It’s been almost two years since Microsoft made Windows 8 available for the world. In this two-year, Microsoft released its two major updates. However, we’ve still not seen any hint of the company bringing its Office suite into the future. Here we discussed about Microsoft’s Windows 9 release date and needs an updated office suite with windows 9 much more urgently.
Windows 9 Release Date
Until now, Microsoft has not mentioned Windows 9 by name. But the Microsoft China in a Weibo post said “Microsoft’s latest OS Windows 9 is coming soon, do you think the start menu at the left bottom will make a comeback?” That Image was quickly removed, but cnBeta managed to grab it. Interestingly, the post was accompanied by a Windows 9 mock-up logo.
ZDNet reports that suggested Microsoft is planning to release a preview version of Windows 9 in late September or early October.
“This date may change, but the Threshold version of Windows is currently in development and Microsoft plans to release a preview version of what will likely be named Windows 9 to developers on September 30th or shortly afterwards,” said The Verge.
Needs an Updated Office Suite with Windows 9
What is still complicated is that Microsoft itself still hasn’t delivered the ‘premier’ Modern UI experience: Office. Microsoft’s Office 2013 was the last major version of office suite, featuring a half-baked touch implementation. And also, Office is now available on both Android and iOS (with decent interfaces, too). However, it is still missing from Microsoft’s own store.
This is a huge missed opportunity for the company as many businesses start to consider lighter alternatives like Google Apps for Work, which works on quite every device imaginable. Not only is Google’s solution much cheaper, which is easier to use and deploy. Generally, startups prefer to pick up Google Drive rather than Office. The Younger generations are already being fascinated into Google’s products right from when they start school. There’s no big reason to pick Office when Google’s suite is essentially free.
If Microsoft did not announce an updated Office suite with Windows 9, it may be too late for the company to save the product from irrelevance.
