Windows Blue: How it could reinvent Windows (or sink Windows 8)

November 30, 2012

With Windows 8's much ballyhooed launch barely a month behind us, alleged details of Microsofts next next-generation operating system have already begun swirling around the Net. And if those whispered rumors prove accurate, Windows Blue—as the rumored OS has been dubbed—will continue the seismic sea changes started in Windows 8. Blue would introduce a standardized software base shared between Windows proper and Windows Phone, and also move toward cheaper, yearly software updates. Is the rumor true? We won't know for sure until the middle of next year, when Windows Blue will allegedly be released. We can, however, examine the deeper implications of each aspect of the Windows Blue rumors—as well as whether the very existence of these rumors could hurt Windows 8's success in the short run. More frequent releases mean lower prices It's uncertain whether Windows Blue could be a service pack, a feature pack or something else altogether, but both ZDNet and The Verge report that it will be the kick-off of a new yearly release schedule for Microsoft's operating system—similar to the cheap, annual releases favored by Apple. After Blue, the "big bang" Windows launches of the past will go the way of the dodo. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2017470/windows-blue-how-it-could-reinvent-windows-or-sink-windows-8.html