As we have reported before Windows 9 will be copying the Linux multiple desktop. If the Linux foundation were like Microsoft, they would sue Microsoft to "kingdom comes" for copying their stuff.
This is a great function though and will make Windows much better. One of the things I miss the most when I use Windows is the ability to switch to another desktop, so Microsoft is listening to the market here.
The main problem for Microsoft and other tech companies has been that the market does not know what it wants, due to the fact that they do not know what is possible and how far the development has come. This has left it up to Apple Microsoft and their likes to innovate and go for what they believe in.
Market research on OS's is not that easy but there are some very recognizable factors that the tech companies must take in to consideration.
People do not like change and steep learning curves!
If you are going to change dramatically - make it under the hood and don't ask people to stand on their head and start the computer with the toe.
If you present something completely new this does not apply - then you only must make sure that people like it like Apple did that with the tablets. The tablet was something completely new and it would have been useless to make a market research about something nobody had ever seen or used. People would have said "no thanks - I don't have a headache".
Apple trusted it's guts and won.
Windows 8 was an attempt to win "everything at once", one OS to rule them all. That did not happen - so Windows 9 has it's task cut out....
So let us take a look at what is happening under the hood:
If Microsoft can make Windows 9 as dominant as prior Windows versions they will increase their control over the computer users of the world. The UEFI MS certification boot will give MS a control over your "Bios" that they have not had before. This is also the case with Windows 8 but that will never dominate anything.
The hardware you have bought is more or less limited to only use Windows, which it was not before. And people are not willing to pay for that.
There are signs that MS have captured this and want to make Windows 9 a service. Windows 9 could be free on all computers but you will have to register a Microsoft account and pay for the updates.
Put Windows 9 in the "clouds" so to speak - like Google's Chromebook.
Or like all those computers that come with Norton Antivirus and start nagging you after some months.
The Windows activation key will disappear and be replaced with a remote activation from Microsoft's database where your hardware specifications are stored. This will be tied to your personal Microsoft account.
This will enable you to disable your Windows installation on one computer and move it to the next - online.
So Windows 7 and Windows 8 users will probably get Windows 9 for "free". And Windows 9 will be the last Windows release as we know it, after that WIndows will be a rolling release.
The menu button and the start menu will be back together with the classical desktop. The tiles will still be there but you can choose them from the menu if you like the "Metro look".
Microsoft might also take this a bit further and let Windows look different depending on the hardware. If there is a touch screen you might get the tiles and if there is a keyboard and mouse you get the classical look.
And since they will have several desktops - like Linux - you might even have both on different desktops.
Here is a video showing how Windows 9 will look after all these wild speculations:
I have to admit that it looks pretty good and maybe Microsoft has found the one to finish off Linux on the desktop here - by copying Linux.
Microsoft has been "marketing" Linux as something communists play around with and have presented a lot of smokescreens to present Windows as better than Linux.
This time they might just have come up with an OS that actually can compete - which is the best way of dealing with the competition.
This goes only for the desktop. On Supercomputers, Smartphones and the "Internet of things" they have already lost. On Servers they are well behind.
Behind Linux