Windows Blue Is Officially Windows 8.1, Free For Existing Users 491
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."
Re:Too little, too late? (Score:5, Informative)
They can't just dump Metro - there's a complete ecosystem of apps dependent on it. It's very small, but it's not like they can abandon it. That would be like Apple just discontinuing the entire iOS line and saying "Sorry, your iDevices are useless."
It is far more likely than you think, they have already killed zune, they killed all of those windows phone 7's saying to their customers "yeah our bad you won't be able to update the phone you just bought sucks to be you." Oh and then there was the playforsure debacle. They pushed silverlight and have now nearly abandoned development of it. So Microsoft could throw framework/interface formally known as metro to the wolves on a whim at anytime they want and it would just be par for the course.
Re:Wow... (Score:5, Informative)
There is a good technical reason for numbering the versions that way. A lot of badly written software was checking the major version number. Installers were especially prone to this. As such Microsoft only increments the major number when they deliberately want to break compatibility with such software and force sysadmins who really need to get it running to turn on compatibility mode.
2000 had some new UI stuff and various APIs ported over from Windows 98/ME. Vista had the biggest changes in Window's entire history. On the other hand any OS with the same major version number tends to be fairly similar from an API point of view.
Re:Service pack (Score:5, Informative)
Semi-free. You can only get it from the app store. And you can only use the app store, even for free apps, by registering a Microsoft Account (presumably for spying purposes). Whereas in the past you would get service packs via the normal Windows Update process. Since the app store is the only reason Microsoft is pushing windows 8, I don't see them changing this policy ever.