Microsoft confirms public preview of Windows Blue in late June

[Night Hawk]

Before getting too invested in the report in the title we need a fast look at a quote from another article from ZDNet that needs a look.

What Microsoft is now saying (and not) about Windows Blue

Summary: Microsoft is ready to fire up the Windows Blue disclosure machine. Here's what to expect and when, according to company officials.

By Mary Jo Foley for All About Microsoft

May 7, 2013 -- 04:01 GMT (21:01 PDT)

Up until now, Microsoft's official pronouncements about Windows Blue have been few and far between.

But the informational floodgates are going to open in the next couple of weeks or so, said Tami Reller, Chief Financial Officer of the Windows client division at Microsoft.

During my interview with her at the Microsoft New York City headquarters on May 6, Reller outlined Microsoft's disclosure plans for the next version of Windows, codenamed Blue. Here's what Reller would -- and wouldn't -- say about Blue:

see full report

-------------------------------------

Since that proceeded the main article I thought it best to have a look there. And for the main report:

Microsoft confirms public preview of Windows Blue in late June

Summary: Microsoft Windows engineering chief Julie Larson-Green says a public preview of Windows Blue will be out for all Windows 8 users at the end of June.

By Mary Jo Foley for All About Microsoft

May 7, 2013 -- 19:19 GMT (12:19 PDT)

Microsoft will make available to anyone who has Windows 8 a preview of Windows Blue in June.

That's according to Julie Larson-Green, the head of Windows engineering, who made those remarks during the Wired Business Conference on May 7.

The timing isn't a surprise, given that Microsoft's Build 2013 developer conference is slated for the last week of June. Larson-Green said that Windows Blue will be available at the end of June to anyone with Windows 8 via the Windows Store.

Update: Does this also mean there will be a public consumer preview of Windows RT Blue at the same time? I asked and a Microsoft spokesperson told me the company had no comment. Tipsters have said previously that there will be a version of the Blue update for Windows RT later this year, however.

According to previous tips and leaks, Microsoft is close to completing what's believed to be the second internal milestone build, known as the Milestone Preview, of Windows Blue. Shortly after that, Microsoft is expected to make its one-and-only Windows Blue public preview available to consumers.

see full report

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

"Microsoft will make available to anyone who has Windows 8 a preview of Windows Blue in June."

So M$ doesn't give the north end of a southbound furry little rodent about those who don't have the original Win 8? If so, their marketing strategy continues to fail big time.

 

[jimbo45]

"Microsoft will make available to anyone who has Windows 8 a preview of Windows Blue in June."

So M$ doesn't give the north end of a southbound furry little rodent about those who don't have the original Win 8? If so, their marketing strategy continues to fail big time.

Hi there
Does seem strange - If I were doing this I'd make it available to EVERYONE - especially if it's a time limited version.

What would be the point of NOT making it available to everyone -- after all the whole point surely is to appeal to those W7 users who currently have no intention of even TRYING W8 - far less even THINKING of upgrading(?) to W8 from W7.

Bad marketing -- How is it these guys get paid MEGABUCKS for what seems obvious to anyone with even a HALF PEA SIZED Brain that this is appalling marketing. Besides a lot of W8 users won't want to switch to a time limited system if they are happy with what they are currently running -- it might be a surprise on this W7 Forum but SOME people actually like W8 in spite of some obvious faults operating it as a desktop OS.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Night Hawk]

With any preview that's all it is is a preview! As far as the W8 requirement obviously that has a lot to do with Metro or "Modern" as MS likes to call it since 7 and previous don't have the latest marketing gimics built into them!

I have to look at 8 in the same fashion of my opinion of the Google Chrome browser namely a "half baked OS"! Putting a disappearing hide from Start button on the Start screen would be a sad day as well! You are already in a full screen full of oversized tiles and then need a what? That simply would only place the shutdown and a few other options like Control Panel where you can find them rather then work out for the desktop platform.

Obviously there are actually quite a few that do like 8 while you may find most are accustomed to running tablets or smart phones and really haven't invested that much in desktops over the years and then be suddenly confronted with a tablet gui to replace a workstation ethic! Someone at MS "thought it would be nice" (daaaaa....Brain Dead Academy) to have the desktops running 8 look exactly like what you should only be seeing on Surface tablets or Win RT ARM units!

