A look ahead: Microsoft Windows 9 (Windows Blue)

Windows Blue (Microsoft Windows 9)

Okay, it may be way too soon to confidently label Windows 8 either a success story or a big failure, but you can agree with me it's never early enough to ask the "what's next" question, especially in conjunction with a rumored mid-2013 update secretly referred to as “Windows Blue”... Microsoft will have to deliver a funky balancing act with its next Windows 9. It should be able to satisfy its existing users while at the same instance make a transition from the "old" desktop paradigm to the new "touch-first" interface. As it now stands, there's absolutely room for improvement!

The Windows team recently declined to give any answers about how it might build on Windows in the near futurecso here's one suggestion to showcase a potential track towards Windows 9.

Kill the desktop!
With Windows 8, Microsoft denoted the desktop user interface. Instead of being the main attraction when you turn on the device, it's just one app among many on the new “trendy” Start screen. The fact that Windows 8 is essentially 2 operating systems in 1 gives impetus to some interesting hybrid devices such as Surface Pro, but it has also attracted criticism from people who find the desktop vs start screen confusing. Let’s be totally honest, killing the desktop in Windows 9 would be an extreme step for a company that built their entire range of operating systems on just that interface for all those years, but Microsoft could certainly arrange for a cleaner future transition. The desktop may live on, provided it's in a way that doesn't seem so jarring next to the new interface.