Following weeks of speculation about the upcoming but never acknowledged Windows Blue update for Windows 8, Microsoft has finally admitted to its existence.

The first rumors about Windows Blue began emerging months ago, with the name being dropped in interviews and Microsoft job postings that were quickly removed, before culminating in last weekend’s leak of an early build version that appeared on various file sharing sites.

Now, Microsoft has finally decided to break its silence on the affair, briefly referring to a project named “Windows Blue” for the first time in a TechNet blog post by corporate vice president Frank X. Shaw.

“Now, the look ahead. With a remarkable foundation of products in market and a clear view of how we will evolve the company, product leaders across Microsoft are working together on plans to advance our devices and services, a set of plans referred to internally as “Blue.””

That was about all that Shaw would let slip however, leaving many questions unanswered – we still don’t know which services will be getting the Windows Blue update, although the favorites seem to be Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Server, Windows Phone 8, Outlook.com and SkyDrive. Indeed, we still can’t even be sure exactly what Windows Blue really is – the general consensus is that it’s an update, but the possibility that it could be a brand new version of the above services remains. All Shaw would say on the matter is that Blue is “a continuous development cycle that is the new normal across Microsoft”, which appears to confirm speculation that the company plans to shift to an annual update release cycle, similar to what Android and iOS does.

So what do we know about Windows Blue? Well, thanks to last weekend’s leak, and a more recent “hands on” review by Paul Thurrot of Windows Supersite fame, one thing that does seem apparent is that Microsoft is determined to push ahead with the new “Metro” tiled interface that’s been so derided by Windows 8 critics.

As well as the visual makeover that we covered on Monday, Thurrot notes that one of the biggest differences between Win 8 and Blue is that the PC Setting items have been brought to the fore, meaning users will no longer have to switch to desktop mode to access the control panel.

“All the action in this build is in PC settings, and if you were looking for any further proof the desktop being eased out going forward, look no further than this,” writes Thurrot.

“As noted in the previous report, there are a ton of new settings in there now, including many items that were previously only available in the desktop-based Control Panel Interface.”

Wait! Does Windows Blue Mean The End Of Desktop!?

No, not unless Steve Balmer is a complete and utter nut job anyway…

Curiously, Thurrot’s comments did cause some mild panic among tech bloggers, several of whom became convinced that Microsoft was about to kill off desktop altogether. Computerworld’s Gregg Keizer insists in his commentary that Windows Blue is a clear sign desktop’s days are numbered, while Erik Sherman on CBS MoneyWatch goes even further, accusing Microsoft of being “amazingly foolish and pigheaded” with its strategy.

Talk about jumping the gun!!!

Rest assured, while Microsoft might ultimately be planning to drop desktop at some point, it isn’t going to go anywhere soon (like, for years). Simply put, as foolish as Steve Balmer may be at times, the guy is not a total nut job. Balmer knows full well that to do away with desktop now would be tantamount to corporate suicide. For one thing, there’s the four million-plus desktop apps that simply can’t be run on the Metro interface. Backwards compatibility has been a staple of Windows for years, and any suggestion that Microsoft would do an about turn and dump them all is just plain stupid.

Aside from this, Microsoft’s corporate customers would almost certainly revolt en masse if it were to suddenly do away with desktop. Hundreds of enterprises run custom apps on Windows that are far too complex for the constrained Windows 8 apps, and these same enterprises pay millions of dollars in licensing fees every year. Microsoft surely isn’t stupid enough to go upsetting its bread and butter customers.

Finally, those who are convinced of desktop’s impending doom seem to have forgotten one crucial thing – we already have a version of Windows without desktop in Windows RT! So there’s really no reason to do anything silly like some have suggested.

Microsoft BUILD 2013 Developer Conference

Windows Blue will almost certainly turn out to be an enhanced version of Windows 8, but in any case we’ll know for sure this summer, when the just announced Microsoft BUILD 2013 developer conference takes place on June 26-28.

Going back to Shaw’s blog posts, he writes that “our product groups are also taking a unified planning approach so people get what they want—all of their devices, apps and services working together wherever they are and for whatever they are doing.”

Here with more analysis on those comments and what they mean is SiliconANGLE’s Founding Editor Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins on today’s NewsDesk:

This fits in with earlier predictions that Windows Blue will facilitate cross-platform app development in some way, something that we’re likely to hear about when BLUE 2031 kicks off.