Windows 9. To distance itself from the Windows 8
debacle, Microsoft is currently planning to drop the Windows 8 name and
brand this next release as Windows 9. That could change, but that's the
current thinking.
BUILD vision announcement. In case it's not
obvious that the Sinofsky era is over, Microsoft will use BUILD to
provide its first major "vision" announcement for Windows since, yes,
Longhorn in 2003. Don't expect anything that grandiose, but the Windows
team believes it needs to hit a happy middle ground between the
KGB-style secrecy of the Sinofsky camp and the freewheeling "we can do
it all" days that preceded that. As important, the firm understands
that customers need something to be excited about.
No bits at BUILD. Microsoft will not be providing
developers with an early alpha release of "Threshold" at BUILD, and for
a good reason: The product won't even begin development until later
that month. Right now, Microsoft is firming up which features it
intends to deliver in this release.
Metro 2.0. Maturing and fixing the "Metro" design
language used by Windows will be a major focus area of Threshold. It's
not clear what changes are coming, but it's safe to assume that a
windowed mode that works on the desktop is part of that.
Three milestones. Microsoft expects to deliver
three milestone releases of "Threshold" before its final release. It's
unclear what these releases will be called (Beta, Release Candidate,
etc.) or which if any will be provided to the public.
April 2015 release. Microsoft is currently
targeting April 2015 for the release of Windows 9 "Threshold."
