“Lost” Windows 9 beta found
Remember how Windows skipped from version 8.1 to version 10? Lots of people asked, “Where did version 9 go?” After rumors of lazy developers checking the marketing number instead of the kernel number, and lots of ‘7 8 9′ jokes, the truth has emerged.
Windows 9 was skipped because Microsoft found an unfixable bug: Windows 9 required two power supplies in the computer. Most people do not have two power supplies, so Microsoft couldn’t continue with their plan of offering free Windows 9 upgrades to everyone running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
Without further ado, here are the screenshots:
Here is the default desktop. Notably absent is the clock in the lower right corner. Microsoft removed it while shuffling things around.
Here is the much-awaited Start Menu. This build had removed the Start Screen entirely while Microsoft was re-working it. This Start Menu also has no support for live tiles.
File Explorer. As you can see, Microsoft had included the icons from the final build of Windows 10 in this early beta. They were left out of most of the Windows 10 betas until someone remembered that they had paid someone to make these, so they pulled them out for the final release.
An early version of the Groove Music app. The release notes stated that one of the developers wanted to make Groove look ‘groovy’ so they gave it this skin, which was quickly scrapped. Note that Groove had a different name at this point: the person in charge of renaming applications was on vacation.
Windows 9 included the ability to choose higher screen resolutions, too, but these screenshots were set at 800x600 in order to keep the sizes smaller. Windows 9 also included a redesigned Control Panel, which differs greatly from the final release of Windows 10.
Windows 9 included an early version of Cortana, where Microsoft had decided to give the AI assistant a face so users could picture her. Internal testing showed that this was a bad idea because it gave people flashbacks to Clippy the Office Assistant, and so Cortana became faceless.
An early version of Microsoft Edge, then code-named ‘Project Spartan’. Microsoft knew people were upset with the changes in Windows 8, so they initially decided to revert their new web browser back to what it was before Windows 8. Unfortunately, this appearance gave people nightmares so they had to come up with something totally new.
The command prompt, which at the time did not include any of the new features introduced in the final version of Windows 10.
And there you have it, that’s what happened to Windows 9. I’d appreciate it if you did not try to claim these screenshots as your own, and if you noted the date at which I post these in case anyone else tries to leak Windows 9 screenshots.
