Microsoft rumored to tout 'Threshold' as next Windows 9 OS in April

Microsoft will reportedly describe its future Windows operating system, code-named Threshold, at its Build developer conference in April, according to Paul Thurrott’s Supersite for Windows. The new OS will be known in the market as Windows 9, and it will ship in April 2015.

The report hasn’t been confirmed by Microsoft yet. Thurrott, citing anonymous sources, said that the release will be the next major version of Windows. Microsoft has already said it will update Windows 8.1 in 2014.

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The update is aimed at propping up consumer support for Windows, which has seen slower-than-expected upgrades with the Windows 8 version that introduced the Metro-style tiles with touchscreen sideswiping. The weakness has come at a time with iOS and Android are gathering momentum in mobile devices and are making incursions into new kinds of devices.

The mission of Threshold will be to reverse that slide. Microsoft is still firming up the features that it will deliver in the release, which is said to include Metro 2.0. That will fix complaints related to Metro. The OS is expected to ship in April 2015 after several milestone benchmarks such as beta testing.