With Microsoft’s next version of Windows already named and scheduled for release next year, the countdown to Windows 10 has begun in earnest and with it, of course, leaked screenshots and videos which have begun to surface. The latest video leak is of an early build of the January Technical Preview, otherwise known as Build 9901, which is expected to be unveiled at an event scheduled for the 21st of the month.

The preview has a bunch of new features including a desktop version of Microsoft’s digital assistant, Cortana, as well as an updated user interface that includes removing the settings for each app from the charms bar and inserting it into each app. Cortana is barely functional in the build, and only contains information that was entered into the Windows Phone version of the app and synchronised to a Microsoft Account.

While the build is most certainly not a final one, or even a fully functional technical preview that will be seeded to the Windows Insider community, it does give a very good insight into what Windows 10 will look like when it is finally ready come the end of 2015. There are also a whole bunch of beta versions of some Metro-fied apps which have adopted a flat UI, much like the rest of the computing world has over the last year.

According to Mary Jo Foley and her team of tipsters at Microsoft, the January event will also be used to show off the new integrated operating system that will merge Windows RT and Windows Phone into one OS going forward. Windows 10 is expected to be made available some time around August or September next year with manufacturers getting it well before then to have systems for sale with the new OS when it launches in hopes of snagging what will be a large marketing budget from Microsoft.

[Source and image – WinBeta]