Microsoft readying multiple Windows Blue servers and a Blue Windows RT build
Summary: There's more confirmation (if you needed/wanted it) that Microsoft is readying Blue builds of Windows RT and Windows Server.
It shouldn't be too much of a surprise to anyone who has been following the Windows Blue rumors and news, but there's now more confirmation about Microsoft's plans to release both a Windows RT version and multiple server versions of Windows Blue.
On March 24, what appeared to be a build of Windows Blue leaked to the Web. Some called this build a "partner" build of Windows Blue. One of my trusted sources has told me that the leaked build, number 9364, is real and is a direct internal engineering build, current as of the past week or so.
Stephen Chapman of MSFTKitchen did a teardown of the leaked bits. He discovered mentions of the following Windows Blue SKUs that are apparently in the works:
- Windows Blue RT
- Windows Blue Personal
- Windows Blue Professional
- Windows Blue Standard Server
- Windows Blue Enterprise Server
- Windows Blue Datacenter Server
- Windows Blue Web Server
Update: As Most Valuable Professional Aidan Finn (@joe_elway) reminded me, as of Windows Server 2012, Microsoft dropped Web Server and Enterprise Server from its Windows Server line-up. So there may be shadows of the past reflected in this in-development list. The current Win Server 2012 versions include Standard, Essentials, Datacenter and Foundation. The only thing that seems for sure is there will be multiple Win Server Blue editions, which is, again, what one would expect.
Chapman's discovery means we now have further confirmation that Microsoft will be almost certainly making a Blue version of Windows RT available, alongside two new Windows client builds (Personal and Professional), plus multiple server SKUs.
Windows Blue client and server builds are expected to be released to manufacturing in late summer this year. There will also be a Windows Phone Blue product coming some time after that, sources have said. Microsoft officials are continuing to decline to say anything about any of the Blue releases.
While talking Blue, I want to point out a couple of observations from around the Web about the leaked build. As many sites have previously reported, Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) is built into Blue. Neowin noted this past weekend that IE11 may include tab-syncing functionality, which could potentially allow users to sync tabs across Windows Phone and Windows, going forward.
And as my Windows Weekly cohost Paul Thurrott (whose image of the leaked Blue build I've embedded in this post) noted, more and more of the settings that are currently built into the Windows 8 Control Panel (in the Desktop) are going Metro. Though Microsoft definitely isn't phasing out the Desktop with Blue, it's slowly chipping away at making the Desktop less necessary for its own software and services.
It will be interesting to see when there are enough Metro-style apps to embolden the company enough to totally remove the Desktop, which allows Win32 programs to run on Windows 8. I'd bet that won't be any time soon.
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Talkback
Discontinued Server SKUs
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Blue is a footstep in the right direction. Unifying the Windows experience all over the Windows catalog is the best way Microsoft can demonstrate once again their relevancy and their level of Integration of their OS and services. On that matter, they are completely in a show of their own. Windows will soon be the same software with various added functionality based on the running environment. Upgrading their Os the way are planning to do it now over the next years will also enhance the user’s experience.
Today, it seem like it has become somehow important to take position on who is the company to follow. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Ubuntu, etc. Some comments here are just amazing and they can become very personal, very soon in a thread. Technology is the new religion in this faithless world. But in this ideological and almost biblical war, don’t count Ms to be over. Not even close. More and more systems are available and that is a good thing for us. The fact that Ms will survive and even thrive is also a good thing for all of us. Thanks to MJF for bringing unbiased information on MS.
RE:
Microsoft Windows 8 is a failure, and despite it's slight bump in market share, it will remain a failure. It's looking like Blue will be a failure also. Ciao.
Nop...
Too bad for anyone who fails to acknowledge the fact that Windows 8 has something for it and that MS is making it better as we speak. On a portable touch device it really shines. Too bad for anyone who can’t acknowledge that Apple is running on the same ideas they had between 2001 and 2003. Too bad for anyone who can’t acknowledge how Google is becoming richer and richer every day because of other’s technology and everybody content and personal data. I, for myself, acknowledge that MS as a long way to go before they reach their goal. My impressions are that MS’s goals are closer right now from mine. If it makes me a MS fanboy because of that so be it. But I am also an Apple, a Blackberry, a Linux and a Google Fanboy the same way
RE:
Whatever
Here's the problem, gbouchard99@...
Notice that without knowing you, and disregarding what you wrote came to dismiss everything you said under the banner of "it's obvious that you are just willfully ignorant"
They think they're fooling everyone. ;)
And Apple is running on ideas they had in 2001 and 2003
ROFLOL!!!
instant success ?
These product came from a plan. A plan that Steve Jobs had in is head about where the company needed to go and the product that needed to be made to achieve these goals. Yes it was planned in the early 2000’s and it took several year realise.
Now they obviously ran out of ideas some time ago. The last 4 iPhone are simply better version of the previous one, same with the iPad. In fact, all these product are basically the same except for the size and capability.
Those who forget the past...
Horses for Courses
Even the relatively less disruptive GUI changes in Vista & W7 have stopped many of my older friends from replacing the aging XP boxes they're comfortable with.
I like to examine new technology & use Linux, Android, W7 & 8 on our multiple devices but admit to being an XP desktop fan myself when at home.
Well said
There is simple explanation of all this
Those who like you are Microsoft faithful are becoming minority.
If you insist to be technology fanboy, then you should consume anything Microsoft with a grain of salt. Don't worry, they won't go away any time soon.
I am a technology fan, too.
As a long time Microsoft fan, I can say without qualification, your claim that only Microsoft haters are badmouthing Windows 8 is incorrect. I have always liked Microsoft and their products, yet I really dislike the direction Windows 8 is taking us. Decades of evolving the perfect desktop interface to get work done is being discarded in favor of a crippled Fischer-Price tablet interface on the desktop. I've used Windows since version 1.0 and other MS products even longer than that. I'm definitely no hater, yet I will not buy Windows 8 - ever.
Your opinions aren't supported by the facts. The Windows 8 adoption rate is significantly lower than the rate that Vista was adopted. Vista was widely considered a complete failure. So, how can any logical person consider Windows 8 a success? When Windows 8 first started getting a lot of press, I had around 35 different people ask me whether they should think about upgrading. In all cases, I explained where Windows is now headed and told them they are better off sticking with Windows 7. In part, this is to help Microsoft understand that desktop PCs should not be hobbled with an extremely-limited tablet interface.
I fully share your sentiment toward win8, BillDem
I'm not saying tablet is bad, it's extremely useful for casual webbrowsing, reading books, chatting and maybe playing some short videos. But ditching the solid desktop altogether in favor of the tablet is totally insane. Can't understand why MS didn't opt to build a clean branch of mobile OS based on the core windows kernel from scratch.
Maybe the cost would be too high or it would take too long, but in the long run, it would have greatly boosted users' confidence in Windows.
Which runs counter to your fanboism
Coming here day after day with your spin can't change the truth.
Ciao.
RE:
Spinning the truth? LOL
"The Windows 8 adoption rate is significantly lower than the rate that Vista was adopted. Vista was widely considered a complete failure. So, how can any logical person consider Windows 8 a success?"
But I like Windows 7