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Windows 8.1 Update is already out of the way and its now time to focus on what comes next. Last year, we first reported about Windows 9 and the idea of Windows 10 being a "full cloud based operating system." These details came from the notorious leaker, Wzor. Now, it appears new information has come to light about Microsoft's future plans for Windows. According to new details from Wzor, Microsoft will roll out another update to Windows 8.1 (Update 2) sometime in September of this year, during the Autumn season. Microsoft may refer to this update as Windows 8.1 Update 2 or may even call it Windows 8.2, as there appears to be some sort of heated internal discussion on what to call it. Microsoft is expected to roll out the Start Menu, showcased during Build 2014, in this update. Microsoft will also release some sort of next generation Metro interface with Windows 9, but we aren't too sure exactly what that entails. The Start button will also be present in Windows 9, on devices without a touchscreen and on server systems. The Start button will be a tad bit different on touch devices, but no details were given. Wzor claims that Microsoft may offer Windows 9 for free (which might not seem like a wise idea), but that is still being discussed. Microsoft is apparently working on a prototype operating system called Windows Cloud. This is rumored to be an operating system that requires an internet connection for full functionality. While in offline mode, the operating system would be similar to Microsoft’s budget operating system, Windows Starter, offering basic functionality. This obviously smells like something you would see in Chrome OS on a Chromebook. Could Microsoft be experimenting with something similar? Again, we must stress that this is a huge rumor. Microsoft hasn't offered any details on the upcoming Windows 8.1 Update 2, nor has there been any information on Windows 9 or Windows 10. Leaked information is scarce and things are a lot tighter ever since the leaker of Windows 8 was arrested. Either way, we've written up this story to discuss the possibilities. Should Windows 9 be offered for free? Would a cloud-based operating system be useful? Source

By Jay Machaloni December 12, 2013 Part I NOTE: Wow! Microsoft is thinking about bringing back the Start Menu and Modern apps on the Desktop. This is perfect timing! Here you’ll see why it’s a good idea and how they should do it. DISCLAMER: This is a non-functional concept prototype of Windows 8 built from scratch in Adobe Fireworks CS6 and rendered in Adobe After Effects CC. There is no download link or ways for you to use this right now. BACKGROUND Let me begin by saying that I love Windows 8. I have it on all of my computers and I find that is the best OS for productivity and awesomeness. OS X is good looking and polished, especially with the Mavericks update (A.K.A. fake leather killer), but I find that it is lacking some productivity details that makes it less comfortable. That was my experience with OS X as my main OS for a year and a half on the amazing 2011 MacBook Air. Yes everything can also be done on OS X and you can take the time to learn all of that to switch, but so is the OS X to Windows transition; it’s just a matter of where you are more comfortable. Linux is a usability nightmare the second you get out of the fake easy-to-use illusion layer they added with the new GUIs. Unless you’re a coder, don’t even think about it. Back to Windows 8 now! I love Windows 8 and it is my favorite OS to date, but that thing is filled with massive flaws. Some even said that W8 is a usability nightmare and even if I don’t really like that expression they are kinda right in a way. Confusion. Here’s that magic word! Microsoft has a lot of great ideas and they smashed them together to create Windows 8. They have some pretty amazing blocks, it’s just a matter of arranging them the right way. This research project started September 24th 2013. I had access to Windows 8.1 thanks to my dear friends at Microsoft and my main on-the-go general computer was a Dell XPS 12, I replaced it for a Surface Pro 2 right at launch October 25th. My test computers were always high density convertible tablet/laptops; the perfect candidate for the Windows 8 vision. My goal here is simple: Research and design an improved Windows 8 that doesn’t change the whole OS, something that could be easily pushed in a near update based on the feedback of the users and respects Microsoft’s strategy and vision. Trust me on this, I would LOVE to do an awesome new Metro style, blend both environment together or simply reinvent the whole damn thing and form the next big change in user interface design. Unfortunately, I want to find solutions that are incremental to the current version of Windows; something that would be an easy update to please everyone first. I talked to a lot of users, developers and even people at Microsoft for their feedback over W8 and what they like/dislike (special thanks to the Apple Core and Microsoft Tribe forum at The Verge for their feedback). From there I came up with 5 rules that needs to be respected at all time to insure that users are happy and their feedback is respected, but at the same time that Microsoft can go on with their planned strategy for their OS and the future of the company. Let’s stop with all the history and background crap and jump right into the laws, notes and the designs. BASICS When designing anything you need to lay a couple of rules that you need to refer to for every single decision. If there’s a problem with anyone of them, it’s a big fat no! Here’s my 5 rules for my W8.2 prototype design. 