It’s still early, but the numbers don’t look so good for Windows 8, Microsoft’s bold new touch-friendly operating system. Net Applications’ stats show Windows 8 with just 1.72 percent of the market at the end of December. Just how bad is that? Computerworld reports that Windows Vista accounted for a larger share of Windows PCs during its brief and much-maligned reign.

On the other hand, the beloved Windows 7 managed to snag a 4 percent market share after just three weeks on the street in 2009. Today, Windows 7 is sitting pretty with 45 percent of all OS market share—a new high water mark for the operating system.

Windows 8′s woes aren’t surprising if you’ve been paying attention to comments by Microsoft’s partners. While Microsoft has been trumpeting the sale of 40 million Windows 8 licenses, those licenses include sales to OEMs, and early reports indicate that many early Windows 8 machines are still sitting, forlorn and unpurchased, on stock room shelves.

Newegg’s SVP of product management told ReadWrite that Windows 8 sales “did not explode,” though he noted that they’re slowly improving. Meanwhile, manufacturers like Asus and Fujitsu have publicly said that there isn’t much consumer interest in Windows 8 at the moment, and no OEM will disclose exact Windows 8 sales. NPD recently reported that PC sales actually declined during the first month Windows 8 was on the market.

There’s still plenty of time for Microsoft’s OS to find it’s stride, but it’s safe to say that Windows 8 isn’t the sales-generating behemoth Windows 7 was, probably due to a mix of the new-look interface and overall sluggishness in the traditional PC market. We’ll have to wait until January’s numbers are tallied to see if holiday sales gives Windows 8 the shot in the arm it apparently needs.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2012 – The Defense Department has leveraged the buying power of more than two million information technology users to award a three-year, $617 million joint enterprise license agreement for Microsoft products, defense officials announced.

The deal, led by the Army Contracting Command in collaboration with the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Army and the Air Force, demonstrates the best pricing DOD has received to date for Microsoft desktop and server software licenses, officials said.

“There’s a move afoot throughout the department to bring about efficiencies in the [information technology] world,” David L. DeVries, DOD deputy chief information officer, told American Forces Press Service. “We took a long, hard look at it … realizing that the Department of Defense relies upon the network and upon information technology to do its business.”

Under the agreement, the Army, Air Force and DISA can begin using the newest versions of Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office 2013, SharePoint 2013 and Windows 8, officials said, adding that Office 2013 provides enhanced security and content management tools.
The package has been customized to meet the specific security needs of the Defense Department.

“How do we bring about better effectiveness for the warfighter, better improved security on the networks ... while reducing the cost of ownership?” DeVries asked. “We are the largest corporation out there, comprised of four military services. … No one comes close to our scale, so when we talk about something that produces a standardized way of buying, installing and maintaining [enterprise software], that’s a huge deal.”

Department officials estimate savings could run into tens of millions over the course of several years through lower license and software assurance costs, officials said.

“This effort is a significant pathfinder on how to do major contract awards for the Department of Defense,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael J. Basla, Air Force CIO and chief of information dominance. “This contract award culminates over a year's worth of great teaming between the Air Force, Army and DISA, and ultimately the Air Force will see a cost avoidance of about $50 million a year.”
Michael E. Krieger, Army deputy CIO, said the Army will save more than $70 million each year for the span of the agreement.

"The Army Contracting Command negotiated terms that met the complex technical and security requirements for Army, the Air Force and DISA in a single agreement,” Krieger said. “The spirit of collaboration between the services enables unprecedented opportunities for improvements in efficiency and productivity for DOD and the Army is proud to have led the effort."

Navy Rear Adm. David G. Simpson, DISA’s vice director and senior procurement executive, also expressed confidence in the joint venture, noting overall savings of more than 10 percent for the life of the agreement.

“[The agreement] gives us a good way of bringing the volume of the government’s purchase to bear and reducing the time and effort that Microsoft needs to spend negotiating across the government,” Simpson said. “Bottom line: lower price for greater value.”

The admiral also explained that the license advances DOD’s continued focus on mobile computing.