And just what has MS been promoting lately? The answer to all this is obvious being focus on tablet and mobile markets! The consequences are for those who fall into it blindly however and simply like 8 because it is new without questioning anything. "it's new! we have to follow the trend!" is heard often while MS has another agenda to begin with as far as why such a drastic gui change was implemented on what would normally be a desktop OS!

You'll notice the interviewer wanted to find out if there would be and RT Blue as well as a Win 8 Blue while who cares?! On a small touch and swipe device you are not going to be wondering about whether or not the Start orb or button and All Programs menu is returned in some fashion there! And this is why 7 will continue to still be the Desktop Champ of all time being what?

Designed specifically for the "DESKTOP" with a great deal of the bugs worked out before the retail launch compared to the mishaps with previous versions unspecified! Despite some of the mistakes seen in the previous version(Vista) it showed MS was starting to make progress in a progressive trend until suddenly we now have to look at tablet and buy into that?!

Well here's one part of that other article with some information coming from the outgoing MS CEO about small platforms which is where Win 8.1, Blue, Win 9, or whatever due out this fall soundling more like a Win 8 Second Edition to clean up what 98SE did for 98 1st in a different way however but still to clean up a mess!

• Reller repeated the same message shared by Microsoft's outgoing CFO Peter Klein during a recent earnings call -- that Blue will address customer feedback that Microsoft has been collecting about Windows 8 and Windows RT. She would not say whether the rumored return of the Start Button and a boot straight to desktop option will be among the ways that Microsoft does this. "We feel good that we've listened and looked at all of the customer feedback. We are being principled, not stubborn" about modifying Windows 8 based on that feedback, Reller said. She said Microsoft has paid attention to where people are getting stuck when using Windows 8, with the goal being to help people use the product more and more fully.
• She also reiterated that Blue, which will be available for both Intel and ARM-based PCs and tablets, will be tailored to work on smaller form-factor tablets and devices. She said it will support the various iterations of Intel's Haswell Core processor, and new Qualcomm and Nvidia chips on the ARM front. She also said that some of these new smaller form factor Windows 8 devices will arrive before Windows Blue does.

Tailored or rather "stripping down the OS" to meet the needs of the smaller form factor tablets and hand helds with embedded OSs very much like Windows CE which stated off with the Tablet XP.

 

[Layback Bear]

It seems to me Microsoft is not trying to bring Windows 7 user to Windows 8. Instead they are trying to stop Windows 8 users from going back to Windows 7.
Is there something strange in the water at Microsoft?

 

[Night Hawk]

You have to wonder what the actual end game is there! For those who skipped over 7 from XP or Vista if not running an even older version for example like 2000/2000 Pro more so then ME at this late date those would be the people likely to immediately jump on the latest and then regret not doing some leg work in the research dept. ahead of time simply leaping before looking.

When a friend went out and bought an 8 laptop to replace an old XP case you know the end result! He sold it to another friend who had his own old pc quit and the loaned case saw a new drive go belly up apparently where he simply grabbed that fast and now just ordered a 7 dvd! He is "grinning and bearing" 8 until he wants me to get 7 on it for him to get out of 8 entirely! Personally I would rather get the desktop going again once the problem is found and fixed to see 7 not Vista or XP running on it and simply let the kids play with 8 laptop! :sarc:

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Again it seems Ms has failed to follow anything like "Best Practices" which surely every budding young smiling student learns in the 101 course on any sort of Business Administration type of study.

1) Go out and find what the Market ACTUALLY WANTS - or WHAT IT MIGHT WANT if the product doesn't currently exist.
2) Design it
3) Flog it.

Anybody at Ms would have easily "sussed out" there were essentially two largely incompatible sets of users out there -- Tablets / Mobiles and traditional "Officy / Engineering / Classical desktop users.

(Some people obviously own both sets of devices but on the whole they use them differently).

Now I can understand Ms wanting to get a foothold in the newer mobile market - but it is so obvious they could have integrated the OS to work in either (or even Both) modes. - Some people even on a touch enabled laptop don't mind the metro interface - while largely traditional desktop users hate it.

If you look at Windows 2012 server -- a server version of Windows 8 -- you can elect to have it operate in command mode only (Power shell), a restricted plain Desktop GUI (essentially the classical desktop but no "Themes" etc like a workstation desktop would have) or full metro mode.

