I picked up some various Windows 9 rumors from across the Web yesterday.
In no particular order:
- It has a reasonable Start menu
- The preview will be released at the end of the month
- I’ll be trying it out
- It will be finished by the end of the year
- It will be available for purchase in the March-April timeframe
- They may do a promotional price early in its release, like they did for Windows 8
- If they do a $40 promotion like they did last time around, you probably want to buy it, even if you wait a while to run it every day
- It will be more liberal about allowing reinstallation than previous versions but will be harder to pirate (which sounds contradictory, but we’ll see)
- There are still rumors it will be free or really cheap for consumers, which sounds really hard to reconcile with the above
Like I said, I’m going to give it a shot when it drops in a couple of weeks. I’ve got a machine running Vista that can’t stay at Vista much longer–and I have no great love for Vista–and I have a machine running Linux Mint. I’m impressed with Mint but I’m curious about Windows 9 so I may very well load Win9 on it, then reload Mint on it after a month or so. I like having a Linux laptop around too much to go without one for too terribly long now.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.