Rumor: Future Microsoft OS to run phones, PCs, tablets, consoles--and may leave 'Windows' in the dust

That image you see above is Microsoft's plan for the future: one ecosystem across multiple devices. It's an extremely bold dream, and Windows Phone has undoubtedly been the catalyst for Microsoft's ambition. It's clear the even slight success Windows Phone has received has translated over to Microsoft's plans including the incredible work done on Windows 8.

However according to This is my next's Nilay Patel, Microsoft is plotting even bigger moves in the future for their post-Windows 8 operating system. Here's a quote from the article (bold emphasis ours):

What we’ve been told is that Microsoft is planning to somehow harmonize not only Windows for PCs and Windows Phone, but also the Xbox operating system sometime within the next four years — a timeframe that perfectly lines up with both the end of the Xbox 360′s 10-year lifecycle and the end of Windows 8′s expected three-year run. That would mean Microsoft’s next next OS will run on PCs, tablets, phones, and the next-gen Xbox when it hits sometime in 2015 / 2016.

Patel goes on to say his sources have also confirmed that the Windows brand may be ditched in favor of something new. That means we could be looking at a big revolutionary step forward for all of Microsoft's platforms by 2016 that may not even carry over the now 25-year old brand. We thought Windows 8 was the revolution-- instead it could be the Darwinian stepping stone to Microsoft's future. Color us excited.

Source: This is my next