Windows Blue is real, and it's coming before the end of the year. Windows marketing chief Tami Reller confirmed to Mashable that the next major update to Windows 8 is codenamed "Blue" and that it would ship by the 2013 holiday season.
"Blue" is actually an internal Microsoft
codename for the update, and the final product will have a different
name, although Reller didn't say what it would be. With Blue, Reller
said, Microsoft has three main pillars:
- Evolving Windows 8 for touch
- Addressing customer feedback
- Supporting new form factors, specifically 7- and 8-inch screen sizes
That last point is probably the most significant, since up till now
manufacturers faced big technical hurdles in creating small-screen
Windows 8 devices. It also means Windows tablets — such as the rumored Acer Iconia W3 — will soon be able compete directly with products such as the Kindle Fire HD and iPad mini.
SEE ALSO: The Problem With Windows 8
"What we did in Windows 8 was really to lay the foundation for taking
advantage of mobile computing broadly, whether it was tablets or
increasingly mobile PCs," Reller told Mashable in an interview at Microsoft's New York offices. "All of Blue is about continuing that vision."
Besides smaller screen sizes, Windows Blue will support Intel's
upcoming Core (Haswell) and Atom (Bay Trail) processors as well as new
ARM-based chips from Qualcomm (Snapdragon 800) and Nvidia (Tegra 4).Reller didn't elaborate on which specific features of Blue were in response to customer feedback, including the reported "boot to desktop"
mode and possible return of the start button, but she did say Microsoft
would be offering details in the coming weeks before the company's
BUILD developer conference.
Windows Blue would be an update, not an upgrade, Reller said,
although she didn't confirm if that meant it would be free for existing
Windows 8 users.
What do you want to see in the final build of Windows Blue? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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