1) Microsoft wants to create a coherent store experience and ecosystem for Windows with the Windows Store. Let’s be honest here, when Apple showed the world how awesome a central managed application store is, everyone had to do it. Like the mouse, touchscreen and GUI interface, it’s something that can’t really be considered as a stolen idea or copying the other since it’s just an obvious thing that nobody got before. The Windows Store is here to stay and the design of those apps are to be structured for a coherent and unified experience. It doesn’t make sense anymore to scout the web through bad website and installers that want to fill your computer with crap by default when you can have a one button purchase/install/update/manage for your apps. 2) Microsoft is adopting a company-wide design language with Metro and the Live Tiles. Screw you Metro AG! I don’t care come sue me if you want to and Microsoft I’m keeping that Metro name! We need a way to call that new design language and “modern” simply doesn’t cut it. So yes, I will be using the Metro name throughout this research project. The Metro design language is here to stay and people gotta live with it. On the other hand, it is Microsoft’s job to make sure that it is relevant and useful and not to just stuff it down users’ throats. 3) Windows 8 needs to work on both touch-input devices and pointer/keyboard based computers. Look, there will be touch devices running Windows and no, splitting the OS into a separate Desktop and Tablet OS is not a solution. Windows needs to be flexible and work on all type of computers. You may be wondering why the OS on your Desktop computer needs to be tablet ready. Simple! Because we are evolving to convertible/hybrid devices. All-in-one desktops can transform into a big ass tablet and tablets into mobile workstations with their docks, flippy screens and keyboard covers. Having two OS for the same device under the same name is out of the question. 4) Users with mouse and keyboards do not want a touch-optimized experience. You have a tiny pointer that can aim on 1x1 pixel elements. We are talking about your main workstation where a lot is happening at the same time. You optimize everything onscreen to maximize screen space organization and you resize your windows to a perfection level. Then, you open the Music app and it takes the whole 1080p display just for your song selection. You need weird gestures to access the Charms bar, mimicking a simple touchscreen swipe that you can’t do and of course if you try to multitask with any Metro app, the whole Desktop with all your apps opened are treated the same way as your Twitter app. Not very optimized. Learning all the keyboard shortcuts is not an option for the average user guys, forget it. 5) Users with touchscreens do not want to go through a Desktop interface. You have an 8 inch tablet. You’re moving fast through the terminal and you need to get an information very fast. The last thing on your mind is to stop and try poking the tiny menu buttons of the Desktop. You should at all times stay inside of a touch-optimized interface and the fallback to Desktop should not even exist. Metro shouldn’t be on top of the Desktop; it should be your interface. Note Yes there will be a lot of spelling mistakes, unfortunately you will have to leave with it. The goal was to put out the information of my research, not to write a perfectly checked novel. Metro refers to the new design language from Microsoft and also the touch-optimized experience. A lot of people will disagree and please share your disagreements with me, but don’t say “It sucks” or “Buy a Mac”. Tell me “It sucks because…” or “I prefer the way Apple does it because…”. Explain your opinion. All screenshots shown here are designed with my Surface Pro 2 in mind, so with a 150% DPI. Everything will look scaled up if you don’t have a small screen with a high resolution. This research project or I are not affiliated with Microsoft in any way. SOLUTION All right, so here’s my big solution! You separate the Desktop and Metro as completely different environment you can switch between. This way mouse/keyboard users won’t need to use weird mouse gestures, giant start screens and full screen apps and touch users will never have to see the Desktop ever in their life if they don’t want to. Your files and apps sits in the middle and you choose which environment/interface you want to use to access them. At the end of the day, I want to see my pictures (HDD stored), work on my documents (Cloud/SkyDrive) use Fireworks (desktop app) and listen to my music on Xbox Music (Metro