Microsoft is all set to officially unveil Windows 9 at a special event on September 30 — and so we thought it would be a good time to run through everything that we already know about Microsoft’s new operating system. Most of these features and changes are reliably sourced from people close to the development of Windows 9 or from leaked builds of the Windows 9 Technical Preview. We’ll also update this story with an official list of Windows 9 features when Microsoft starts releasing public beta builds next week. In short, if you want to find out about Windows 9, this is the place to be.
After the very poor response to Windows 8, and the bitter taste it left in the mouths of millions of users, Windows 9 is a very important release for Microsoft. On the one hand, it needs to rectify Windows 8′s wrongs and offer normal PC users a reason to upgrade from Windows XP or 7. On the other hand, Microsoft continues to lose ground in the mobile sector as well. Windows 9 will actually have to be the jack of all trades, rather than Windows 8′s rather ignominious status as the master of none. How will Microsoft do this? Well, let’s take a look.
Windows 9 for desktop and laptop users
The Start menu returns. After a few years of claiming that the Metro-style Start screen was just as good for mouse-and-keyboard use as touchscreen use, Microsoft has finally backed down. Windows 9 will have a Start menu on the Desktop; the left side will look a lot like the standard Windows 7 Start menu, but the right side will have the option of being populated with Metro-style live tiles. The left side of the menu will adopt a new Metro-like look, too — though you may be able to configure it to look like the good ol’ Windows 7 Start menu.
Virtual desktops. In Windows 9, you will have the option of using virtual desktops. Right now you just have one desktop per monitor — but with virtual desktops, you can switch between as many desktops as you like. This is a popular power user feature that has been present on some Linux window managers and via third-party Windows tools for years — but now it’ll be native in Windows 9.
Metro apps on the Desktop. Rather than forcing you into the full-screen Metro interface, Windows 9 will let you run Metro apps on the Desktop in a window. In theory this will mean that mouse-and-keyboard users might now actually use Metro apps, which in turn might kickstart the arrival of some better apps in the Windows Store. Or not.
Windows 9 Desktop, showing a new, very flat Explorer (note the new icon too)
Desktop interface overhaul. It’s not entirely clear yet, but it seems the Windows 9 Desktop will receive a graphical overhaul, to make it even flatter. The leaked Windows 9 Technical Preview shows some flatter icons and thinner window borders — and I suspect we’ll see some further UI changes in later preview builds. (If you recall, the first Windows 8 Developer Preview still looked a lot like Windows 7, and became more flat and less opaque as the development process went on.) Curiously, there does appear to be a drop shadow behind the Explorer window in the Windows 9 screenshot above — Windows 8 got rid of a lot of shadows, so it would be interesting if they made a return.
The Metro interface may be removed. In the last few months, there has been rumblings from Redmond that the Windows 9 experience might be formally split in two: A Metro-only experience for touchscreen/tablet users, and a Desktop-only experience for mouse-and-keyboard users. One of the biggest complaints of Windows 8 is the way it forces you into the Metro interface when you’re using a mouse and keyboard, and the Desktop interface when you’re using a touchscreen. It isn’t clear if the Metro interface will be removed entirely from “Windows 9 for the Desktop” — more realistically, to cater for users of hybrids and touchscreen laptops, there’ll just be a check box somewhere for “never show me the Metro interface.”
Lots of other tweaks to the Windows 9 Desktop. In addition to all of the above, the Charms bar is also being removed (from the Desktop interface at least; it might hang around on touchscreen devices). The Technical Preview has a Notifications panel that pops up from the bottom right corner (video above), though I don’t think this is its final format or placement. There will also likely be tweaks for multi-monitor and high-res (hi-dpi) setups, too.
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