It seems that we might see the newest Windows as soon as September 30 in a preview event held by Microsoft.
Windows Blue turned out to be Windows 8.1 rather than a completely new version of the Windows OS – Windows 9 will be that new version. As for interim releases, we’ll probably also get Windows 8.2 before we get Windows 9.
Things to look forward to:
Return of the Start menu-In Windows 9, Microsoft is rumored to be making a full reversal by bringing the Start menu all the way back to its rightful place on the bottom left of your screen.
Back to the desktop-Tablet users will continue to see the tiles when they boot up, but desktop users might not even see them at all — they could have to manually turn on access to get to the world of tiles.
Cortana-Microsoft’s Siri-like / Google Now-like personal assistant for Windows Phone could be coming to the PC.
Bye, bye Charms-Windows 9 is expected to do away with the charms bar, replacing it with a settings tab next to the minimize button at the top right of each window.
Windows for tablet apps-In Windows 9, users will be able to launch tablet apps within windows on the desktop. This will mean you won’t have to change to the Start screen in order to run apps.
Interactive live tiles-Live tiles in Windows 8 are a great way to get a snapshot of information without ever opening the app. In Windows 9, rumors are you’ll be able to click or swipe through information without opening the app. For example, you might be able to scroll through calendar appointments or delete emails right from the tile.
Better power management-Windows 8 doesn’t take up too much space on your hard drive, and it starts up in seconds. But it can be a power suck on your battery. Windows 9 is expected to fix that, waking up the computer’s processor just once every few seconds in some cases — instead of hundreds of time per second. If true, that could vastly improve battery life.
Cloud-based OS-Rumors suggest that Windows 9 might transfer some Windows capabilities to the cloud. The core operating system functions would still live on your computer, but some of the lesser-used features would run over the Internet.
Notification center-Windows 9 is expected to have a notification center, similar to the iPhone, Android Phones and Windows Phones. The notification center would show all your latest alerts in one place.
sources: CNN Money, TechRadar