Microsoft has been pretty quiet about their long term plans for the Windows 8 ecosystem, but its job board has been pretty loud-mouthed. First, it hinted at the plan for Windows Blue, and now a new posting indicated that the next big thing for Windows Phone is probably going to show up at the end of this year.


From the posting for a software engineer for testing:

This is a great time to join as we're completing our current release are getting ready for our next release targeting the holiday of this year and we're chartered with keeping the momentum for Windows Phone by bringing new killer devices and delightful user experiences. There are enormous growth opportunities in this role and organization.


Unsurprisingly, there's no information about what the "next release" is, but the Microsoft job board has already confirmed Windows Blue by name, so that's as good a bet as any. And while rumor is that Blue's first incarnations could be showing up this summer, year-end seems like a reasonable amount of time to get the Windows Phone ecosystem for the closer desktop integration Windows Blue is likely to bring. It could be a pretty interesting shake-up, but it'll be a while before we get to find out how it goes. [WMPoweruser via CNET]