“[The agreement] recognizes the shift to mobility,” Simpson said. "Microsoft is committed to making sure that the technology within the agreement has a mobile-first focus, and we expect to begin to take advantage of Microsoft's mobile offerings as part of our enterprise mobility ecosystem."

Officials said the agreement also provides software assurance benefits which will offer Army organizations additional training and consulting services.
DeVries said standardization and predictability have been vital to reducing and controlling costs and ultimately improving DOD’s ability to securely share information.

This deal and future ventures will enable DOD to work with a variety of vendors to develop products that meet acceptable security standards while enabling the organizations to have as much flexibility and capability as possible, he said.

“Improved effectiveness for the warfighter [and] improved security of our networks and information systems while reducing the total cost of ownership … these tenets are the basis of what the department is under way on now to achieve the joint information environment,” DeVries said.

Microsoft is working towards a public preview version of Windows Blue. Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans have revealed that the software giant is aggressively targeting a summer launch date for Windows Blue, ensuring its development cycle is short. Microsoft recently passed Milestone 1 for Windows Blue, but the company is now readying a Milestone Preview which will form the basis for a public preview

The public preview, first reported by win8china, will launch within the next few months, allowing existing Windows 8 users to test and provide feedback before Microsoft readies the final version of Windows Blue. We understand that Microsoft is aiming to only have one preview release for Blue. Features are still being prepared for Blue, but one of the biggest changes is an improvement to the search charm functionality.

We're told that the Bing team is working closely on Windows Blue to improve search in a significant way. A number of scenarios are being targeted, including the ability for users to search for a movie and have apps surface that content and provide a quick way to play it. The current implementation of search in Windows 8 supports deep search within apps, but users currently have to select those apps to search within them. Blue will expand on that, providing apps are updated to support it, by extending the search abilities of the OS.

Blue is expected to be made available to existing Windows 8 users by the end of the summer, with support for new 7- and 8-inch devices and Internet Explorer 11 built-in. Microsoft is also preparing a Blue update to its Windows Phone operating system and other services as a project to further integrate all of its software offerings.

An early build of Windows Blue, the next version of Windows, has leaked online on the same day that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer celebrates his 57th birthday. Build 9364, a partner version that was originally compiled on March 15th, has been made available on file sharing sites and includes some of the new changes that Microsoft is building into its significant Windows 8 update. Leaked screenshots posted at Winforum show that the company is bringing smaller tile arrangements and even a larger desktop one to its Start Screen, along with greater control over the color personalization options, and a whole lot more.

Microsoft is building in additional Snap Views into Windows Blue, allowing users to place apps side-by-side in the Windows 8 view. The new 50 / 50 view is similar to the desktop mode snapping, but Microsoft also supports up to 4 snapped apps alongside each other. New alarm, sound recorder, movie moments, and calculator WIndows 8 -style apps will also take advantage of these new views, but we understand developers will be able to update their apps to support the additional Snap Views alongside other API changes and additions. The snapping improvements also apply to multi monitor support, where you can now run individual Windows 8-style apps across multiple monitors.


Other improvements include a number of new options in the Windows 8-style settings screen. Microsoft appears to be adding all of the necessary settings required to ensure tablet users don't have to drop to the desktop Control Panel to change things. SkyDrive options are present, which appear to show greater integration with auto camera uploads and control over device back ups and files. There's also an app settings section that surfaces options to change default apps and information on app sizes.

Settings and UI improvements aside, Microsoft is also making changes to its Charms. The Devices Charm includes a new "play" option, which looks similar to the existing PlayTo options found in Windows 8. On the Share Charm there's a new screenshot option that lets you quickly share an image with applications. Internet Explorer 11 is also included in Blue, although it's not immediately clear from the leaked screenshots what improvements have been made. A tab sync feature appears in some screenshots, suggesting that Microsoft is planning to make tabs available on additional Windows Blue devices.

Touch users can also use new gestures throughout Windows Blue. On the Start Screen you can swipe up from the bottom to bring up a list of all apps, and in the desktop mode you can swipe up or down to reveal a desktop app bar that provides access to snap, projector settings, and more. We're looking into other leaked features and screenshots so we'll update you on any other additions. Windows Blue is expected to enter public preview over the coming months, with a full release due later this year.