By Woody Leonhard
After months of speculation, we're now seeing some credible leaks showing parts of the next Windows.
Invitations are going out now for Microsoft's Windows Technical Preview debut, scheduled for Sept. 30 in San Francisco; here's what the current tea leaves portend.
Will a rose by any other name smell sweeter?
There's one
fundamental problem with talking about the next version of Windows. It
seems, at this time, that no one knows what it'll be called. Inside
Microsoft, some developers refer to the next Windows as "Threshold." But
that label might apply to an entire wave of Microsoft product changes —
not all of which are specific to Windows. Most of us call it Windows 9
simply because it's a reasonable name that everyone understands. To
keep things simple, I'll stick with "Windows 9" for the rest of this
discussion.
You can bet your
last shekel that Microsoft won't burden the next Windows with any
reference to Version 8. In other words, the chances of a "Windows 8.2"
run less than zero. I'm confident Microsoft wants to distance itself
from the Windows 8 disaster as quickly and cleanly as possible. Who
could blame them?
Also unlikely to
reappear is any version of Windows with "RT" attached (just the label;
the platform will remain and prosper). It's a name I've hated and railed
against since day one.
There's one other Windows-naming camp I tend to side with. It predicts the successor to Win8 will be called simply Windows.
That doesn't mean version numbers will go away — we'll always need some
way to refer to the precise release. But it does mean that "Windows" on
a phone, "Windows" on a tablet, "Windows" on a PC, and "Windows" on a
server can be thought of as the same operating system — though with some
necessary differences both to the interface and under the hood. Or at
least the versions will be marketed that way, regardless of the
technical sleight-of-hand involved.
With a single
"Windows" label, Microsoft might also give up its archaic attempts to
wring more money out of customers by releasing different editions
of a particular Windows version — i.e., Windows Home, Windows Pro,
Windows Enterprise, etc. I hope that comes to pass. Who knows, we might
even see the end of 32-bit versions of the OS.
Microsoft has
had success selling its subscription-based version of Office. So it's
not inconceivable that the company will release a "rented" edition of
Windows — call it Windows 365. (If there is a Win365 in the works, it
probably won't be in place when Microsoft releases Windows Technical
Preview, which should ship around the end of September.
Windows build 9834 sources — and their reticence
During
development of a new Windows version, Microsoft normally sends out early
builds to its partners — companies that need parts of the new OS to
make their own products work. Those early releases are supposed to be
kept secret, but leaks inevitably happen.
The leaked
information below is based on some early Win9 builds, which means you
must keep the following in mind. Leading up to Windows Technical
Preview, early Windows builds are often branches of the mainstream
Windows development. In other words, they're key parts of the new OS but
not the entire final product — not by a country mile. And the builds
can be months old by the time they're leaked.
Right now, the
latest credible leaks of Win9 are based on build 9834 of the Windows
Technical Preview branch. ("Credible" means I'm convinced they're
legitimate.) If you want to catch up on what's been posted about Win9,
here's the short list:
- On Sept. 11, two German sites, ComputerBase and WinFuture,
simultaneously released the same 21 screen shots of what appears to be
build 9834. Someone then anonymously reposted those shots on the
English-language Imgur site. If you want to read about each slide individually, Paul Thurrott posted a two-part review on his WinSuperSite — see Part 1. And I published some additional notes in my Sept. 11 InfoWorld Tech Watch story.
(Remember, at this stage, there's no guarantee that any new feature
shown in the leaked screen shots will make it into the final Win9.)
- WinFuture followed up on that leak with a sponsored (though obviously not by Microsoft) video showing the new Start menu "in Aktion."
- Next, WinFuture posted a YouTube video
that shows a possible multiple-desktop feature in Windows 9. That's not
a leap in technology; Windows has supported multiple desktops since
Windows XP, and there are dozens of third-party apps that implement
multiple desktops in Windows 7 and 8. In fact, Microsoft publishes
Sysinternals Desktops (site), which looks a lot like the "new" virtual desktops in Windows 9.
