Two separate reports claim that Microsoft plans to offer more direct ways for people to give feedback on the preview version of the next Windows OS, code named "Threshold".
ZDNet and Neowin, citing unnamed sources, claim that if a person using the preview version of Threshold opts to get automatic updates to the OS, they may get builds with features that won't be available for others who have downloaded the preview version. Microsoft will gather data from these different configurations in order to figure out which features will work best for the final version of Threshold.
Microsoft may also offer some feedback surveys with the Threshold preview version for users to complete, which will cover a range of different topics. As with the different preview builds, Microsoft will take the data from the surveys to help shape what the final version of the next Windows will be like.
If these reports are accurate, it would be a "win-win" for Microsoft and users of Windows. Microsoft will get the information it really needs to make Threshold the best version of Windows it can be, while users can feel that they had a more direct influence on its development. It certainly would be a change compared to when Windows 8 was launched in 2012. Microsoft decided to take away the Start menu from the desktop and forced people to boot to the Start screen instead of the desktop UI. Both moves angered many long time Windows users.
Microsoft has since given Windows 8.1 users the option to boot directly to the desktop interface and it plans to return a version of the Start menu to the desktop for Threshold. As we have reported before, Microsoft could announce the next version of Windows on September 30 as part of a rumored press event, and launch that developer preview version to the public on that date or shortly afterward. The final version, which may or may not be called Windows 9, could be released in the spring of 2015.
Would you like to see and fill out surveys and get different builds of Threshold when the preview version is released?
