Windows 9's Big Surprise

Windows is one of Microsoft’s main money makers, and the company is interested in seeing as many current Windows users move to its latest operating system as possible. However, no matter what the company does, there still are plenty of users who are on older Windows versions, including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. ZDNet has learned that Microsoft may be working on a huge Windows 9 surprise to convince reluctant users to finally move to the latest Windows operating system available.

The company is reportedly considering offering some sort of Windows 9 upgrade deal to XP, Vista and Windows 7 users, with a completely free upgrade option also on the table. This isn’t the first time free Windows 9 upgrade rumors have hit the web, but previous reports suggested that Windows Threshold (Windows 9’s internal codename) might launch as a free download to Windows 8.1 Update, and Windows 7 Service Pack 1 owners.

Nothing has been confirmed about Windows 9 yet, but ZDNet says that all the major features Microsoft is working on will be packed in Threshold rather than a following Windows 8.1 Update.

Windows 8.1 Update 2 is still due on August 12th, this month’s Patch Tuesday, although the update is not mandatory, and it’s not expected to bring any major changes. The Start menu button, which was supposed to arrive with Update 2, will be included in Windows 9 alongside any other major features Microsoft may have readied for a Windows 8.1 update.

Other Windows 8.1 updates might be released later this year as well, although they’re also going to be minor compared with the massive changes coming with Windows 9.

Microsoft will release a second major Windows 8.1 update this year – Windows 8.1 Update 2 – which will be available free of charge to Windows 8.1 Update 1 users, hacker group WZOR has revealed. The group also says that Microsoft will sell Windows 8.1 Update 2 for an affordable price to Windows users who are running earlier Windows versions on their machines and want to upgrade to the latest OS version.

WZOR also revealed that Windows 9 might be released as a free update for Windows users who have Windows 8.1 Update 2 installed, or at a substantial discount. Apparently a decision on the matter has not been made yet. Previous reports from the same source have also indicated that Microsoft’s upcoming major Windows release may be available as a free download.

Finally, WZOR has apparently revealed that Windows 9 Enterprise may have the ability to disable Metro 2.0. The company is expected to have a “significant” internal event from June 23rd through June 27th, at which point Windows 8.1 Update 2 might receive an RTM Escrow status.

The hacker group said that Microsoft has tightened its Windows security, making leaks nearly impossible – apparently, employees that want to use the latest builds will get personal Windows copies that will make it easy for the company to track down leakers.

The new security polices around unreleased versions of Windows are apparently targeting Microsoft’s China offices in particular, with the country being a major source of Windows-related leaks in the past.

On a different note, China is apparently a big reason Microsoft is worried when it comes to the Windows 9 launch, following the country’s recent ban on Windows 8 for government computers.

People still use Vista instead of 7???

I've seen it. It's like a scene out of a horror movie.

there is nothing wrong with 8, hell infact it's a rock solid OS and has great performance. It's just the user GUI that throws people, but under the hood Windows 8 is a amazing OS.

People still use Vista instead of 7???

I was hoping the big surprise was that the Xbox controller actually worked properly.

That's the real issue though.

My parents have a Windows 8 laptop, I tried using it for simple things, like using Word and Excel, and my god it was hard just to get to the programs.

I like the whole "pin" concept on the bottom bar on Windows 7, but when you have to scroll through pages just to find a program to use, that's just silly.

At least with the old GUIs, you could save shortcuts to things and use the start menu to find what you don't want to shortcut.

there is nothing wrong with 8, hell infact it's a rock solid OS and has great performance. It's just the user GUI that throws people, but under the hood Windows 8 is a amazing OS.

Windows Vista on the other hand... people seriously still use that? my god.

The main problem with Vista is that it's pretty horrendously optimized, so if you have a decent/high end system you won't notice much of a difference but run it on a cheap laptop or something? and may god have mercy on your soul.

you know you still can do that with Windows 8, you can Pin it to the Start Menu, the Task bar or the desktop.

Also another super helpful thing, don't know where a program or file is? just press the Windows key and on the start menu just start typing what you're looking for.

the Windows search function is pretty friggin' awesome

Windows 9 might come as a free download, but only to certain users

People still use Vista instead of 7???

Yeah, I only played with it for about 3-4 hours, and it still gave me a friggin headache though.

I have an older machine and have a legit copy of Vista but no copy (legit or otherwise) of Win7, so I have not upgraded. The difference between the two is nominal, anyhow. 7 was just Vista SP2 with a new name because Vista-launch was such a train wreck.

Anyhow, I think MS fails to understand that a lot of people don't upgrade because they're using older hardware. They can give me as many free copies of Win9 as they want, it won't stop my hardware being too obsolete to run it effectively.

Additionally, with Vista/7/8 being such resource ***, I still contemplate downgrading back to XP from time to time. I want to echo that same complaint with regards to every internet browser on the market, too. Not a single one of them seems to comprehend the idea that they do not need half a gig of my RAM to browse *** HTML (which isn't even getting into all the needless dynamic scripting that I wish Google and a few other sites would stop hammering into every page).

I tried using it for simple things, like using Word and Excel, and my god it was hard just to get to the programs.