MULTIMEDIA

Is Blue The Color? (Part 2)

5/27/2013 11:18:09 AM

It continued, “As a development lead you will hire and manage a team of top-notch developers, be personally involved in designed and coding features, and work closely with PM and Test counterpart across multiple orgs to help realize the vision of building high-quality Excel app for Windows Phone Blue.”

All of this will be positioned as a refresh for the existing system. Indeed, it may well be that Windows 9 never arrives and that we are instead given yearly updates to what we already have, although we would think Microsoft would want to freshen things up with a brand new release at some stage.

window 9

The accelerated schedule has been rumored for a while, and it applies not just to the operating system. Microsoft doesn’t want to be seen to be left behind any more. It was able to hang fire on developments at one point, because it had the bulk of the market, but that’s not the case now. It’s a lumbering giant that has been slow to make the first move, so it wants to see product refreshes on a more regular basis.

The Excel Mobile team will deliver a compelling new Windows Phone version of Excel that is touch-optimized and targeted for the phone form factor

The Excel Mobile team will deliver a compelling new Windows Phone version of Excel that is touch-optimized and targeted for the phone form factor

As well as updating Windows 8 and Windows Phone, it will look to its services too. It will assess what is needed for SkyDrive and Hotmail (now Outlook) and it will also seek to refresh Windows Server. This wave of product refreshes could be rolled out at once, in a big movement for people to look forward to and be overwhelmed by. Or they could be launched within days or weeks of each other to keep up the chatter about Microsoft. Either way, it’s this regular updating that really underpins what Blue is all about.

What Blue doesn’t mean is that incremental, much-needed fixes won’t come in the meantime. There will still be firmware updates and little features added. Portico was a minor update for windows Phone users and that has been sent out. However, it does point to a shifting sea change in the way that Microsoft will work in the future.

Time was when Microsoft would hang fire for a number of years and then come out all guns blazing with something new. I could well be why Windows XP remains so popular – it’s still only four OS versions old and it was launched 11 years ago. It that time, Apple has effectively released nine operating systems based on OS X, with the latest being Mountain Lion.

Bing is also likely to figure big in Windows Blue

Bing is also likely to figure big in Windows Blue

What Blue wants to do is get a mindset going that development teams have to work towards a focal point. When these teams work on a desktop, tablet or smartphone OS, when they make a change to the various platform, they want them to ensure they can update every year with something significant. It would most likely mean holding back on incomplete features, but it would mean getting out there what has already been worked on and perfected and get greater focus.

At the same time, this will make the Windows Store far more prominent because this is where these downloads will be made available. Therefore, we can expect major strides with the Calendar, integrated apps, Internet Explorer Mail and Bing and we can also see tiny tweaks to the performance of the system as a whole.

It’s crucial that with every step forward, there’s no major cutting off of the old, so backwards compatibility will be at the forefront of their minds too. Everything has to work, and users cannot feel alienated and put off by an update, fearing it will mess up their systems. Why? Because Windows is a working operating system; it’s not a hobby-lover’s toy. People use and work with Windows every day. It’s depended on for business, leisure and entertainment and is integral to millions of lives. It has to work, it has to keep up and it has to do very well. If bitten, people will likely walk to another OS or cease updating.

This screenshot from Win8china seems to suggest IE11 will come with Blue

This screenshot from Win8china seems to suggest IE11 will come with Blue

In some ways, we’ve already seen some disillusionment with Windows when it comes to phones. You would think that the Windows brand and the familiarity people have with it would make them want the comfort of a Windows 8 Phone. But they don’t. they go elsewhere and they sample different operating systems and learn that Microsoft Word isn’t perhaps as vital as they imagined. Why? Has Microsoft annoyed them with niggles with Windows? It’s something Microsoft wants to put right, we sense.

What does Microsoft say about all of this? Nothing. It’s keeping very quiet about Windows Blue and it will not engage with journalists about it. That’s likely to be symptomatic of the yearly schedules. Time was when Microsoft would have a longer lead-in and would engage with people on a wider basis, but it has to play some cards closer to its chest at the moment, because it fears that rivals could steal ideas or begin to build similar functions in rapid time.

The rumors appear to be coming from well-placed sources, however, and there are tantalizing prospects afoot. A single app store is being discussed. A single app store is being discussed. This would put pressure on developers to produce apps that can work across the broad from the desktop to tablet to smartphone, but it would make sense that there is a uniform approach in some respect.

On the other hand, you could argue that each of these devices suits a different audience and use and that they should be bespoke to those different machines. It will be interesting to see how developers take this and how enforced it would be, if indeed it is what Microsoft is planning. We know that Windows Phone Blue is likely, so it looks like this kind of strategy is not way off the mark.

Different interfaces require a new way of doing things

Different interfaces require a new way of doing things

What we do know and expect is that Windows Blue will go beyond most service packs and, while not constituting a new operating system, it’s anticipated to include a number of new features and interface changes.

The job advertisement contained the most telling information. It was the first time Windows Blue was confirmed, and it suggested the UI was at the heart of things. It also went further, which tells us that this really will be more than visual enhancements and some under-bonnet tweaks. The phrase that says it will build on and improve Windows 8 shows that this will be something that adds to Windows 8 rather than replaces it and that it will be a process of enhancement over time.

This has to be applauded. Three years between Windows 7 and Windows 8 was far too long. There were too few enhancement during that time, and it means that people were almost begging for 8 to appear. In that time, other operating systems were improving and there was a feeling that Microsoft had remained static in an era where enhancements are made on a very regular basis and where even a yearly cycle may one day be too long.

Microsoft, however, will be hoping that this new version will turn enough heads to make it a stand-out decision. Otherwise, and to force a deliberate pun, it execs are going to be feeling rather blue for quite some time, and that’s something it cannot afford.

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