Windows 9 release date
It's certainly too early to say about a Windows 9 release date and we're not sure we'll get a huge amount of clarity on this at the event, but we'd expect Windows 9 launch in early to mid-2015. The Spring would seem like a good bet to us. Certainly Microsoft knows that the relative failure of Windows 8 (in perception, if not totally in terms of sales) means it can't afford to hang around.
I've heard Windows 9 will be a free upgrade. Will it be?
That's certainly the big Windows 9 rumor doing the rounds. President of Microsoft Indonesia Andreas Diantoro seemingly confirmed it in a statement. It would certainly encourage take-up of the new OS.
If Windows 9 is free it may only be for Windows 8 and 8.1 users only, although with Microsoft failing to dislodge the porridge-on-the-pan that is Windows XP, it may well go the whole hog and make it universally gratis.
And why not? Microsoft can afford it – the corporation's focus to software, devices and services means it aims to increasingly make money from sources other than the sales of its venerable desktop OS.
Windows 9 is completely backwards compatible with older versions of the OS and any Modern UI or desktop apps developed for Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 will work fine.
Will Microsoft do several versions OSes?
We may well see a version of Windows 9 called Windows 9 Pro or Windows 9 Enterprise. Certainly a lot of businesses have resisted Windows 8 because of the Start Screen (something Microsoft tried to rectify by the boot-to-desktop feature in 8.1 Update 1).
One thing the Windows 8 debacle has shown is that tablet and desktop aren't entirely compatible and Microsoft has strived to make Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Update 1 more non-touch friendly.
As we thought when Microsoft first released Windows 8, Microsoft should release a Tablet-specific OS, probably based on Windows Phone. It won't do this, as it still wants to sell you Microsoft Office for the desktop, while Intel still wants it to make 'proper' PCs. Instead, Windows 9 will bring a whole lot more refinement to the still-uneasy Modern UI-desktop hybrid.
