The next version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system has long been rumoured – but now fresh Windows 9 screenshots seem to have leaked onto the web, revealing the future of the desktop computer. More than 20 photo’s have been shown off from sites WinFuture and ComputerBase – even though it would seem that the photo’s are from a “Windows Technical Preview” – they still offer a very good insight as to what’s to come.

The Start Menu and Windows taskbar have all received some fairly fresh new design work with new icons and buttons that look like a link to virtual desktop features. Everything seems to have been even further flattened with the design UI language across the board. The virtual desktop is shown off in some of the leaks in later photos, with a handy pane that runs across the bottom of the Windows desktop that enables easy swapping between both the desktop area of the OS and the virtualised system. Big news on top of it all is the inclusion of Metro-style icons hitting the regular desktop.

Things seem to be shaping up rather well for the new operating system, and should hopefully meld together a more refined experience for both business and consumers across devices.

As of writing Microsoft hasn’t commented on the leaks.

Image courtesy of WinFuture and ComputerBase.