So it's not difficult for Ms to offer Windows 8 to operate in different modes if they wanted to do it.

It really is a "No Brainer" and the only reason I can think of as to why they didn't do this is that there were some really nasty and vicious internal Politics going on inside Ms itself -- probably a lot of in-fighting as to who would be the new "Top Dog".

Anyway lets hope "The sinner Repenteth" and sort the cludge out ASAP. But restricting the new preview to people who have W8 only rather than the public at large still shows Ms haven't learned the lesson completely yet.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Night Hawk]

Well this one the main grief I spotted right off about the Customer and then Release Preview builds of what? NO USER OPTIONS! While many may flog Vista at least MS used some good old "Common Sense" when seeing the options for Classic or the then new Aero provided with the OS.

That was mainly from those who would moving up from 2000 or XP into Vista. Now when going from a great working success namely 7 to Tablet? without any options? Give Me A Break!!!

Where has the rational gone with MS you might ask. But it seems everything falls into place when looking at how desperite they want to promote Surface and ARM by wanting "everything" which includes the desktop to look exactly the same and which also shows a complete failure in marketing strategy to begin with. "No we'll have it this way only!" sounds like something you hear from a spoiled brat rather then anyone with foresight on what will actually work out in the desktop as well as mobile market place. The two platforms still need to be separated to the greater extent.

 

[boohbah]

i think it is to give us nice windows 8 users a treat. i look forward to it.
its going to be interesting what the h8ters think about this
they beat win 8 to shit then complain when they cant play with it for free.
serve them right

 

[marsmimar]

i think it is to give us nice windows 8 users a treat. i look forward to it.
its going to be interesting what the h8ters think about this
they beat win 8 to shit then complain when they cant play with it for free.
serve them right

On the other hand, there are those of us who tried the original Windows 8 and decided to stick with Windows 7. If Microsoft really wanted to increase Windows 8 sales, why wouldn't they let everyone try out the "new and improved" 8.1 or Blue or whatever it's going to be called? If 8.1 / Blue is so great, it would be a huge marketing tool to prove to the hold-outs that it's time to switch.

 

[Iforgot]

i think it is to give us nice windows 8 users a treat. i look forward to it.
its going to be interesting what the h8ters think about this
they beat win 8 to shit then complain when they cant play with it for free.
serve them right

Maybe the Win7 users may feel just a bit Blue.

 

[Layback Bear]

I'm not a Windows 8 hater.
From what I read Windows 8 does work well on mobiles and that is good.
I don't hate peanut butter but I don't want it on my lobster tail. Put the peanut butter on toast where it belongs.
I don't hate Windows 8 I just don't want it on my PC. Put Windows 8 on mobile devices like tablets and phones where it belongs.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I'm not a Windows 8 hater.
From what I read Windows 8 does work well on mobiles and that is good.
I don't hate peanut butter but I don't want it on my lobster tail. Put the peanut butter on toast where it belongs.
I don't hate Windows 8 I just don't want it on my PC. Put Windows 8 on mobile devices like tablets and phones where it belongs.

Thank you!

 

[Layback Bear]

You are very welcome Lady Fitzgerald!!

 

[Night Hawk]

Maybe the Win7 users may feel just a bit Blue.

Only a little? Actually I think some 7users who rushed into 8 didn't feel Blue at all. They felt when realizing they couldn't get 7 back on!

That was seen quite a bit with laptop users without any recovery media and wouldn't have known about one guide here unless being pointed to it. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

Goes to show "Haste makes W8ste"!

I'm not a Windows 8 hater.
From what I read Windows 8 does work well on mobiles and that is good.
I don't hate peanut butter but I don't want it on my lobster tail. Put the peanut butter on toast where it belongs.
I don't hate Windows 8 I just don't want it on my PC. Put Windows 8 on mobile devices like tablets and phones where it belongs.

Awww.... don't you love being labeled a "Metro H8ter" instead of simply being seen as someone who prefers a desktop OS on the desktop platform?! Try Skippy on Ritz crackers instead of toast all the time! :roflmao:

The real problem is that somehow wires got crossed at MS and the new look for 8 was lost in the shuffle and being a lazy someone simply borrowed the RT gui and shipped 8 that way instead. One of these days when the MS Windows Library opens at some future date someone may be going through all of the original project ideas and suddenly run into what 8 should have looked like! "wat's dis?" "oh no! tis is wat was supposed to be on 8!":roflmao: Someone at MS got it wrong!

