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Windows 9 Already? Apparently, Yes.

Nerval's Lobster writes "A little over a year after Microsoft released Windows 8, and a mere three months after it pushed out a major update with Windows 8.1, rumors abound that Windows 9 is already on its way. According to Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows, Microsoft will begin discussing the next version of Windows (codenamed 'Threshold,' at least for the moment) at April's BUILD conference. 'Threshold is more important than any specific updates, he wrote. 'Windows 8 is tanking harder than Microsoft is comfortable discussing in public, and the latest release, Windows 8.1, which is a substantial and free upgrade with major improvements over the original release, is in use on less than 25 million PCs at the moment.' Microsoft intends Threshold to clean up at least a portion of Windows 8's mess. Development on the latest operating system will supposedly begin in late April, which means developers who attend BUILD won't have access to an early alpha release—in fact, it could be quite some time before Microsoft locks down any new features, although it might double down on Windows 8's controversial 'Modern' (previously known as 'Metro') design interface. Yet if Thurrott's reporting proves correct, Microsoft isn't abandoning the new Windows interface that earned such a lackluster response—it's betting that the format, once tweaked, will somehow revive the operating system's fortunes. With Ballmer leaving the company and a major reorganization underway, it'll be the next Microsoft CEO's task to make sure that Windows 9 is a hit; in fact, considering that rumored 2015 release date, shepherding the OS could become that executive's first major test."

16 of 1,009 comments (clear)

  1. 9.1 by OffTheLip · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm waiting for 9.1. Don't want to be first in the pool.

    1. Re:9.1 by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 3, Funny

      Threshold of unusability, most likely.

    2. Re:9.1 by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Funny

      They are so consistent with this crap lately, I'm starting to wonder if it isn't a strategy: let the consumers beta test and debug the next big corporate version. The last corporate version was XP, now it seems to be 7. If I wasn't being ironic, I'd suggest that the next corporate version will be Windows X.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:9.1 by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, I clicked the links. The images supplied show a metro theme. I've never quite decided whether I had more interest in metro, or in cutting off my body parts. Tough decision. I'll continue to put off the decision while I run a Unix-like OS.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    4. Re:9.1 by ranton · · Score: 4, Funny

      This version of Windows is guaranteed to be great. Windows has been going back and forth between one crap version and one great version for over a decade.

      It is kind of like some IQ test pattern matching questions:
      Win 95 - crap
      Win 98 - great
      Win ME - crap
      Win XP - great
      Vista - crap
      Win 7 - great
      Win 8 - crap
      Win 9 - (see the pattern?)

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    5. Re:9.1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I use a PC, and I love Metro! I'll have Metro, Metro, Metro, Metro, Metro, Metro, Metro, Metro, Metro, Metro, baked beans, and Metro!

    6. Re:9.1 by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Funny

      It'll be fine. It's really just going to be re-badged Windows 7.

      If that is the case, then Windows 9.x may actually have a chance.

      .
      Unfortunately, I doubt if Microsoft will be able to backtrack like that and call it progress.

    7. Re:9.1 by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't want to imagine how bad 9 will be.

      MS introduces the new Psychic (TM) UI, with even more invisible UI elements than Win8! Where are you supposed to click or move the mouse? Wouldn't you like to know!

      Visual feedback in a UI is for the weak. Live strong, MS strong!

    8. Re:9.1 by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, Metro, Metro, Metro, eggs.1, and Metro 'asn't got much Metro in it.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    9. Re:9.1 by operagost · · Score: 5, Funny

      The Star Trek movie pattern broke with Nemesis.

      I: crap
      II: great
      III: crap
      IV: great
      V: crap
      VI: great
      Generations: crap
      First Contact: great
      Insurrection: crap
      Nemesis: also crap
      Star Trek das reboot: crap with lens flare
      Star Trek Into Crappiness: The Wrath of Crap

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    10. Re:9.1 by Penguinisto · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, there's the Metro, Metro, Metro, Sausage, Eggs, and Metro...

      ...it's not got as much Metro in it.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    11. Re:9.1 by ElusiveJoe · · Score: 4, Funny

      W7 was a mess, 8 is a nightmare. I don't want to imagine how bad 9 will be.

      Imagine Clippy with Siri-like capabilities.

  2. They're going to go the Firefox route by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Windows 20 is planned for next fall.

  3. Begin mass speculatrometer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Knowing Microsoft, this is what they're going to do:

    - Remove Right-Click capability
    - Remove all menu bars and hotkeys
    - Require SuperAdmin privileges for everything from resizing a window to shutting down the computer
    - Make MSOffice 100% touch-screen compatible, removing all mouse compatibility
    - Make ribbons 60% bigger
    - Remove ability to save over existing files

  4. Re:Gaming Edition, Business Edition by debile · · Score: 5, Funny

    - Windows 2015: Gaming Edition: Get a SteamBox!
    - Windows 2015: Business Edition: Get Windows 7 ;-)

  5. By the dark magic power of hoxton blood.... by selectspec · · Score: 4, Funny

    Clippy will be reborn!

    --

    Someone you trust is one of us.