With the much-expected Windows 9 preview release time-frame – at the end of this month or early next month, inching closer, a German site computerbase.de has published about 20 screenshots claiming that they are from the upcoming Windows 9.
If it is to be believed, the presence of the Start button is confirmed as opposed to the rumours about Microsoft is doing away with it. The Start menu is a mix of the Windows 7 and Windows 8 with menus and live tiles, giving users a familiar look and feel.
Beside the Start button, is a search bar which probably might launch a search for files, documents or folders as is customarily seen on other Windows versions.
Windows 9 would come with multiple desktop options and hovering over the icon pulls up a panel where the thumbnails of the desktops appear horizontally and the user can switch to the desired desktop quickly.
The company is also said to be readying new icons for File Explorer and Desktop and a bunch of other elements for Windows 9. While the desktop has icons for apps, some of the screenshots also featured Windows 8 styled apps with commands for search, share, play and corresponding settings of the apps within the context menus.
There is also the Notification area seen in the screenshots which would keep updating the user of the status of the computer performance, applications and all the activities going on. There are also some keyboard shortcuts expected to be introduced to substitute some mouse gestures.
The screenshots reflect the plan shared by the company at BUILD 2014 earlier this year and these features may actually be mirrored in the final version when it is rolled out generally. However, the company has not announced or shared anything officially yet.
