Windows Blue is now officially Win8.1, coming sometime before Christmas and free to anyone currently running Win8 according to the links at Slashdot. We've talked about Microsoft's upcoming OS refresh many times at PC Per, from their plan to replicate the subscription model of Office365 to the inclusion of their Cloud services like SkyDrive. This will not be a new OS, merely tweaks added to the existing kernel focusing on the GUI and especially the new Start Screen. It isn't a reversal of the new look, nor does it lessen the emphasis on touch screens but it could make some compromises for those who prefer a mouse, keyboard and desktop.
"Several readers sent word that Microsoft has officially dubbed the upcoming revision to its flagship operating system "Windows 8.1," retiring the code-name "Windows Blue." They also said the update would be freely available to anybody with Windows 8. It will be available through the Windows Store. "Reller declined to provide an exact release date for Windows 8.1, but said that Microsoft is 'very sensitive to the timing of the holidays.' Ideally, Microsoft will be able to provide devices with Windows 8.1 pre-loaded in time for the holiday 2013 season, Reller said, but those who purchase a Windows 8 device later this year will be able to easily upgrade to 8.1."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Your Flying Car? Delayed again, but you WILL get it, says Terrafugia @ The Register
- Adobe lets you pay now and later and later again @ The Tech Report
- Intel's Thin Mini-ITX platform: nine months later
- Will your power supply work with Haswell? Seasonic announce compatible units @ Kitguru
- Blackberry announces Q5 QWERTY smartphone as BB10 hits 120,000 apps @ The Inquirer
- Blackberry announces BBM for iOS and Android @ The Inquirer
- http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2268009/blackberry-announces-bbm-for-ios-and-android @ TechARP
Ah! NO! A start button that
Ah! NO! A start button that leads to nowhere but TIFKAM/AppStore/CrappyApps, no, No, and NO! The start button brings up the start Menu in windows 7, and with windows 7 I will remain! Time to start researching which Linux distro I will be migrating to! TIFKAM must go, along with any code that has ever been a part of any of that silliness! OEMs if you do not start offering a Linux or other alternatives to the M$ closed ecosystem OS on your new products then you may not be in the PC business very much longer! Google has gone to Debian on their servers, and if they start offering it on their google pixel, I am sold! Better Yet, a google pixel based on the AMD unified memory APUs, would be a great way to say goodbye to the WINTEL master plan, and hello to a usefull device, with an OS that works for me and not the other way around! We all know that any form of TIFKAM is actually a TIFSCAM by M$!
You are really that incapable
You are really that incapable to use a newer designed operating system? Time to upgrade your skill set, boy!
I do no see enterprises
I do no see enterprises rushing to windows 8, people need to be productive, and not be forced to stroll through an app store interface, replete with flashing ads! There is not one usefull thing in the TIFKAM interface that, currently can not be done with a traditional windows 7 based program, in fact, the windows 8 APP store is just a money grab from M$, and offers no real value to the end user on a fully functional PC or Laptop! My skill set is just fine, and I wish I was a boy, old age sucks like windows 8!!!
Win 8 LOL.
No thanks, I’ll
Win 8 LOL.
No thanks, I’ll stick with the Win 7 and save myself the frustration.
Even with the Win 8 classicshell or the paid versions, Win 8 sucks.
You here me MS? SUCKS.
There is either way too much pride or stupidity going on in the Windows division of MS.
Heads need to roll, people need to be fired who are pushing this crap out.
You are the one that sucks,
You are the one that sucks, not Microsoft. They have basically been using the same old tired design from 1995. Time to upgrade your own skill set. Windows 8 is fast, and it works with real powerful games too.
I have to say that I have
I have to say that I have been using Windows 8 WITHOUT a touch screen and NO after market Start Button and/or Menu replacement since well before RTM (over a year now) on my main gaming rig at home. I have had no issues whatsoever. Yes, there is a strong learning curve for keyboard and mouse users, but its certainly not impossible for a regular computer user – I even find myself flicking my wrist to move the cursor into the lower right corner and upward to try to shut down older legacy OS’s such as Windows 7 and Windows XP…
But the point is in a couple of years, you will be hard pressed to find something without a touchscreen. If you have ever tried to use Windows 7 with a touch screen, well, lets just say its harder than Windows 8 with a Keyboard and a Mouse…
Everyone would be saying how washed up and old fashioned Windows is if they had stuck with a Desktop based OS like the previous versions.
