We have been hearing about Windows Blue off and on for the past few months and what we initially thought would be an update to Windows 8 and possibly landing this summer, Mary Jo Foley has some dug up some new information about the update and it looks like it Windows Blue may extend beyond the Windows platform.
MJF, citing a well trusted source, says Blue is not only an update to Windows, but a wide swath of updates that will come across many platforms including Windows Phone, SkyDrive, Hotmail, and Windows Server.
In addition to the update to the major platforms, Windows Blue might be arriving via the Windows Store as opposed to a more traditional download and install based package. This makes sense as Microsoft would have more control over the distribution of the service through one integrated platform.
So what about Windows 9? It is apparently still on the roadmap but no timeline has been set. Many had thought that Microsoft would possibly kill the major branding updates in favor of waves (like Blue) to shorten release time between major updates.
With an updated release timeline such as Windows Blue, it would seem that Blue will be a package of small improvement to the platform as opposed to a major update and rebranding to Windows 9.
While we wait for Microsoft to come clean about its plans and the future of Windows 8, you can talk about Windows 8 developments in our Microsoft forum.
Source: Mary Jo Foley | Image Credit: Ma-config.com