app). The thing is that I can now choose where and how I want to interact with all of them. How? This is particularly difficult knowing the big app problem right now on Windows. Let’s analyze this. CURRENT STRUCTURE From my research I see three big categories of applications. We’ll name them Classic, Modern and Hybrid. Classic Classic apps are your good ol’ Desktop apps that you’ve been using since, well Windows. The majority of them are a freely resizable quadrilateral with 1:1 pixel content that can be minimized to the Windows Taskbar, maximized­ to fit the screen or simply closed thanks to a standard three button on the top right. The standard navigation is a top menu bar and right-click contextual menu. The apps can be rearranged by moving and resizing the windows on top of an empty canvas zone called the Desktop. Modern Modern apps, commonly referred as Metro applications, are the full screen apps that everyone can download out of the Windows Store. Modern applications are flexible on pixel density, size allocated on screen and even some with screen resolution. The standard navigation is a scrollable horizontal panorama of content or a sidebar focused layout. The right click or border swipe gesture brings a hidden menu and options bar on the top and bottom of the app. The apps can be rearranged by sharing the screen space with a vertical separator that can be multiplied for more apps simultaneously. The separators can also be moved around so, one app could take 40% of the screen while the other two shares 30% of it. Hybrid Hybrid apps are the interesting ones. Skype for example exists as a Classic application and a Modern application. So as of now, you can load Skype on the Desktop and on Metro at the same time and access two very different apps simultaneously, each with their own notification system and design language. Same with Internet Explorer, you can actually open 2 tabs on the Classic app and the Metro app will be like a completely different app that has no idea that he exists with the same name and mission next door. This is a big problem, but a big opportunity! Then we have two environments. We’ll call them the Desktop and Metro. Desktop The Desktop environment is basically Windows 7. Take everything you know and love about Windows 7, make it a tad faster and better with improved file management, a more powerful Task Manager and some refined menus and complete it with a kill of the classic Start Menu and there you have the Windows 8 Desktop app. Yes I said Desktop app. You see the Desktop now isn’t the main interface of Windows anymore, they decided that our good ol’ Desktop is more of a place where you will go inside of a new Windows where you want to use all your pesky old ugly Classic applications. Metro The Metro environment is the raison d’être of Windows 8; the reason for this whole debacle and confusion. Metro is a modern looking touch-optimized experience that is taking over Windows. The design language with vivid flat colors, generous spacing and big typography doesn’t need to be limited to a touch interface, in fact it looks great in numerous Classic apps that are adopting it. Yet, the Metro environment is the only part of Windows that got the redesign memo and they built the whole thing on top of the existing Desktop. You’ll go through that environment with a lot of “finger” and gesture navigation like the Charms bar where you can access a lot of settings, search and interact with the OS and the app you are currently using. It’s a great idea… as long as you’re not on the Desktop or using a Classic app. That’s where the whole experience breaks down: Metro is trying to be a superior entity on top of Windows. Metro is treated like it’s the core of Windows; that everything is attached to and passes through it. The Desktop in Windows 7 gave you a single level where you could access all your files, apps and settings, but since Metro can’t really replace your Desktop yet, because Microsoft didn’t work out a way to use the Classic apps in it, you’re now stuck with two levels to access everything in your computer. The whole Desktop including your Classic apps is now considered an app inside of Metro; that is messed up! When you’re multitasking inside your Desktop, you’re using a couple of floating windows as usual. When you’re multitasking with a Modern app though, well half of your screen is, let’s say, my Mint.com app and the other half is the whole Desktop environment with all your Classic apps inside of it. The whole Desktop is a Modern app and treated equally as your Music or Calendar application... and all of the Classic apps are stuck inside of it. Since Windows runs everywhere, mouse and keyboard users are stuck using weird click top-to-bottom gestures to close Modern apps the Metro way and tablet users needs to aim at a tiny icon to close a Classic app the Desktop way. Adding insult to injury, Hybrid applications do not communicate in any way since they run in completely separate environments. So if you open a tab in IE Desktop and you use Skype Desktop, your tabs will be completely different on the Metro app and you will receive the calls in