While a second update to Windows 8.1 is just around the bend, it's a larger update codenamed Threshold that's getting most of Microsoft's attention these days. Said update, which could arrive as Windows 9, isn't expected until the spring of 2015 although a preview is set to arrive later this year according to a report from ZDNet's well-informed Mary Jo Foley.
It should come as little surprise that one of Microsoft's main goals with Threshold is to make it a more viable option for users still clinging on to Windows 7 whether by preference or necessity.
To do this, the Redmond-based company will be adding several new features aimed at "desktop" users - a segment that many felt was largely ignored with Windows 8's heavy mobile focus. For example, the Start Menu was expected to return in the next Windows 8.1 update but it has since been pushed back to Threshold.
While it was nice to see Microsoft looking to the future with touch-oriented controls and the like, the reality is that many systems still rely on a keyboard and mouse as the primary (only) method of input.
It's still too early to know for sure but Foley's sources tell her that Threshold is looking like it could arrive as a free update for all Windows 8.1 users and maybe even Windows 7 Service Pack 1 users. We'll no doubt be hearing more on the subject in the coming weeks and months.
Windows 9 release date, news and rumors
With Windows 8 and now Windows 8.1, Microsoft tried – not entirely successfully – to make tablets part of a continuum that goes from number-crunching workstations and high-end gaming rigs through all-in-one touchscreen media systems and thin-and light notebooks down to slender touch tablets.
The general consensus is that it still has a long way to go to produce a unified OS.
Despite rumors of an aggressive development and shipping schedule, there's no official word about what's in the next version of Windows, but there are plenty of rumors (many of them from Chinese enthusiast sites that claim to have leaked builds), plus more reliable information from job adverts for the Windows and Windows Phone teams.
Windows 9 release date
We don't know if Windows 9 will be available as an upgrade from Windows 7 that you can buy as a standalone product or if you'll have to have Windows 8 to get the upgrade. But it may not be with us for a while yet – Windows business chief Tami Reller has talked about "multiple selling seasons" for Windows 8, meaning that we'll likely have several versions of it.
Some rumors have suggested late 2014 or early 2015 for a Windows 9 release, though the former seems wide of the mark. While claims and reports are all over the place, it seems like Windows 9 should drop before September 2015 at the latest.
In January 2014, well-known Microsoft blogger Paul Thurrott said he believes the company plans to release Windows 9 (codenamed Threshold) in April 2015, less than three years after Windows 8.
The thinking appears to be that the Windows 8 name is now too tarnished and that – in contrast to Reller's comments above – Microsoft wishes to clear things out by releasing Windows 9 instead.
ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley recently echoed these reports, citing sources pointing toward a spring 2015 release for Windows 9.
Most recently, prolific Microsoft leaker FaiKee released two separate documents that he or she claims to be Redmond's full roadmap for Windows 9 and other products. The first of which, released to the My Digital Life forums, pointed to text reading "Windows 9 Windows Preview Release @ 2015 02-03."
That appears to point toward a preview release of either February or March 2015. The second leak was caught by Myce.com, and is a bit more vague in timing but less so in the actual text. That alleged official document detailed a preview release between Q2 and Q3 2015, so by September of next year at the latest.
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