Microsoft working on Windows successor

Microsoft is developing a new web-friendly operating system that could possibly replace Windows.

The new OS, code-named Midori, is being built from scratch to enable better Internet -based computing, and better use of multi-core PC architectures.

While Microsoft is not commenting publicly about Midori, the SDTimes website has gathered together details from a number of documents that have been released about the project.

The system will all be ‘managed code' meaning it can run across virtual environments on multiple computers. Midori will run directly on x86, x64 and ARM architectures, and will also be able to run as a virtual OS on Microsoft's Hyper-V hypervisor.

The development, which is part of Microsoft Research's Singularity project, is in line with the vision of moving more and more computing processes to a cloud computing model. Midori would also address concerns that the Microsoft Windows code has become too big and to complex for an era of web-based computing.