Windows Blue will be free upgrade for Windows 8 customers

The update will be officially called Windows 8.1, according to Windows division co-chief Tami Reller

Microsoft's Windows 8 update, code-named Windows Blue, will be formally released as Windows 8.1 and will be free for customers who have the new OS installed.

Windows 8.1 will be an "update" for both Windows 8 and for Windows RT, the version of the OS designed for devices that run on ARM chips, said Tami Reller, the chief financial officer and chief marketing officer of the Windows Division, speaking at the JP Morgan Technology, Media & Telecom Conference Tuesday.

As an update, Windows 8.1 will be more substantial than the regular patches Microsoft pushes out for the OS, but will not represent a dramatic leap like the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8, she said.

Moreover, Windows 8.1 will be "really easy" and "straightforward" for customers to install, Reller added.

Microsoft's decision confirms speculation from industry analysts who spoke recently about this topic.

Last week, Reller and the other Windows chief, Julie Larson-Green, a corporate vice president in charge of the OS' development, provided more details about Windows Blue, including that it will be delivered before the end of the year and that a preview will be released at the end of June during Microsoft's Build conference for developers.

Larson-Green didn't say what changes Windows Blue will feature, but conceded that Microsoft has discussed user complaints about the removal of the start menu on Windows 8 and that it might be useful to restore it.

Asked if she could be more specific about the final release of Windows 8.1, Reller on Tuesday declined to provide a more concrete date but acknowledged that Microsoft wants to give OEM partners a chance to load it into computers they release for the holiday season.

She also reiterated that OEM partners are working on smaller Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets with 7-inch and 8-inch screens, and disclosed that there are now more than 70,000 applications for the OS in the Windows Store.

She also said Microsoft is satisfied with the amount and variety of Windows 8 and Windows RT devices, including desktop PCs, low-priced laptops with touch screens, sophisticated convertible laptops with detachable keyboards that double as tablets, all-in-one PCs and other variations.

"We feel very good about the direction we're headed with Windows 8," Reller said.

Windows 8 has a drastically redesigned interface based on tile icons intended to make the OS optimized for touchscreen devices such as tablets. However, it has not been an unqualified success and the lack of uptake by users has been blamed in part for the dismal performance of the PC market overall.

The Windows 8.1 preview version that will be delivered in June will be available for anyone to download and test drive, not just developers.

---

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com

Microsoft: What are people really asking for when they ask for a Start button?

Windows Blue can be previewed in June, but Microsoft said it heard our cries for a Windows 8 Start button. A Start button "might be helpful," but Microsoft is trying to understand "what people are really asking for when they're asking for that."

Microsoft sold more than 100 million licenses for Windows 8, keeping up with Windows 7 sales at the six-month mark. In June, people who have Windows 8 will be able to preview Windows Blue.

"We recently surpassed the 100 million licenses sold mark for Windows 8," stated Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller. "This number includes Windows licenses that ship on a new tablet or PC, as well as upgrades to Windows 8. This is up from the 60 million license number we provided in January." She admitted that "Windows 8 is a big, ambitious change," and "change takes time" to accept, but Microsoft believes "the Windows Blue update is also an opportunity for us to respond to the customer feedback that we've been closely listening to since the launch of Windows 8 and Windows RT."

Microsoft heard our outcries for a Windows 8 Start button but is trying to understand what people are really asking for when they're asking for thatLack of a Start button is the biggest Windows 8 criticism for users on non-touch devices. Reller told The Verge, "We have heard that, we definitely have heard that and taken that into account. We've really also tried to understand what people are really asking for when they're asking for that."

Seriously? Hmm, it seems pretty obvious that the outcries for Windows 8 to include a Start button really mean that customers are asking for the Start button. That would lead to a Start menu. Windows 8 is not user-friendly on a PC or laptop. The lack of a Start button, Start menu and the ability to boot straight to Windows are the "loudest" complaints.

"We knew there would be a learning curve with Windows 8," admitted Microsoft VP for Windows Julie Larson-Green at the Wired Business Conference. She is in charge of bringing Windows to the "mobile age" and may even be a candidate to eventually follow Steve Ballmer as CEO of Microsoft. She hasn't ruled it out and said to ask her again in a year.

