New Windows Blue Confirmation From Taiwan, Will Reportedly Be Freeware

With the amount of rumors that have been floating around about the mysterious Windows Blue, who among you is willing to bet that Microsoft will soon confirm the project. Only a matter of time, I say.

The past few weeks have been filled to the brim (almost to the brim) about various details regarding the secretive Windows Blue project. Most inside sources claim that Windows Blue is under development as of right now and could hit the market as a public beta sometime in June.

A date like this would probably mean that the project may see daylight in August.

And now Digitimes has cited Taiwan-based supply chain makers who have not only confirmed Windows Blue, but are betting big on the new update, which they believe is set for release in the third quarter.

They were actually talking about the stagnant PC market, and when they believe the industry may get a lift. When you ask? Reports point to mid-2013, around the time when Intel will release its Haswell platform and a variety of laptops and notebooks could hit store shelves powered by that CPU.

Basically, third quarter and August public release seems to coincide quite nicely.

Additionally, reports in China seem to confirm that Windows Blue will indeed be offered as a freeware.

Essentially, a free upgrade for Windows 8 users, which does not seem surprising one bit once you think about it, given the fact that it is likely to be shipped as a Windows upgrade, instead of a standalone new operating system.