both environments at the same time because they’re completely independent. Where are your files in all of that? Technically… they’re on the Desktop level because Metro does not have a File Explorer. Yes, Metro is the main environment on top of everything, the Desktop is an app inside of it that runs other apps and your files are on this level because the top level can only interact with them without any way to properly manage them… DOS applications ran in a window to fit the new way Windows managed applications back then, they adapted and were treated as they really were: Different and older, yes, but another app on your machine nonetheless. Windows 8 is a blindfold to the past to move as quickly as possible to a new world and generation of computers. A brilliant idea and concept, simply poorly executed because they didn’t offer a smooth transition or simply took the time to find a way to integrate those apps with the new Windows. Imagine putting aside Windows 95 to use a full screen DOS interface to use your old important apps, that’s what they did here. PROPOSED STRUCTURE Look, I’m not revolutionizing the world here, in fact it’s quite an inelegant solution. But it works! And even if it’s not the nicest thing in the world, I think that it would work great because we’re respecting the 5 rules/laws established previously: Users are happy, Microsoft is still in their strategy and you can get there easily from the current version of Windows, 8.1. If I’m using a mouse, I don’t want a touch interface, but as of now you need that touch interface for some of the apps. If I’m using a touchscreen, I don’t want to pass through a pointer interface, but you don’t have the choice to get through the pointer interface to use some of the apps. An app is an app. Modern apps are no better than Classic apps and by that same logic Metro is no better than the Desktop. So why not separate the Metro and Desktop interface, put them on the same level and you choose how you want to interact with all of those apps. Yes some of them are not optimized for a touchscreen or a pointer, but do you need to be stuck in an unoptimized interface on top of that? “That wouldn’t work because those apps are not designed to be used like that!” I understand that point of view, but the basic requirements to adapt these apps for their opposite environment isn’t that big. Modern apps need gestures. You can already use a Modern app with your mouse and keyboard, the problem is killing the Charms bar gesture. This is why you add all of the Charms on the top beside the Classic “Close, Maximize, Minimize” buttons. They are already resizable (just change your screen resolution you’ll see) and worst case you make them snap during the app resize between a set of different sizes (a balance between the different screen resolution the Modern app can run and adapt in and the different layouts from the snap multitasking resizing). There you go, you can now interact with a Modern app in a window in the Desktop. Classic apps are even easier to adapt to the Metro environment. When using the snap multitasking, you will just maximize the Classic application inside its designated space either 20%, 40%, 50%, etc. of the screen. You don’t need to minimize the app, you don’t need to maximize the app and you already have a gesture in Metro to close applications. Give Metro a File Explorer, let it interact with files, folders and devices its own way. Get rid of the Charms bar and Start Screen for Desktop users, give them that nice design and Live Tiles, but in an interface that suits their navigation devices and guide your users in the process to make sure they understand what’s happening and where they should be. There you go, everyone is happy now. You can switch between both environments at any time and your apps will follow. So, I’m on my Surface Pro 2 using all my windows on a 1:1 scale when working, but when I need to move, I switch to the Metro tablet interface, everything gets scaled up and it’s easier to interact with them on-the-go or leaned back. My mother is getting used to the Desktop now, she doesn’t need to know that Metro exists! You want to sell tablets that can compete with Android and Apple, show consumers that they can use it as a tablet and only a tablet if they want to. How will this solution look and feel like? Let me show you. (Some screenshots might feel like Windows is a bit big for 1920x1080. Please remember that this is on a Surface Pro 2 with a 10.6 inch screen so scaling is an important factor here.) WINDOWS 8.2 BY JAY MACHALANI Let’s begin with the installation process! So to be honest, I think the installation process of Windows 8 is wayyyyy better than any other versions of Windows. The steps are clean, simple and easy to go through. I just want to add two important steps. First, an environment selection screen that actually explains both of them. It’s important for the users to understand that there’s two environments on their computer and which one is best for them. Simple examples, illustrations and put the best one by default if it’s a tablet or a laptop/PC. Also, add a simple list on the top to show