Microsoft is reportedly working on the next major Windows version for 2024, and we got a look at an early design prototype this week.
Microsoft’s Ignite 2022 keynote was packed with news focused on Microsoft 365, but beyond what was officially announced, the company showed off something it probably didn’t mean to. At one point during the online keynote, a screenshot briefly showed a Windows desktop running Microsoft Teams, but the desktop doesn’t look quite like how we know it today, potentially hinting at future version of Windows – what we presume will be called Windows 12.
Typically, something like this could just have been a mockup Microsoft threw together for the video, but Zac Bowden of Windows Central confirms that this design prototype was being shown internally a few months ago when we first heard that Microsoft is working on a major Windows release to come sometime in 2024. In fact, a few other variations of this prototype exist, including one where the UI elements at the top are sitting on a translucent bar at the top of the screen.
As some users on Twitter were quick to notice, there are some big changes here compared to Windows 11. For one thing, we can see a floating taskbar at the bottom, meaning it’s not stuck directly at the bottom of the screen. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the UI in macOS or some Linux distributions. Additionally, you can see a lot of information at the top of the screen, including the current weather, a search bar, and system icons for things like Wi-Fi and battery. The screenshot shown during the keynote was fairly low-resolution, but Bowden created a mockup where you can see the UI elements with a bit more detail.
The goal with this new design approach is reportedly to optimize the UI further for touch users, without alienating mouse and keyboard users that make up the bulk of Windows users today. That’s something Microsoft clearly failed to do with Windows 8, and since then, it’s had a hard time finding the right balance to satisfy both audiences – though Windows 11 version 22H2 does make some improvements on that front.
Of course, none of that is to say we’ll necessarily see a UI design like this if or when Windows 12 does eventually release. After all, this is a prototype, and things could change radically in the coming months and years. Just recently, we got to see an early prototype of design ideas for Windows 8, which was being shown off internally two years before the OS was released, with many ideas that didn’t come to fruition. We’ll have to wait until we’re closer to the purported release date to see how the final UI ends up looking.
Source: Windows Central
I’ve been covering the tech world since 2018, and I love computers, phones, and – above all that – Nintendo videogames, which I’m always happy to talk about.
