue to grow in popularity.

Remember, MS is a huge company that dominates the PC industry, do not think their plan doesn't extend further than 5 years. Their plans are for the next 25, and they know how important touch, gestures and voice is, and with Metro, Kinect and Cortana, they are making the right moves to make sure they will dominate the industry for the next 30 years.

I'll stick with my windows 7. It can do everything a windows 8/8.1/9 can do, but even better with features we like and no bull crap we hate

Actually W8 has lots of features that are a lot better than you got in W7, on top of that the booting is much faster and it works really well with an SSD. W8 is superior to W7, end of story.

[sunnyboy]

Actually W8 has lots of features that are a lot better than you got in W7, on top of that the booting is much faster and it works really well with an SSD. W8 is superior to W7, end of story.

Well everyone is allowed to have their own opinion.

[Puck Ultimate]

So what you are saying is that they are going to revive Windows Mobile and they are gonna use Windows CE again? Shit man, you got some insiders knowledge that no one knows about. Because all I read is that they are going to further combine Windows with Windows Phone.

xD
My bad I actually meant Windows Phone.

[Luxray]

That desktop switching, is it a modification of alt-tab? Given, it's cool that it's able to switch desktop instances, but it's way too easy to lose sight on what you're doing.

[George SS]

Sometimes even 1 desktop is more than enough for me. I like a clean desktop so I don't really keep any icons there ...

[Puck Ultimate]

That desktop switching, is it a modification of alt-tab? Given, it's cool that it's able to switch desktop instances, but it's way too easy to lose sight on what you're doing.

Not from my experience. I'd say that clustering multiple programs on a single desktop / taskbar is more confusing.
I can't find any info on key bindings but hopefully users will be allowed to assign their own ( I'm used to Ctrl+Alt+[arrow keys] ).

Sometimes even 1 desktop is more than enough for me. I like a clean desktop so I don't really keep any icons there ...

I'm not sure if you got the right idea of the concept.
From what I can see, Windows 9 workspaces resemble most closely Gnome 3 workspaces. It might be informative if you YouTube that.

[שเ๒єtгเ๒є]

Probably because it was an eye candy. A lot of people had to turn it off to have decent FPS in games or apps, so now they otpimized it, you no longer have to turn it off, in fact, you can't turn it off at all. Though the transparency is only present on the taskbar if I rememmber well.

First, why to put something off because of being an eye candy? Eye candies are good nice to see for the most people. To say it drops the FPS in games is simply wrong, because since Windows 7, it switches to the classic non transparent style when starting a full screen DX or OpenGL application, automatically.

Also no matter what reason was caused to remove this style entirely, it's no reason to remove it entirely. Instead, they could have it be disabled on the fresh install but still give the opportunity to activate it again.

If the reason was a fatal one (like security or huge performance issues) I would understand, but the core is the same and it's made successful in Windows 7.
So, this is a huge downgrade by Microsoft in my eyes.