Much to the consternation of Microsoft the standing theory is that every second version of its Windows operating system is fantastic, which is why Windows 9 should be on the radar of every PC user around the world. If history repeats itself, Windows 9 is set to be the best version of Windows we’ve seen launched this decade.

While Microsoft may not like it, the proof that every second OS released by the company from Redmond, Washington is good reaches as far back as the 90’s and goes a little something like this: Windows 95/98 was fantastic, Windows ME was not, Windows XP was incredible and Windows Vista was not, Windows 7 was a brilliant OS and Windows 8 has been largely shunned by most of the world’s PC users.

So with that out-of-the-way, we now turn our attention to Windows 9 which, according to rumour, will land some time in 2015 as part of the Threshold program which Microsoft is calling their overarching plans to update its operating systems.

Windows 9 will bring back the Start menu and put the focus back onto the desktop. In a new set of leaked screenshots from German site winfuture.de of what looks to be an early build of Windows 9, two more additions can be seen with the virtual desktops and a new search icon being added to the start menu giving it two of the features that are prominent from MacOS X and Linux.

The icons and the start menu have all been flattened out to lend more weight to the flatter appearance of the live tiles which now sit on the right hand side of the start menu. The notifications window, which houses notifications from Windows 8 apps, has also been given a new icon along with a placement next to the existing desktop notifications tray instead of living within the Charms bar.

From what we’ve seen so far from these and other leaks, Windows 9 looks to be on the right track to keep alive the Windows tradition of great OSes skipping a generation.

[Source & images – winfuture.de, Via – The Verge]