Windows Blue build 9364 leaked to the internet

Ok, fair enough....

 

Nobody from the mass public knows exactly yet. However, as for (1) I suppose it would be some kind of either free or most probably paid-for upgrade for Windows 8. Because of the rumors they will most probably stop the free Service Packs and will start this yearly updates which are paid for. Additionally, we know that they work at Windows 9 (which is the new OS) so this would be not a standalone OS but either free feature pack or paid update like paid feature pack for Windows 8.

 

So June 26-28 we get the real goods on Blue rather than all this speculation. WH, you seem to be in the know of all things MS, any open forums on this that you know of?

 

I agree, but the applications I use that make it hard for me to leave Windows are for the desktop, not the new apps component. If they move away from the desktop, I don't have to follow them because their platform would be just another for the same kinds of apps I could get with a competitor.

That's what makes it so weird. Why do they want to kill off the one business in which they dominate the market?

 

This is the $64, 000 question. I'm still partially convinced that something (toxic waste?) has contaminated the water supply at Redmond. It's the only explanation that makes sense to me.

 

Same here. I will see how this goes and I may turn to Mac.

I also can't understand this and when it was just Windows 8 I thought it would be something temporary and that they will make a step back, and might put back the Start menu and the Aero. However, when the leaked Blue appeared, it is obvious their long-term strategy is different.

For the first time in my life I say that I do hope and believe in the very big enterprises (Microsoft partners, Microsoft competitors and the biggest Microsoft clients who own thousands of machines) to stop all this junk. I also hope in Bill Gates (who is still a chairman) to realize and stop all this.
Because no big enterprise will like this crazy non-productive MUI style and the non-desktop environment (or mixed environment which is non-productive , too).

 

Same here, at this point, I would probably go with a Mac on my next purchase.. despite the premium price.

 

If they take this approach for all future OS's, then for sure I'm gone. There are 2 alternatives for desktop/laptop users, Mac and Linux. I honestly prefer Windows over both of those, but if this is the future (what MS has been doing since 8 and beyond), then that's it for me.

 

i have a bit more info i can not post yet ill keep in touch with my contacts at ms and will do so as soon as i know i can. some people will like what they had to say and many will not. i also confirmed this info with a contact in who is VERY in the know with pre release ms stuff. they have not posted it and said the same they will not for a while yet until it is confirmed 100%.

but the one thing i can say is there may be a small chance the start menu thing can still be worked around in the future, this is not for sure yet but they are considering it from the info i was given. they also know of the backlash right now regarding all this and just like it did with office 2013 it could make a difference if enough people come out and complain to them..

 

this will def be the way of the future sadly it seems there is no intention of going backwards and this new direction is here to stay.

 

That's how I see it too, unfortunately... If I want to stick with Windows, then the best I can hope for is to somehow be able to run 7 on any new hardware I purchase... But there will probably be a point when even that will be difficult, if 7 drivers aren't made for newer hardware a few years from now.

 

Windows 7 is supported until 2020 – if Microsoft goes down the path of subscription based updates for future iterations of Windows 8 – I can see most users staying with 7 until the bitter end. This should mean 3rd party developers also continuing to support 7 until then.

So – 7 years to learn Linux Mint and\or Ubuntu........EASY!

 

I've already spent over 7 years messing with linux, so I'm ready on that front, but honestly, I'd prefer to keep Win 7 as long as possible...

 

i tried installing Win 7 the other on my new machines but it could not find the drivers for the network interface.
i'm sure i could have fixed it easily but anyway...

and trying to install XP was even more of an headache because XP does not like the new SATA AHCI mode.

so your concerns are quite valid i think.

 

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. Oh well. There will be a time when I'll probably have some serious decisions to make... But, I'm pretty sure I could live with linux or a Mac fairly easily, so somehow things will work out.

 

That would seem to be plenty of time if one doesn't delay and they apply them self. Question is, are there any applications you need that aren't available for those platforms? If there is such an application and there is no suitable alternative, then you have to spend extra time trying to convince/help the software developer to port it and that needs to start pronto. If there is such an application and there is a suitable alternative, you have to learn the alternative. Plus, depending on your situation, there may be a fair amount of files you need or want to convert to different formats.

 

Just how much do people hate Windows 8?

 

Not sure I understood your question. AFAIK, all we have of "official" is this.

 

I was mostly kidding with the learn Linux bit!
If Microsoft's direction with future Windows versions puts enough people offside - knowledgable users might use Linux as an alternative, but like you say, there are programs, drivers, etc which need Windows, so this would only represent an alternative for some users.

IMO, Linux cannot provide any kind of meaningful challenge to Windows - too disjointed – too many distros\desktops – NO marketing thrust or direction, plus the great user mass out there will probably follow whatever Microsoft puts before them anyway.

 

I tend to agree about linux, but one never knows. We might all be surprised. And there is also the possibility that if things get ugly enough, something might appear out of nowhere to fill the void... anything's possible when discontent grows large enough and there is still a need.

 

Tnx WH for the link but that is not what I was referring to. Re: the discussions about Blue on July 26-18. Is this a closed session? No outside feedback being solicited?

 

It's a developer conference that will happen at San Francisco, called "Build". It's open but one needs to register to participate (of course there will be live streams of the entire event). The "show" is run by MS best engineers. More details:
- http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2013/03/26/announcing-build-2013.aspx
- http://www.buildwindows.com/

 

Windows Blue to be named Windows 8.1

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-blue-to-be-named-windows-81

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57577443-75/windows-blue-poised-to-become-windows-8.1/

 

One thing you have to realize is Sinofsky was a dictator - he didn't allow any other voice to be heard during Win 8 development, withheld information from other teams (which is why Office, Xbox etc don't use Metro), killed any competing technology (Silverlight, WPF) and generally caused a lot of conflict.

During the 1+ year dev time of Win 8, it was a very public process, esp with the B8 blog, yet all the feedback from users was ignored. Now that he is gone, it seems MS is becoming more open to changing things - e.g. the decision to merge the 3 search categories.

 

This is very interesting: http://www.microsoft.com/about/technicalrecognition/Default.aspx

See what Larson-Green (who replaced Sinofsky) won back in 2008.


Also interesting - Landy Wang - 2013 Outstanding Technical Leadership:

"(...)DEP, ASLR and the Memory Manager’s ability to scale up and scale down represent just a handful of technical advancements that resulted from Wang’s leadership. The list goes on to include the Driver Verifier, large address space support, SOC design participation, security strategy and development of protection mechanisms, processor cache and instruction set semantics, driver and I/O model improvements, corruption detection and repair capabilities, prefetching, caching and superfetch. All bear his mark in one way or another.(...)"