And besides, Windows 8.1 is going to put training wheels on it for all you old fogies out there.
P.S. I have a customer at my computer store who is over 90, and he bought a Surface RT the second it came out! He also owns a Custom Built system from my shop, and runs Windows 8 Pro 64bit with a 24″ Touch, 1080p LED Monitor… He LOVES it.
No training wheels for 8.1,
No training wheels for 8.1, just a link back to TIFKAM, and more crappy useless apps, would gamers not want an extra runtime (TIFKAM) taking up valuable processor cycles, beacuse that’s what TIFCAM is, just another bloatware/framerate taxing service on an allready bloated OS! Ever Try paying 100 employees for the extra time and lost productivity that windows 8 causes! I am more than sure in larger enterprises, that cost can easily purchase your whole house, including the basement where you live, at mom’s expence! Oh and games do not just fall from the trees, people have to write the software for those gaming engines, and create the graphics for the games, which I am petty sure is done a lot less efficiently with TIFKAM in the way! Just ask Gabe, what OS he is planing to shift to, just to keep from geting the shaft from M$, and its TIFKAM (TIFSCAM)!*
* TIFSCAM: The InterFace Scam Contrived At Microsoft!
Oh please Gabe has lost
Oh please Gabe has lost credibility. Until i see Half Life 2 Episode 3 i could careless what Gabe does. All the source games only lives in Gabe’s mind while the rest of the industry is pumping titles that pushes your PC.
Windows 8 is not bad and its not a “learning curve” I will agree that the app store could use some improvements but there are apps in there that are quite useful. Its just needs more apps.
I just laugh how people bicker about a stupid start menu. 5 years from now everything is going touch. The keyboard and mouse is not going away its just means that there is a third option. Why not have best of all 3.
And please don’t say “i don’t have a touch” that is an excuse. I have a AMD Turion that had Windows 7. I upgraded to Windows 8. I am a happy camper. Surprisingly it is faster than 7 because Windows 8 is more tweaked under the hood. I doubt Windows 8.1 is going to be a “resource hog”.
I can tell you that the technology behind windows 8 in terms of performance wise is ahead. People are just complaining about the stupid start screen. As long as it works and i can run my old Programs and plus buy/download apps from the Windows store. I am happy. I did not know you people are this stubborn to change.
Yes, while Windows 7 is good and i have a copy of Windows 7 I just like 8 better. the performance is what i like. Fluid and fast (especially when booting up) This is coming from a AMD Turion Toshiba laptop that was made for Windows 7.
If you are only intrested in
If you are only intrested in gaming, then get an xbox or play station, where you can only have a dumbed down interface! Any laptop can be made to boot up fast, but once the desktop appears, is the computer fully useable while the other software loads after the start screen appears, or do you have to look at the screen while the remaining deferred, to make the computer appear as it it has already booted up, software begins to load and run, as is the case with my Samsung series 3, the desktop appears, but the hourglass, or pinwheel remains the only responce for another 30-45 sec. after the desktop appears! I do not want, or need the METRO adware/runtime installed on my computer, It must not be there, or I will stay with windows 7, and migrate to Linux! I am very happy with Gabe, and his good sense with Linux, and at getting M$ out of the Loop, as far as PC gaming is concerned, as are others, in giving M$ some much needed competition! The US government has allowed M$ to become a de facto unregulated public utility, and we are all the poorer for the governments inaction over the last 3 decades! Oh good luck with that Toshiba, they are not known for updating their OEM customizied Intel HD graphics drivers, I hope you do not have the same issues with the Toshiba and AMD graphics drivers, my Toshiba C655 series sateillite has never had a driver update in the 3+ years that I have owned it, and it looks like the same is true for my Samsung, also! I have been there done that with the have disk driver installs from Intel, stability issues!
WENTEL is not going to be in my future, as I am tired of M$’s, and Intel’s poor OS’s and crappy graphics/graphics driver support!
EDIT WENTEL to WINTEL.
EDIT WENTEL to WINTEL.