- On Sept. 13, WinFuture released yet another video (again, apparently of build 9834) that shows how an updated notification center might work.
WinFuture might be leading the pack in published
Win9 leaks and apparently made significant cash doing so, given the
Peugeot ads, but it's certainly not the only source. For example,
ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley remains well connected, posting revelations that read a lot like Microsoft press releases. Paul Thurrott (winsupersite.com) is similarly tied into "unofficial" leaks that sure sound "official."
There are numerous other rogue and semi-official sites discussing Win9. Russia-based WZorNET comes up with tidbits from time to time; venerable leaker FaiKee keeps up with all the news in Chinese; and Neowin's Brad Sams seems to have access to many of the latest builds — although he's cagey about releasing information. The Verge's Tom Warren seems similarly familiar with recent builds, but he, too, comments rarely.
Many potential
sources are afraid of losing or outing their contacts inside the Windows
development team. Microsoft is playing the can't-catch-me game, with
threats of hellfire and brimstone rained down on any employee that
speaks out of school. Of course, that doesn't include those "insider"
leaks that sound suspiciously like stealth marketing releases.
What the photos reveal: The Start menu returns
Like a billion
or so other mouse-wielding Windows users on the planet, I was
immediately drawn to the return of the desktop-based Start menu (as
opposed to the Win8 Start screen). It's bellwether evidence that
Microsoft's new Windows team is listening to its customers.
The leaked
screenshots and video show a Start menu that includes a Windows 7–style
cascading menu on the left and Metro/Modern tiles pinned on the right.
You can even remove all the Metro tiles from the Start menu by
right-clicking and deleting them, one by one.
There are lots
of options for pinning, deleting, and drag-and-dropping menu items — you
can even turn the Start menu off. (After turning the Start menu on or
off, you have to sign out of Windows and sign back in.)
Not shown: Live
Metro tiles in the Start menu — for example, a Music tile that lets you
fast-forward or change the volume. That capability will probably show
up in a later build, no doubt touted as a revolutionary step forward.
I've since learned that MS will call them "interactive" Metro tiles — I
think.
Current Win8
users shouldn't forget that Windows honcho Terry Myerson promised in his
Build 2014 conference keynote presentation that Microsoft "would be
making those [Start menu] features available to all Windows 8.1 users as
an update."
So far, we don't
know whether the Start menu will appear automatically on machines with
mice and trackpads — though I expect that will be the case. My
assumption is that Windows will look at the system's hardware during
boot. If it doesn't find a mouse or trackpad, it'll revert to the
Win8-style Start screen. With some luck, it'll be easy to set a default
and have Windows stick with it, even if you forgot to plug in your
mouse.
In short, the
new Start menu revealed in the leaked screenshots looks great. I have a
problem with all the Metro apps dumped alphabetically into the Start
menu's All Apps list, plus a few other minor quibbles. I predict that
the final Win9 Start menu — if it's at all close to what's been leaked —
will convince 80 percent of all Win8 users to upgrade. Maybe more!
A new, long-overdue notification center
If you've ever
used a reasonably modern mobile phone, you know all about notification
centers, a place where those fleeting alerts are stored so you can
actually look at them. I'm amazed a notification center was never
included in Windows 8. As with earlier Windows versions, Win8 spits
alerts up on the screen, where they sit for a few seconds and then
disappear, never to be seen again.
In the new Win9
implementation, a window in the lower-right corner of the screen pops up
notifications as they occur. To go back to a recent alert, you simply
click the notification icon in the task bar and a list of recent events
pops up. Golly, that's almost as good as the original 2007 iPhone — or
every version of Android since 2008. Nice to see Windows catching up.
Bottom line: The Win9 notification center shown in the leaked video is hardly revolutionary, but it's at least usable.
Metro might become mainstream — or maybe not
Microsoft has
never come up with a concise and descriptive name for its tile-based
interface. The official "Modern" just doesn't cut it. Perhaps the
company will come up with something better for Win9, but for now most of
us stick with the officially abandoned "Metro" for clarity.
