We heard so much about Windows Blue, and yet have seen so little – until now. This weekend was a HUGE deal for those wondering about Blue, why? The first build of Windows Blue has now leaked to the net.
That means we are now starting to better understand some of the features coming to Blue. So far, the takeaway is that Windows Blue is truly best defined as a Service Pack+. It seems a bit smoother than Windows 8 and has a few new features including an upcoming File Manager app for the modern UI, better resizing of tiles and a bunch of changes coming to IE 11.
A full new version of Windows it is not, but it does seem to be a worthy upgrade. Would I pay for it? Based on what I’m seeing so far, I think it is likely it will be free to existing Windows 8 users, as I couldn’t see many people paying for what it brings to the table, unless it was REALLY cheap, say under $15. Even then, it might be hard sell.
Could other features end up being added (or removed) in the final build of Blue? Of course. This could still be a rather early look and many other changes might still be in store.
At the moment we can only really say things about the x86 version of Windows Blue, since not much else is known. That said, an individual by the name of Stephen Chapman has now discovered that within the leaked build is references to several other versions of blue, including one for Windows RT.
Windows Blue RT and Windows Blue Server Now Unofficially Confirmed
This isn’t probably a HUGE shocker, but it could be a bit of disappointing news to some, considering previous beliefs that Microsoft might ditch RT in favor of something new that gets rid of the desktop. Of course we still don’t know what kind of feature changes to expect in the RT version.
What we can say is that Windows RT might not be the most popular build of Windows, but it is far from dead.
Outside of the references to Windows Blue RT, we also now have official confirmation that a Windows Blue Server version is also in the works.
Here’s to hoping that details of a version of Windows Blue optimized for sub-10-inch tablets emerges sometime in the near future as well. What do you think of all of this weekend’s new leaked information about Windows Blue? Excited to see what Microsoft’s future holds or not?
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