Microsoft’s Ignite 2022 keynote was full of Microsoft 365-focused news, but other than what was officially announced, the company offered something they may not have intended. At one point during the online keynote, a screenshot briefly showed a Windows desktop running Microsoft Teams, but the desktop doesn’t look quite as we know it today, possibly indicating a future version of Windows – what we assume will be called Windows 12.
Normally, something like this could just be a mockup that Microsoft put together in the video, but Zach Bowden Windows Central Confirms that this design prototype was shown internally a few months ago when we first heard that Microsoft is working on a major Windows release sometime in 2024. In fact, there are some other variations of this prototype, including one where there are interface elements The user at the top sits on a translucent bar at the top of the screen.
As some users on Twitter quickly noticed, there are some big changes here compared to Windows 11. For one thing, we can see a floating taskbar at the bottom, which means it’s not stuck directly to the bottom of the screen. It is somewhat reminiscent of the user interface of macOS or some Linux distributions. Additionally, you can see a lot of information at the top of the screen, including the current weather, a search bar, and system icons for things like Wi-Fi and battery. The screenshot shown during the keyword was a bit low-res, but Bowden created a mockup where you can see the UI elements in more detail.
Image credit: Zach Bowden
The goal of this new design approach is said to be to further improve the user interface for touch users, without alienating the mouse and keyboard users who make up the bulk of Windows users today. This is clearly something Microsoft failed to do with Windows 8, and since then, it’s had a hard time finding the right balance to satisfy both audiences – although Windows 11’s 22H2 does make some improvements on that front.
Of course, none of that means we’ll necessarily see a user interface design like this if or when Windows 12 is finally released. After all, this is a prototype, and things can change drastically in the coming months and years. Recently, we saw an early prototype design ideas for Windows 8, which were shown internally two years before the OS was released, with many ideas that didn’t come to fruition. We’ll have to wait until we get close to the purported release date to see how the final UI turns out.
source: Windows Central
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