Update: Windows 9 is now known as Windows 10. Want to know more about when you can get your hands on it? Check out our in-depth Windows 10 release date page
What better way to lead into the end of the week than with a full 20 images allegedly showing an in-progress version of Windows 9?
These screenshots portray an "Enterprise Technical Preview" of Microsoft's next OS, code-named Windows Threshold, according to German sites ComputerBase and WinFuture.
This preview will launch soon for enterprise users who use mainly desktop PCs, with a separate preview for consumers that will include phone and tablet users as well possibly coming in early 2015, sources told CNET.
If these Windows 9 screenshots are legit, then they're clearly of an unfinished version of the OS (the presence of Internet Explorer 11 is proof enough of that), but there is still much to be gleaned.
Another world
This is not the first glimpse we've had of what could eventually become Windows 9, but it is certainly the most extensive.
From what we can see of the Start menu in this alleged version of Threshold, it appears to have undergone some changes.
But more importantly these images show the ability to run the system's Modern-style apps in windowed mode in the desktop environment.
Other new features glimpsed in the screenshots include a virtual desktops feature, a notification center and a feedback center for testers built right into the software.
The Charms bar may still be cut out of Windows 9, and the version of the Windows Store app in this build supposedly contains code for a drop-down menu that includes some of the Charms bar's functionality. That's still up in the air though, according to CNET's sources.
For now the Threshold development team is reportedly reviewing features to determine what will and won't be in the public Windows 9 preview. So take these screenshots with a side of salt and expect whatever Microsoft unveils (on September 30?) to look very different.
