Microsoft to unveil Windows Blue in June: what we can look forward to

After months of complaints from users about the new Windows 8 operating system, it is now confirmed that we’ll get a glimpse the first major update to the OS, codenamed Windows Blue, this summer.

Tech Crunch reports the first public preview of Windows Blue will be happening in late June, Microsoft Windows chief Julie Larson-Green said during the Wired Business Conference this week. She said that the update will be available to everyone that has Windows 8 in the Windows 8 store, but that’s about all the details she would share.

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We know slightly more about Windows Blue from an interview Microsoft’s Tami Reller, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Windows, who was interviewed by the corporate blog Blogging Windows. While she wasn’t much more forthcoming with details, she did hint at some of the changes we can expect to see:

“It will deliver the latest new innovations across an increasingly broad array of form factors of all sizes, display, battery life and performance, while creating new opportunities for our ecosystem. It will provide more options for businesses, and give consumers more options for work and play. 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.”

Not exactly the cut-and-dry answer we were looking for.

But that hasn’t stopped tech news outlets from gleaning more tidbits of information and putting together what they think we’ll see with Windows Blue.

The biggest change Windows Blue (or whatever it ends up being called) will likely bring is addressing the steep learning curve most people seem to have come up against when trying to learn the new operating system. Changes like no longer having a Start button and the default interface being tiled instead of the desktop people are accustomed to have all contributed to many Windows customers being hesitant to upgrade to Windows 8, or trying to downgrade after they’ve tried it.

Reller acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times that while people have been adapting, they’re hoping to help people learn the new system faster, and based on feedback they’ve received, that will include making the desktop a priority again.

“We started talking about the desktop as an app,” Reller said to The New York Times. “But in reality, for PC buyers, the desktop is important.”

And ZDNet reports that the return of the Start button is likely, too, at least according to some unnamed sources. While the final product is still subject to change before it ships, multiple reports are suggesting that Microsoft is reconsidering the inclusion of the Start button due to the public demand.

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But that may be where Microsoft draws the line at catering to public demand: it still insists that the OS is easy to learn, and that more people will come to use and enjoy it, especially as the number of touchscreen devices being used increases. Despite suggestions that this is a “New Coke” moment for Microsoft, the reality is the company seems to be genuinely behind the OS, and are interested in making it the easiest transition possible for users, even if they apparently assumed too much of their users by removing the boot-to-desktop and the Start button.

As Geek.com explains, Windows 8 has helped Microsoft to gain ground in the tablet market, an arena where the year before they weren’t even players. With 100 million licenses sold for Windows 8 so far, Reller says the adoption rate is on pace with what they saw for Windows 7, meaning slowly, but surely, people are adapting.

There’s just a very good chance that Windows Blue will be coming to help out all the stragglers.

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