 

[Dallas 7]

I'm not a Windows 8 hater.
From what I read Windows 8 does work well on mobiles and that is good.
I don't hate peanut butter but I don't want it on my lobster tail. Put the peanut butter on toast where it belongs.
I don't hate Windows 8 I just don't want it on my PC. Put Windows 8 on mobile devices like tablets and phones where it belongs.

Thank you!

Times 2! Great post Bear.

 

[Britton30]

It's another gambit by the MS people to force Win 8 to those of us who don't want it and to sell more Surface and SurfaceRT thing-a-ma-jigs. Just my opinion.

Heck I just installed Vista on an old XP lappy, looks fairly good (did I say that?).

 

[Dallas 7]

i think it is to give us nice windows 8 users a treat. i look forward to it.
its going to be interesting what the h8ters think about this
they beat win 8 to shit then complain when they cant play with it for free.
serve them right

Most are not interested in playing with 8 whether it's free or not, they're interested in the FIX for 8.
People are hoping 8.1 is the "fix" for 8.
The best fix would've been to keep it on tablets and phones where it belongs, or else offer a built in interface option for the desktop.

If M$ had done it right to begin with, they wouldn't need a "Fix" and name calling like "h8ters" wouldn't be necessary because everybody would've been happy.

 

[Britton30]

i
think it is to give us nice windows 8 users a treat. i look forward to it.
its going to be interesting what the h8ters think about this
they beat win 8 to shit then complain when they cant play with it for free.
serve them right

Most are not interested in playing with 8 whether it's free or not, they're interested in the FIX for 8.
Just like 7 was the fix for Vista, people are hoping 8.1 is the "fix" for 8.
I think the best fix for 8 is to keep it on tablets and phones where it belongs. If M$ had done that to begin with, there wouldn't be any so-called "h8ters" because everybody would be happy.

Here Here!

 

[Night Hawk]

Most are not interested in playing with 8 whether it's free or not, they're interested in the FIX for 8.
Just like 7 was the fix for Vista, people are hoping 8.1 is the "fix" for 8.
The best fix for 8 would've been to keep it on tablets and phones where it belongs, or else offer a built in interface option for the desktop.

If M$ had done it right to begin with, they wouldn't need a "Fix" and name calling like "h8ters" wouldn't be necessary because everybody would've been happy.

Of course that's if M$ had been intelligent about it.

Well they "didn't" do it right to begin with! At first sight I knew 8 was off to a bad start and will earn a worse then ever rep then ME or Vista ever saw! But you have to look at where they interests are in taking a "gambit" as the blog writers quickly expressed when comparing what is being seen in the mobile market M$$$$ery is trying to capitalize on. Android is crushing Apple and Microsoft in the mobile device market | ZDNet

Now as far as Blue or Win 8.1 being the 'Fixer" for a real he8dache the latest offering has been to many those same bloggers are asking things as well. Are Microsoft 'updates' like Blue really more than service packs? | ZDNet

The 'Done it right" scenario played out with Vista when offering the choices of Classic or Aero in Vista when MS was despite some goobers of Windows growing too larger and bulky was on the right track corrected in 7 of making a more reliable OS found to be much more stable and 7 bringing in the MinWin kernel to enhance the desktop performance side of things. That was part of the 7 "SUCCESS STORY"!

Instead of "learning the lessons" of what does work M$$ery went off on a tantrum of mobile-itis sacrificing a trend of progression for "something else" that not many want! For tablet and other mobile shoppers MS has a product that competes with the Google Dooglitis and Fruit company crowds while the average desktop user is stopped inplace and shaking heads! The immediate failing seen in Win 8 was not taking into consideration supporting options for the desktop user in how they implemented Metronomics when trying to promote Metro 8pps store.

Now does that sum up some sh8rp criticisms or not? Options(sadly lacking) people is the one thing MS simply neglected to see incorporated in what they would call the latest what? version? Certainly not a "Desktop" version in the sense of the word. "well you can still point and click on large tiles!" "who the what? is this nonsense?!" is the average comeback question when most are shaking their heads!