Windows 9, the next operating system from Microsoft and the successor to Windows 8 is to be released on April 2015. Previously it went under the code name “Threshold” which Microsoft wanted ditch in favour of the name Windows 9. This will mark a departure from the previously unsuccessful Windows 8 and 8.1. It is even speculated that Windows will not be offering Windows 9 for free. Even Apple has changed from charging for upgrades to offering free upgrades. So this move by Microsoft is surprising, the official statements from Microsoft states, how realistic it is to give away the cash cow Windows, it is not. This move could prove to be counterproductive for them. 

The company could announce further details about the os at its Microsoft BUILD conference, which will be held from the 2nd until  April the 4th in San Francisco. It’s also rumoured that the company could announce a schedule for the rollout of the new Windows 9 os to developers, which still exists to this date in Alpha mode that is not runnable. In addition there are three milestones planned for the new operating system. There is likely to be soon a trial version to download for end users however its still unclear at the moment whether it will happen or it will happen at all. Previously, the website Win8China had claimed a preview of Windows 9 would be distributed by Microsoft in the second half of 2014. There is also speculation that Windows 9 will come with a substantial revision of the Metro interface that Microsoft is now calling the Modern UI.

Windows certainly needs Windows 9 to be successful. Its thought that the windows 9 os will be a hybrid between windows 7 and 8 that has the best bits of the both os’s in it.  If Microsoft can pull off a Windows 9 release with significant improvements over Windows 8 then that may be able to relegate Windows 8 to a Vista-like release in the minds of consumers.  At the moment there is going to be further tweaks to Windows 8.1. Then next year Windows 9 will be on its way.