Microsoft's Windows Blue may have just hit milestone 1

jimbo45 · 28 Feb 2013

Hi there
What does it have to do --any REAL leaks yet as to its purpose or is it simply a sort of SP1.

Cheers
jimbo

indianacarnie · 28 Feb 2013

No idea actually from all (little) I could find scouring the net, seems like more of a service pack but who knows?

x BlueRobot · 28 Feb 2013

Windows Blue is believed to be the first of a number of annual operating system updates to Windows 8.

It seems to be more of a Service Pack for Windows 8. Any release dates?

alphanumeric · 04 Mar 2013

I read something the other day that stated the kernel version for Blue was 6.3. If that's the case it will be more than just a SP. Windows 7 is 6.1 and Windows 8 is 6.2, 6.3 = Windows 9?

indianacarnie · 04 Mar 2013

Yeah .... but just for windows 8 users? Thats what struck me about the article. Actually thought "Blue" was going to be something for us all, i.e. 8.5 .... a stand alone if you will,but my understanding of this article says its just/only for 8 users which would effectively place it in the SP column wouldn't it?

oreo27 · 04 Mar 2013

Just to add more speculation to the matter, I've read that this contains UI updates to Windows 8.

It is however unnecessary if you ask me. A great application made me enjoy my VM tests of Windows 8.

http://www.classicshell.net/

alphanumeric · 04 Mar 2013

x BlueRobot · 04 Mar 2013

Windows Blue could be a new operating system, which is only viable for Windows 8 users, a scheme for Microsoft to make Windows 8 more universally accepted by everyone

Slartybart · 04 Mar 2013

Previous articles make Blue available as an upgrade to valid licenses of Vista, Win7, Win8 (maybe XP - can't recall)

In those discussions (rumors?) Blue was seen as a new licensing and distribution model. Annual subscriptions($40?) would replace a packaged OS, more frequent updates (mini-svcpacks) and Win8 was the name that would last.

Most of this is good news, I think. Except for the annual licensing. By the fourth year, I will spend more on the OS than I've ever spent on an OS. Some I still run after 18 years.

I'm not sure how WU plays into the scheme. Perhaps if you do not renew the subsctiption, you will continue getting updates through WU unitl the life cycle expires (same as current support).