Windows Blue: Microsoft’s plan to release a new version of Windows every year

[CyberNerd]

Windows Blue: Microsoft’s plan to release a new version of Windows every year | ExtremeTech

 

Way back in August, three months before the release of Windows 8, we learnt about the existence of a project at Microsoft codenamed Blue. At the time it wasn’t clear whether this was Windows 9, or some kind of interim update/service pack for Windows 8. Now, if unnamed sources are to be believed, Windows Blue is both of those things: a major update to Windows 8, and also the beginning of a major shift that will result in a major release of Windows every 12 months — just like Apple’s OS X.

[Arthur]

I assume everyone who said they were going to wait until the next version of Windows is released will upgrade to Windows 'Blue' next year then?

[Dos_Box]

So that's where service packs went!

[Zoom7000]

Does anyone else see a Windows Vista "Ultimate Extras" situation forming here?

[Dos_Box]

Does anyone else see a Windows Vista "Ultimate Extras" situation forming here?

 

You mean you didn't enjoy Tinkertoy and the Dream Scenes?

[FN-GM]

Oh gosh this will cause confusion for the none tech users.

[Tallwood_6]

I think this is going to cause massive headaches for schools, businesses and current windows 8 devs.

[FN-GM]

Im starting to feel that a lot of the big boys and girls (Microsoft, Apple etc) seem to be neglecting us who have a large amount of machines.

[flyinghaggis]

Im starting to feel that a lot of the big boys and girls (Microsoft, Apple etc) seem to be neglecting us who have a large amount of machines.

 

Yeah, there's a very noticeable change in mindset towards punting the OS as a consumer one first and business/enterprise second. I think they're going to the apple approach of trying to appeal to home users in order to get their products adopted at work. The adoption of the apple yearly update model is just more evidence of that. I wonder if MS is expecting companies to start rolling out virtualised desktops, terminals or simply embrace BYOD as every year it feels like it's getting harder to manage and maintain an ever increasing number of full Windows clients!

 

Still, in some ways it's good as the 3-4 year update cycle was far too long for a home operating system. Hopefully it will encourage Microsoft to innovate and bring out genuine new features every year rather than simply releasing service packs that are basically nothing more than roll-ups of hotfixes

Edited November 28, 2012 by flyinghaggis

[gshaw]

Call me cynical but the first thought I had when reading this was that it's a clever way to charge for service packs...

[Tallwood_6]

I think we are seeing the slow death of the managed desktops. I can't blame MS this is the only way they can keep pace in the current market.

[CyberNerd]

I think we are seeing the slow death of the managed desktops. I can't blame MS this is the only way they can keep pace in the current market.

 

I agree with this. The writing has been on the wall for some time.

Of course, you can still centrally manage and deploy linux desktops should you want to.

[SYNACK]

I agree with this. The writing has been on the wall for some time.

Of course, you can still centrally manage and deploy linux desktops should you want to.

 

Maybe this will provoke their management tools to get a little bit better with more focus being put on them. As fun as building a poor replica of AD out of a stack of undocumented projects sounds.

[CyberNerd]

Maybe this will provoke their management tools to get a little bit better with more focus being put on them. As fun as building a poor replica of AD out of a stack of undocumented projects sounds.

 

There is already some pretty good and well documented tools. Spacewalk, for example (commercially available through canonical or Redhat) is a fantastically easy way to deploy and update linux. You can send out any type of update or policy to multiple clients, be it a security policy, package or fix. It is web enabled, so if I want to update any of my clients I just log into the web interface, select the package and hit 'deploy'.

[bwestlake]

if they are going down apples route of upgrading every year then the price must be comprisable to mac os price!

[Garacesh]

In turn, Microsoft will drop the price of these releases — probably to around $25, just like OS X.

I'd be okay with this.. If they got rid of Metro.

One can dream, right?

[Quackers]

I'd be okay with this.. If they got rid of Metro.

One can dream, right?

