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Microsoft’s Windows 8 hasn’t received much love, from either users or the tech press. It’s no surprise, then, that rumors are swirling that Microsoft is ready to kill Windows 8 and start from scratch with its next version of the operating system. Woody Leonhard, a writer for the website of InfoWorld, recently had a look at these rumors and what they could mean for consumers.

The rumors

Leonhard’s story concentrates on Threshold, the name that Microsoft is supposedly using for its next wave of Windows update. As outlined by Leonhard, the goal of Threshold is to allow consumers to perform high-level activities across all Microsoft platforms, Windows, Windows RT, Windows Phone and Xbox. If the company can achieve this goal, Leonhard writes, it could be a good step toward eliminating the bad taste left by Windows 8.

Three versions

Leonhard points out published stories by such tech sites as ZDNet to demonstrate that Microsoft will soon be unveiling three new Threshold-level versions of Windows. The first is going to be modernized Metro consumer version. You’ll also have a traditional consumer version and an Enterprise version centered on business users.

A better Windows 7?

The hope of Leonhard and other tech writers is that these new versions of Windows are like amped-up versions of Windows 7. This makes sense: Users liked Windows 7 since it was easy to use and simple to navigate. In other words, it was the opposite of Windows 8. As Leonhard writes, if Microsoft wishes to make users happy, its next versions of Windows should include those things that worked in Windows 7 and then make them better.