Windows 9 To Revamp The Modern UI, Only For Touch Devices

The Windows 8 Start Screen

We’ve already heard several times that there will be two versions of Windows 9 “Threshold” – one for desktop style users and the other for touch-device users. Of course, there will be exceptions to that rule: like Microsoft Surface devices are touch based but will likely run the desktop OS version, and some touch-enabled laptops might run the desktop variant too. For desktop-style devices the main feature of the OS will be the desktop while for touch-style devices the main feature is to be the modern UI interface. Winbeta reports that Microsoft is giving the modern UI interface a revamp and at the heart of this new approach is making the modern UI “front and centre”. That means for appropriate touch devices the modern UI is the only things users will experience, no conflict between the desktop and modern UI. The Start Screen is also set to get a few updates: notably it will get interactive live tiles which allow users to interact with them without opening the application. Other new additions include a notification centre, which is rumoured to be similar to the notification centre on Windows Phone 8.1, the addition of Microsoft’s assistant app Cortana and the removal of the charms bar.

Of course it is worth restating again that devices which run the desktop version of Windows 9 will not experience any of these updates since the Modern UI is not present. That means Surface Pro, Notebook and Desktop users will end up experiencing the desktop environment only. The upcoming preview of Windows 9 is said to be for the desktop variant only, Microsoft is unlikely to release a preview  for the RT-style version of Windows 9. Check out more details from WinBeta’s extensive report at the source link.

Source: Winbeta

Image courtesy of Softpedia