Microsoft is reportedly on course to ditch its troubled Windows 8 operating system in 2015.
According to tech blogger Paul Thurrott, the world's biggest software maker will confirm at its Build conference in April that a project titled "Threshold" will deliver a new operating system, Windows 9.
It was scheduled, he said, to launch in April 2015 following an update to Windows 8.1 this year which would also include phone software improvements.
Microsoft released Windows 8.1 in October 2013 after being met by a flurry of complaints about the original Windows 8.
The software ditched the familiar look of previous desktop versions of Windows in favour of a new tiled layout optimised to work with touchscreen devices, such as its Surface tablet.
However, many of those who chose to use the software with a traditional mouse and keyboard found it confusing and difficult to navigate.
According to tech blogger Paul Thurrott, the world's biggest software maker will confirm at its Build conference in April that a project titled "Threshold" will deliver a new operating system, Windows 9.
It was scheduled, he said, to launch in April 2015 following an update to Windows 8.1 this year which would also include phone software improvements.
Microsoft released Windows 8.1 in October 2013 after being met by a flurry of complaints about the original Windows 8.
The software ditched the familiar look of previous desktop versions of Windows in favour of a new tiled layout optimised to work with touchscreen devices, such as its Surface tablet.
However, many of those who chose to use the software with a traditional mouse and keyboard found it confusing and difficult to navigate.