For now, Larson-Green is the head of Windows Engineering and is "tweaking the design and layout of Windows to free it from the desktop and allow people to better incorporate it into their lives through mobile devices." She explained that Windows 8 was designed for mobile, compared to Windows 7, which was "optimized for the laptop." She insisted that people want to be mobile, yet added that Microsoft is "not going to be stubborn" when it comes to Blue.

ZDNet suggested that "New Coke, like Windows 8 for Microsoft, was total market failure." Coca-Cola was wise enough to switch back and give people what they wanted, Classic Coke. Steven Vaughan-Nichols asked, "Does Ballmer have the guts to admit he made a mistake and give users what they clearly want?"

Neither Larson-Green, nor Reller, would confirm that the Start button is coming back. Larson-Green stated, "The Start Button might be helpful," yet she pointed out that the Start Button is there now, but "basically hidden. Some would like it showing up on the screen all the time." Although there have been "meaningful discussions" about bringing it back, that doesn't imply that Microsoft will bring back the "old Start Menu."

Mary Jo Foley pointed out that the Windows Blue preview, which will be made available in June, happens to coincide with Microsoft's Build 2013 Conference; it will be held June 26 - 28 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Microsoft planned to "share updates and talk about what's next for Windows" at Build. Blue is expected to be named Windows 8.1.

Reller told The Verge that Microsoft is interested in 7- and 8-inch form factors for Blue. "We've made sure from the product to our pricing and offerings we are supporting 7- and 8-inch devices specifically." Yet Blue, according to Reller, "does a nice job of optimizing for those small screen form factor sizes."

Yeah, well, don't forget that we aren't all using those small screens at all times. Some of us will continue to work from a non-touch device and we flipping want Windows 8 to stop being so unfriendly to PC and laptop users. It's not about accepting change; it's about usability.

---

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com

Windows Blue won't solve all Microsoft's problems, analysts say

Drumbeat of leaks leads to high expectations for upgrade, but pricing, form factor and apps need attention, too

Microsoft's failure thus far to significantly spark PC and tablet sales with Windows 8 has put high expectations on an expected 2013 refresh of the OS, dubbed "Blue."

But changes to the operating system's feature set, tweaks to its user interface (UI) and modifications to some of its subcomponents are actually solutions to minor problems, analysts said. They point to more important issues like pricing and positioning, app shortages and enterprise reluctance as beyond the scope of an upgrade.

Microsoft has said little of Blue, the code name for the first Windows 8 upgrade, reportedly to ship this summer or fall, as well as the moniker for the company's faster-paced development and release schedule. It's only acknowledged the code name and touted what it's called a new "continuous" update strategy for Windows on desktops, tablets, servers and smartphones.

For example, last week Microsoft's CFO Peter Klein used the "Windows Blue" label, and added, "With Windows 8, we are setting a new, accelerated pace for updates and innovations."

Several long-time Windows watchers, including Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet, Paul Thurrott of Supersite for Windows and Tom Warren of The Verge, have been tracking leaked builds of Windows Blue -- which may be named Windows 8.1 -- and describing its changes in detail.

The constant barrage of news, minor in each instance but cumulative over time, has many setting high expectations for Blue. "There are high expectations for Blue," agreed J.P. Gownder, an analyst with Forrester Research. "It's positioned as a much bigger release than a service pack, because it will augment the core products."

Microsoft's service packs, the historical form of its interim updates between new Windows editions, have included few feature changes, instead limiting themselves to collecting bug and security fixes released previously.

Windows 8 is not in danger of dying, analysts stressed, but many of them called the focus on UI changes and small-to-medium enhancements and additions misplaced. Microsoft has bigger fish to fry.

"I look at Windows 8, no matter how many iterations it goes through, as a transitional product," said Michael Silver of Gartner. "Windows 8 is very transitional. It has lots of rough edges where the desktop and touch interfaces didn't integrate. But the hardware is transitional, too. Really, 2013 is sort of a lost year for Microsoft and Windows."

Future processors from Intel, including the Clover Trail and Bay Trail upgrades to its Atom architecture, will be necessary, said Silver, to put enough power and long-enough battery life into Windows tablets.