users where they are in the setup process. Just a little recommendation to show the users what’s coming in the process and how many steps are remaining. Second, a “don’t worry” screen. With Windows 8.1 you added a new Help and Tips section, great! But, in your head you though that the users who will have some troubles using your operating system will know by themselves that there is a help section between all those multicolored bright squares, the exact squares that are scaring them, not so great. Tell them that there’s a big nice orange rectangle filled with tips if they need help. If they look at the Start Screen and they’re lost, they’ll remember that orange rectangle and they’ll look for it. They won’t really need to do that since “Open the Help app after the installation” is checked by default. In case they uncheck it, they’ll know it’s still there. Here it is! The Desktop we all love. Now I think that Windows 7 nailed the Desktop and since this project is about fixing Windows 8 and not refining/rethinking it, I did some simple obvious modifications to our beloved environment. The Desktop will now use the color from your personalization settings. In the future why not sync the color between your PC, tablet, phone and Xbox; that would be awesome! The time, date and icons got a little bigger and makes it easier for the users with a super small/dense screen like me with my Surface Pro 2 or even my Dell XPS 12. You can pin Classic, Modern and Hybrid apps on the Taskbar. If you’re wondering why there’s a padding or dead zone around the Taskbar you will see that this is an aesthetic choice first, but there’s a feature behind this. Of course, an option to disable it would be there and some shots even have the dead zone disabled to show it. The File Explorer in Windows 8 looks like crap. You’re pushing flat digital design and I’m still seeing Vista-inspired 3D super icons from the WOW era of Windows (remember when you failed to deliver the awesome Longhorn concept with WinFS). Also, keep that ribbon closed by default, it works and looks great with just the titles. Every folder and detail will use your chosen color for a uniform design with the exception of the main folders, special folders and SkyDrive. I’m taking the same app colors you used in the Modern version of the corresponding app and making it standard across the OS. Your Videos folder and Xbox Video app now uses the same color for subtle reconnaissance. Otherwise, it’s the best File Explorer out there and one of the big reason I couldn’t live with OS X. Sorry guys, but when I save a file and I need bigger icon previews, there’s no way I go in a sub menu to change it, I want my CTRL+MOUSE WHEEL shortcut! Here’s some more shots of the Desktop and File Explorer adapting to your wallpaper or chosen color. Oh boy here we go: I brought the Start Menu back. If we want to separate the Desktop and Metro environment we need a way for each of them to access apps, files and basic features like search, notifications and settings. Since we need to kick out the Metro Start Screen and Charms bar from the Desktop, let’s just bring back the good ol’ Start menu that worked so good for all these years. If you hate it, who cares, you’ll be in the Metro environment anyways! This is not the old Start Menu, so please give me a chance to explain the idea here. You can make it bigger or smaller, pin your apps and live tiles, resize them, get a quick access to the Classic apps Jumplist (loved that feature from Windows 7), access the notification center, settings, power options and search. It makes sense. Give Windows 8 to any regular user that show him how to shut down his/her computer through a gesture to open a sidebar with three menus and his reaction will be my proof. Everything is there and easy to access and click, we’re following all of the rules and you still get that Modern/Metro touch. Everybody wins. The new Start Menu would be very flexible. You want it smaller, no problem. You want it to take half of your screen to make sure you get all the information you need through Live Tiles goodness like a dozen of stock market Tiles, no problem. You want the thing to be horizontal and give you all the recent thing you used on Windows like apps, people or search queries, no problem. Microsoft killed the Start menu because it wasn’t flexible enough and didn’t play nice with the new Modern vision. Why kill it when you can adapt it! Personally, I think that it looks awesome. A modern, clean and flexible interface for work and play. Here you can see that I plugged my Nokia Lumia 920 and I have a quick access to the different folders and battery/storage information. Again, keeping the colors for documents, music, videos, etc. So that’s it for the Desktop. There’s a lot more that could be done, but remember the objective here is to bring Windows 8 to a workable level, to get a solid base to build on and improve. Let’s leave the Desktop and switch to the Metro environment shall we? Source Please find the Part II below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeaSRWQkyiU]www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeaSRWQkyiU