Microsoft Windows Could Be Getting Major Visual Overhaul, Job Posting Suggests: Report

Microsoft seems to be planning a visual overhaul for Windows, a recent job listing on the company's website suggests. The job posting has since been tweaked a little but the original requirement was initially spotted by The Verge. The company has been planning on making visual changes to the Windows UI for quite some time now in order to make the experience more uniform and cohesive. However, as of now, it is unclear when these changes will be implemented, but the report states it could happen this year.

A job posting for a software engineer on Microsoft's career website initially required someone that can “deliver a sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows” to bring new life to it. As spotted by Windows Latest, the job posting read, “On this team, you'll work with our key platform, Surface, and OEM partners to orchestrate and deliver a sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows experiences to signal to our customers that Windows is BACK and ensure that Windows is considered the best user OS experience for customers.” A report by The Verge ties in similar rumours to speculate these changes could be implemented this year.

As of now, the job posting has been tweaked and now says Microsoft is looking for someone to “orchestrate and deliver experiences that ensure Windows is a great user experience for our customers.” The applicant will have the opportunity to “build delightful, polished, experiences for Windows.”

Back in March 2020, Windows 10 crossed the 1-billion monthly active users mark and a design overhaul was promised then. It included changes to the start menu, icons, changes to Files app, and more. Then in October, it was reported that a major update codenamed ‘Sun Valley' was in the works and it would bring a huge UI overhaul. It was expected to be released in holiday season 2021 with changes to the Start Menu, Action Center, and File Explorer.

In November, it was reported that Microsoft is looking to bring Android app support to Windows in 2021 and refresh the UI to make it modern and consistent.

What will be the most exciting tech launch of 2021? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.