Others cited different problems Microsoft faces.
"First of all, price is a major issue," said Peter King, an analyst who focuses on tablets for U.K.-based Strategic Analytics, in a Thursday interview. "Clearly the market wants cheaper tablets. Everyone's ASPs [average selling prices] are declining, Android's most of all. Windows tablets' [ASPs] are too high."

Microsoft does plan on addressing price this year. "We are working closely with OEMs on a new suite of small touch devices powered by Windows," Klein said during an earnings call with Wall Street a week ago. "These devices will have competitive price points, partly enabled by our latest OEM offerings designed specifically for these smaller devices, and will be available in the coming months."

Analysts heard the line "latest OEM offerings designed specifically for these smaller devices," as confirmation that Microsoft will lower the price of Windows to computer and tablet makers, or provide rebates on their license purchases.

"When Microsoft conceived this [Windows 8 and Windows RT] project in 2010, tablet prices were high," said King. "But the world's changed very quickly. The trend is towards smaller, cheaper tablets."

Fewer than half of the tablets expected to ship in 2013 will sport screens larger than 8 inches, King said, echoing other forecasts by the likes of IDC.

Microsoft, in other words, aimed at quickly-disappearing target with its demand for 10-in. screens for Windows 8 and Windows RT devices, and now must scramble to shift gears.

Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, saw an alternative reason why Windows Blue, although perhaps welcome, isn't enough to markedly move the meter for Microsoft.

"Windows 8 sucks because Windows 8 apps suck," said Cherry, not mincing words. "And there's nothing in all these rumors of Windows Blue or Windows 8.1 that tells me that apps will be easier to write or that will result in better apps."

Microsoft's apps tally -- those touch-centric programs that run in Windows RT and in Windows 8's "Modern"-style UI -- are far behind that of those for Android and iOS tablets. More important, experts have said since the October 2012 launch of Windows 8, is the lack of high-quality, must-have apps necessary to make Microsoft-powered tablets or convertible device competitive with devices relying on rival operating systems.

Cherry strongly argued that until Microsoft can solve the apps problem, nothing else it does will really matter.

"Everyone's obsessed with the look of the thing. What do I care about a Start button in Windows 8 if I spend all my time on the desktop? It's the lack of good applications [that's hurting Windows]. And from what I can tell, developers aren't going to get anything from Blue. I don't see anything about apps getting better."

To prove his point, Cherry pointed to the apps Microsoft has created for Windows 8 and Windows RT, such as the "Mail, Calendar, People and Messaging" app.

"If that's the best Microsoft can do, if that's what they come up with, with their resources, it's no surprise that there's not a [third-party] app worth a darn," said Cherry.

Rather than tout its new, faster release cadence, Microsoft should instead tell developers what it will do to help them make top-notch apps. Without those, Cherry questioned the entire Windows strategy. "Make a statement of intentions on development," he urged Microsoft. "Tell developers, 'We're going to get you all the assistance and all the documentation you need, we will create apps that are so full-featured that they will inspire you to write great apps.'"

Microsoft may be able to solve the pricing, form factor and app problems these analysts see as critical to Windows' transition from a desktop OS to one that works equally well on touch-enabled tablets. None are counting the company out.

Continuing coverage: Windows 8
"Never assume that the first iteration will succeed," said King of Strategic Analytics. "For a small company, a failure could be disastrous, but for Microsoft, as large as it is, it's just a hiccup."

"I don't think this is Microsoft's last shot [at Windows 8 success]," said Forrester's Gownder of Blue. "Microsoft has made missteps with Windows 8, but they did the same with Windows Vista. And they moved on. They have an established position in the market, and a lot to offer. They'll get there."

Gartner's Silver may not have been that optimistic -- "Blue isn't going to save Windows or PCs," he said in an interview earlier this week -- but like Gownder, he conceded that Microsoft has more than one chance of making Windows 8 palatable to consumers and enterprises.

"They'd better have multiple iterations of Windows 8, because its attempt so far to blunt the affect of tablets on PC sales was pretty minimal," Silver said. "Microsoft is right in looking toward the next release, admitting it make mistakes. At least it's a step in the right direction."

---

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com