It also seems that Microsoft might also believe in this myth as there are several rumors saying they will be ramping up the move to Windows 9 instead of trying to make Windows 8 work. This is very similar to what we saw with Windows Vista. The market simply did not like what they saw in Vista and stuck it out with Windows XP even when threatened with being cut off from patches.

Now that Windows XP is truly cut off from the mother ship in terms of support we are seeing an upturn in Windows 7 installations, but this has not extended into Windows 8. There is even some data that suggests people are buying new hardware and simply installing their old copies of Windows 7 on it. In situation where they are unable to do that the data suggests they are buying a start menu replacement application.

This trend has forced Microsoft to make some shifts in priority and also in the direction that Windows is going. Originally we were hearing that Windows 9 would be very cloud based with a similar UI and feel to Windows 8. Now we have heard directly from Microsoft at the BUILD conference that Windows 9 will have a new type of start menu, but it will be there with the desktop as the primary UI. We are also hearing that the cloud push will not be as big as it was in Windows 8.x, it will still be there just in a much more subdued form.

If these rumors and leaks are true then Windows 8.x will get its last feature update in the form of Windows 8.2 next month in August and then fall to just patches. Windows 9 could hit the market late this year with a full launch to the public in early 2015.

Tell us what you think in our Forum