Microsoft China reveals Windows 9's logo

Microsoft Windows 9's logo may have been accidentally outed by the company’s Chinese arm just 28 days before the company reportedly plans to officially unwrap the new version of Windows.

A post on the Microsoft China Weibo page, reported by CN Beta, showed a number nine made up of Windows tiles that have become a familiar feature of recent versions of the OS with the word Windows written underneath.

The leak holds added significance as Microsoft still hasn't confirmed what it is calling the new OS version that has been nicknamed "Threshold" for some time, and this would seem to confirm that it is going to stick to the numbering used by its two predecessors.

Developers will be able to get hands on the new OS version later this month when it releases it to manufacturers and developers on 30 September, as a preview, and there is a great deal of rumors that Microsoft will offer it as a free upgrade to Windows 8.1 owners, when it is released next year.

Some of the features that it expects to include are the ability to boot directly to desktop instead of the modern interface, the return of being able to shut down the machine from the Start menu, and it's likely to have deep integration with Microsoft's Cortana personal assistant as well.

As well as bringing back the start menu it is also set to give the UI a fresh lick of paint to differentiate it from Windows 8 and it's almost nailed on that there will be yet more changes before it finally reaches consumers at some point in the next 12 to 15 months.

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