Windows 9 and 8.1 Update 2 Teased in Leaked Image
Darn those pesky leaks!
Website Myce has acquired a screenshot from well-known Microsoft leaker Faikee that confirms recent rumors of a second update that will take place later this year, and Windows 9 sometime around April 2015. There's also mention of Office 2015 and another platform called Windows 365. Could this latter option be the cloud-based platform we've heard so much about?
According to the Windows 365 status, the platform is in alpha and based on the Windows core. Unfortunately, that's it for details, but speculation points to a monthly subscription like Microsoft's current Office 2013 suite, with an option to pay every three months, six months or annually. This scenario would mean customers have a limited number of seats (like three per license), and will receive constant updates and new releases automatically.
The screenshot, which looks to be a scan of an internal schedule sheet, reveals that Microsoft is currently building Windows 9, Windows Server 2015 and Windows Phone 9, and presumably trying to keep the experience across all three unified. There's also mention of the "Gemini" Office 2013 Modern UI-based apps, which may be in RTM mode as of this article, as well as Windows Phone 8.1.
There's talk that Windows 9 would be free to customers, but that's unlikely given that Microsoft has bills to pay and needs that income. If anything, the Redmond company may follow its Windows 8.1 plans and offer customers with Windows 8.1 Update 2 a huge discount, while Windows 7 and Windows 8 customers will have to pay for the full upgrade.
Windows 8.1 Update 2 will likely pounce on customers this fall, bearing many requested gifts like the Start Menu for easy navigation for desktop customers. This addition won't be an exact replica we've grown fond of on Windows of old, but a mixture of live tiles and classic elements to make the menu come alive. The Start Menu will also have a search box and power options.
"I previewed some work we are doing for the next iteration of Windows, which builds on the journey we began with Windows 8 just over a year ago as well as the releases we've done since then," said OS department head Terry Myerson during BUILD in April. "In particular, I showed some early thinking on how the user experience in Windows will evolve in a way that will help developers' apps make their way to users across devices and form factors."
Cortana, the virtual assistant residing on Windows Phone 8.1, will likely make an appearance on Windows 9 next Spring. But don't worry; she won't converse with your kids aged 12 and under thanks to the U.S. government's Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
As always, take all of this as a mere rumor and speculation -- except for the existence of Update 2, which was confirmed during the BUILD conference.

And where might that image be Tom's? You certainly didn't embed it in the article.
I think microsoft needs to outsource it's "making things come alive" endeavours, they aren't particularly good at it, 3rd party consumer creators would be most ideal. Windows 8's metro display looks about as alive as a brick wall. Just with bigger more coloured blocks, and a few stamps.
And where might that image be Tom's? You certainly didn't embed it in the article.
How do you like faster start up on Windows 9?
Are you waiting for Windows 9 if you are on Windows 7?
You called Windows 8 bunch of squares and you said you don't need weather information to pop up on your computer in the start screen because you want to keep your brain away from Windows 8, I know you will get excited about not having to turn on the TV to check weather forecast with Windows 9 Live tiles for weather just like you hated Vista design and you loved vista design on Windows 7. Will you like to see weather on your computer without having to turn on your TV on Windows 9
Windows 7 SP1 users, are you just too excited to move to Windows 9 as quickly as possible by the time it comes out around summer 2015? Did you travel to soo many places in 2013 and even 2014-2015 when you were keeping your mind away from Windows 8?
How did keeping yourself away from Windows 8 improved your overall health?
Well this feels appropriate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Prp615mmDk
I could not agree more! Things like Office 365 is great if you are getting a 4 year $80 student copy, or if you are running a home based business and are not quite ready to jump on the big Office 365 for Business packages yet... but for home users it is a raw deal, and I wish we could get our $120 3 license Home and Student version back.
Windows 9 and beyond should simply be free of charge. Windows is transitioning to an app ecosystem now, and that is where the real money is. Anything that gets in the way of Store app adoption needs to be killed off as quickly as possible. Make Windows itself free. Fix the store so it is usable. Make windows flexible enough to run at least at a basic level on 15+ year old XP machines. Give options for the Start Screen OR a Start Menu (I love the screen is great for home use, and the menu is great for business/productivity use, there is a need for both). Allow for floating Metro apps on desktop for true multi-tasking. Continue unifying the stores across all flavors of Windows (Phone/RT, Home/Pro, Server, Embedded, etc). Obviously easier said than done, but if MS can succeed at this then they will win the market share back from Android/iOS/Chrome/OSX which have taken a chunk of the share away.
The big exception to all of this: Disassociate professional features from the core OS. If you want to charge a yearly subscription for businesses to run domain services, or other business/corporate features, then make an added expansion package for the base OS to get your money that way. MS still needs to make money, but the idea that they can continue to charge more than $40 for a copy of windows this day an age is kind of ridiculous.
I hope someone in Redmond realizes that most XP users still won't be using a touchscreen.
Windows platform only popular because of PC Gaming anyway (not the sole reason, but game plays a huge role). For productivity we can either use MacOS or Linux along with all the free-alternative-apps like office, etc. For gaming? Steam OS! No more limited library of Mac and Linux now. Truly visionary I must say there, Gabe, for its to be a coincidence.
I've got 24" screen , menu is ideal for a user like myself ! Switching whole screen is so annoying (it's the only reason I didn't install windows 8 even though i get it for free from my developer MSDN subscription)
Not really, at present you pay once every 3 years or so to get the newest OS, and older OSs don't get the newest features and security updates. So if they drop the fee to a third its current and you pay annually instead of 3 years, then the same will apply. You can keep using your OS as long as you want but if you don't keep up your subscription you will be ineligible for updates and security patches.
No different than now.
A subscription model will see myself and many others simply drop the copy of Windows we maintain and use Linux or another alternative. The only reason I keep Windows is for games, but there is no way I'm paying a subscription on the OS so I can play F2P titles.
The razor and blade business model has done very well for software in recent years, Microsoft could do well for itself to find a way to make it work.
Then you don't have to use it. You don't like being forced to go back to the way things were because Windows users wanted it that way yet tried to force people to use the new way of doing things. It wasn't just the haters, people didn't want to use W8 because the UI was confusing and irritating. And you don't have to scroll through a list of text on the start menu, there's a search bar on W7 that works just fine and it's not slow at all. Maybe there will be a 3rd party download for those who liked the original W8 format but MS is restoring the start menu because people don't want to use W8. Now if only they could fix the bugs and problems that W8 has and makes the updating easier W8 might be as good as W7.
But all thanks to Windows 8 and MS's business practice i have decided to move to Linux, not only because it'll save money on upgrading but because i don't want to be hunkered down to just one OS. If Windows becomes 100% cloud i want Linux to fall back on because some people want to change some things that doesn't need changing. The start menu didn't need changing and i have no reason to need a full screen start menu (the start screen) and i don't really see the necessity to go from W7 to W8. If i was on XP i'd be on Linux already before XP's support was dropped. I understand why people don't like W8 and i don't really care whether people like W8 or not, but i don't understand why people act like W8 is the future of doing things or that everyone should adapt or be left behind when some people out there don't know how to tweak their PC or do much of anything besides clicking facebook, a dvd player or using Microsoft Word.
And to say these people should not be using a PC if they can't learn how to use it, then there wouldn't be PC techs making money on fixing people's PCs.