 

I share you dream.

[sonofsanta]

Windows 7 was already enough of a dog to manage centrally (pinned Start menu items? Control over the login screen? Any of a dozen other reg hacks I've had to implement to perform basic tasks?) but now Windows RT/Win8 and this rumoured Windows Blue prove it: Microsoft have forgotten where they make all their money.

 

Apple abandoned enterprise to go after the consumer market; fine, they never had a big enterprise footprint anyway. But why are MS doing the same just to copy Apple? wtf? MS must make ten times as much money from enterprise as Apple do from consumer. It's like leaving a harem of twenty beautiful wives to try and win over the plain-looking barmaid in town. But you could just make her your 21st wife! You can have both if only you try.

 

No, I don't know where that analogy came from. I think I have problems.

[LosOjos]

It's decisions like this that are making the upcoming release of Linux Steam seem like a holy grail. Once that happens and it's proven to be a working model (i.e. all new releases are available through it at the same time as the Windows version), I'm ditching Windows completely for Linux - it's only the games that keep me hanging on.

[Garacesh]

It's decisions like this that are making the upcoming release of Linux Steam seem like a holy grail. Once that happens and it's proven to be a working model (i.e. all new releases are available through it at the same time as the Windows version), I'm ditching Windows completely for Linux - it's only the games that keep me hanging on.

Pretty much this. I don't dislike Windows 7, and even after the Steam Linux release I may stick with it, but I don't like the direction MS are going, and once it becomes time to either reformat or upgrade, I'll probably switch to Linux, too. Unless MS sort out all this Metro lark. Which probably isn't going to happen. But that would be the only saving grace.

[jumpinjamez]

Windows 7 was already enough of a dog to manage centrally (pinned Start menu items? Control over the login screen? Any of a dozen other reg hacks I've had to implement to perform basic tasks?) but now Windows RT/Win8 and this rumoured Windows Blue prove it: Microsoft have forgotten where they make all their money.

 

Apple abandoned enterprise to go after the consumer market; fine, they never had a big enterprise footprint anyway. But why are MS doing the same just to copy Apple? wtf? MS must make ten times as much money from enterprise as Apple do from consumer. It's like leaving a harem of twenty beautiful wives to try and win over the plain-looking barmaid in town. But you could just make her your 21st wife! You can have both if only you try.

 

No, I don't know where that analogy came from. I think I have problems.

 

M$ are not that stupid , they are going where the money is and i guess the enterprise and office apps are not big winners for them now.

 

I can see a AD in the cloud service for enterprise being launched by M$ to compete with Google Apps etc.

[localzuk]

M$ are not that stupid , they are going where the money is and i guess the enterprise and office apps are not big winners for them now.

 

I can see a AD in the cloud service for enterprise being launched by M$ to compete with Google Apps etc.

 

That's the thing - Microsoft made $22bn from their business division in 2010-2011. That's the division that makes Office, Exchange etc... They made $19bn from their Windows division and a megre $9bn from their entertainment division. The most money comes from their business stuff!

 

They made a loss in their online services division!

 

Interesting article showing this sort of breakdown - Why Microsoft doesn't need your money: Business brings home the bacon | Digital Trends

[Michael]

It's an interesting development this, but I see one potential problem. Microsoft are supporting Windows 7 up to the year 2020. From late 2013 as Windows 8's now here, does this mean we'll have 8 new operating systems before Windows 7 becomes unsupported? Most unlikely. I think every year is far too frequent.

 

Can you imagine creating hotfixes for 8 different operating systems? It would be a logistical nightmare and support costs would rise for sure. Running XP and 7 can be problematic enough in a domain environment, but adding more variations will just complicate matters.

[jamesfed]

Doesn't seem to be very much to this article as far as facts go - looks more like scaremongering to pack in the punters to look at the big PC world ads on their site....

[zag]

Maybe they just realized how bad Windows 8 really is and need to fix it FAST!