Days after a leaked screenshot of the Windows 9 desktop revealed that tiles have been relegated to the popular Start menu, and depicted a possible removal of Charms side bar, reports are stating Microsoft will debut the next iteration of Windows at a press conference at the end of September.
Microsoft is expected to reveal Windows 9, codenamed Threshold, on Sept. 30 at a press event. Though the tech giant isn't predicted to confirm the name of the next version of Windows, Microsoft is expected to showcase Threshold's features before a crowd of developers eager to learn how they can harness Threshold.
If the screenshot of Threshold is legitimate and an indication of development strategy, Windows 9 will, at least on the surface, marry some of the most popular features of 8 and 7.
Threshold's Start button is stylized much like the one Microsoft brought back to Windows 8 with the 8.1 update. The right side of Threshold's Start menu is populated with Windows' scalable Tiles, a feature of Windows 8 many users thought were best left to mobile devices.
It's virtually impossible to tell by the screenshot if the Charms feature has been in fact left out, as the feature is called on by a swipe or cursor dip. But there have been reports from multiple sources stating the Charms menu will be vastly overhauled or removed altogether.
Microsoft was said to still be working out a way to include the features of the Charms menu, which a large amount of apps relied on in Windows 8 and 8.1. A possible solution Microsoft considered was embedding a trigger to the Charms menu in next to the "Minimize" button in file explorer and program windows, while another fix explorer was to rework the apps to do without their current dependencies.
Among the list of features rumored in the works for Threshold, virtual desktops deliver the most promise to a large amount of the Microsoft faithful and those bound by Windows. Instead of setting up dual boot environments to have a choice operating systems, Microsoft's rumored virtual desktops will allow users to switch between environments with the click or press of a button.
Essentially, users could move between Threshold and Mac OSX or later versions of Windows from a singular machine. And unlike dual-boot setups, users won't have to shutdown applications to move from operating system environment to another.
While Bing is shown to be alive and well in the leaked screenshot of Threshold, it's difficult to discern what, if any, changes have been made to Internet Explorer. Microsoft was said to be considering a rebranding to the browser millions are all not too happy with these days.