That said, based on the leaked videos, the support system for Metro apps will change enormously.
As widely predicted, Metro apps will run in resizable
windows on the desktop — where they should've been in the first place.
Heck, third-party products such as Stardock's ModernMix (site)
already let you run Metro apps in a desktop window. (Speaking of
start-menu replacements, they essentially saved Windows 8 in the minds
of many Win8 users. I wonder whether Microsoft will crush those products
with Win9?)
Those resizable
windows will have maximize, minimize, and close icons in the upper-right
corner, just where they've been since time immemorial. They'll also
have right-click context menus that might include an anemic settings
list plus functions such as Search, Sharing, Play, Print, Project on a
projector, and/or Switch to full screen.
Somewhat
unexpectedly, Microsoft seems to be toying with the idea of ditching the
Charms bar. You remember the Charms bar: those slide-out icons on the
right of the screen that mostly just get in the way?
Removing the
Charms bar might make some Metro app developers unhappy — those who
actually used the Charms bar for something useful such as for searches
or for printing. (Almost nobody has made use of the Share function, but
that's another story.)
It's a dilemma
for Microsoft. If it completely kills the Charms bar, third-party
developers who actually took advantage of it will have to retrain their
customers to use the right-click context menu. That's actually a bigger
change than it might seem, especially on a touch-screen device.
Expect the Charms bar debate to rage on, right up until Win9's release to manufacturing (RTM).
The screenshots
and videos suggest that not much has changed on the Metro/Modern side of
Windows. That's no doubt a temporary state of affairs; expect Windows
9's Modern interface to look a lot more like Windows …, Windows …, uh,
the next version of Windows for phones. (Microsoft is dropping the name
"Windows Phone.") On the mobile side, there are many changes coming down
the road. But we probably won't see them until the new phone software
and ARM-based software get a good shake-out.
Cortana and other worthwhile new features
The one feature
everyone's expecting, Microsoft's voice-activated assistant Cortana,
seems buried at this point. None of the screen shots or videos shows
Cortana at all. But you can bet that Cortana will be a huge selling
point for Windows 9. After all, Microsoft has to catch up to Siri and
"OK, Google!" — even on the desktop.
There are lesser
features floating in the shadows. For example, Storage Sense is a
mobile-device feature that maps out your storage — how much is taken up
by programs and how much by photos, music, videos, digital lint, and
other user data. It will likely find its way into Windows 9. (Never mind
that dozens of third-party apps already fill that gap.)
It's a near
certainty that Win9 will ship with Internet Explorer 12, though nobody
outside Microsoft has seen the new browser yet. IE 12 most likely won't
show up in the forthcoming Win9 Technical Preview.
I've not heard
about other new features, but Win9 will probably have stronger ties to
OneDrive in an attempt to make Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and the like
less attractive. And Microsoft will no doubt add more incentives for
using a Microsoft Account. It's also likely that Win9 will have better
support for higher-resolution screens and multiple monitors — and
possibly better compatibility with docking stations, making for easier
transitions from strictly mobile to slightly tethered.
What's the next development step for Windows 9?
There have been
sightings of builds 9835 and 9836 detected on the Web but no screenshots
or other leaks that I've seen. Given the information spilled by
WinFuture and the past release history of new versions of Windows, you'd
expect to see leaked builds from one of Microsoft's partners. That
hasn't happened, but it probably will soon.
Keep in mind
that even the official Windows Technical Preview is not completely
representative of the final, shipping Windows. Some features will be
added just before RTM, and others will be left on the cutting-room
floor. We saw that with Windows 8's Developer Preview and RTM — the bits
that shipped in the Developer Preview, particularly the user interface,
had changed significantly by the time Windows 8 shipped.
This much I know
for sure: I'm going to like Windows 9 — or whatever it's eventually
called — one heck of a lot more than I liked Win8. I know that's faint
praise, but Windows 9 has "winner" written all over it.
