One good, one bad. This is the pattern many associate with new versions of Windows and with good reason:

• 1995 – Windows 95 – Good
  
• 1998 – Windows 98 – Bad
  
• 2000 – Windows 2000 – Good
  
• 2000 – Windows ME – Bad
  
• 2001 – Windows XP – Good
  
• 2007 – Windows Vista – Bad
  
• 2009 – Windows 7 – Good
  
• 2012 – Windows 8 – Bad
  

Needless to say they are oversimplifications (I like a lot about Windows 8) but history suggests Windows 9 should be good and I’m happy to say a flurry of highly promising new leaks give us hope that this will be the case. Let’s break them down:

 

User Interface – Return of the Start Menu

Screenshots of the new Windows 9 start menu appeared last month and now a two minute video courtesy of German site WinFuture has shown it in action thereby all but confirming its welcome return.

The big news is the slick integration of the traditional start menu seen in Windows 7 with the controversial Modern UI. Interestingly Microsoft MSFT-0.88% also looks set to give users the option to toggle between using the start menu or the Modern UI screen as used by Windows 8.

Many will say they can’t see much adoption of the latter, but for those with touchscreen laptops and tablets it will be an appealing option and one that shows Microsoft rightly isn’t doing a complete U-turn on the innovations it introduced in Windows 8.

Multiple Desktops

This is a big one – both in terms of usefulness and finally catching up to rivals. The ability to open, close and quickly switch between multiple virtual desktops has long been a part of Linux and Mac OS X and WinFuture has also has a video of this working on Windows 9 (above).

Unsurprisingly the interface is similar to both Linux and Mac OS X which will no doubt lead to taunts from fans of those platforms, but with portable laptops driving PC sales the ability to better utilise the precious real estate on smaller screens is vital.

New Notification Center

Concluding a hat-trick of scoops, WinFuture has also published a video showing a new notification center. It works in conjunction with the alerts posted by Modern UI apps and it groups apps, system and hardware alerts all in one place.

The video shows the notifications have little interaction at present (you can’t reply to Skype messages directly, for example) and acts more like a list of shortcuts. That said there is plenty of time for Microsoft to add greater functionality and offer it to third party developers.

GoFone with only ‘Windows’ branding – image credit: My Go microsite

Name Change

It may only be semantics, but recent Microsoft promotional ads also imply that the company is planning to ditch the numerical Windows naming as well as the Windows Phone branding and unify everything simply under ‘Windows’.

This is backed up by the My Go microsite for the ‘GoFone’ which shows the first ‘Windows’ branded smartphone. The GoFone still references Windows Phone 8.1 in the technical specifications, but leaked shots of its rear reveal only ‘Windows’ is printed on its back.

While potentially confusing, unifying the Windows brand should prove a wise move. Microsoft has almost finishing unifying the platforms’ respective app stores so the line continues to blur between the Modern UI and Windows Phone.

GoFone without Windows Phone branding

Availability

Microsoft remains silent as we near the middle of September, but it is still widely expected that a Technical Preview will be made publicly available to users before the end of the month. September 30 is the date ringed in many calendars and if Microsoft can deliver on the promise of these leaks we may finally have the operating system the company craves to finally drag users away from Windows XP and Windows 7.

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I've got a copy. I'll be installing it when I get some free time and when I do I'll post screenshots.

Yay! Thanks, Bob. I hate not having TechNet anymore.