Microsoft Confirms Windows 8.1 Available Later This Year with Free Update

Microsoft Confirms Windows 8.1 Available Later This Year with Free Update

June. 06, 2013 12:50 pm / Posted by Michael Eric to News
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The update of Microsoft's latest operating system Windows 8, codenamed Windows Blue, will be officially named Windows 8.1, using a name different from Microsoft's naming convention during all these years.

Windows 8.1 Release Date

The final Windows Blue release date is late 2013, while there will also be some new Windows Blue hardware. Tamy Reller, Microsoft's chief marketing officer and chief financial officer, made a big reveal during JP Morgan's Technology. He confirmed what we already knew - the update will be available "later this year" and certainly by Christmas, which is posted on the official Windows blog early in May.

He also noted that the update will give offer "more options for businesses, and give consumers more options for work and play". Currently, Microsoft has more than 70,000 Metro/Windows 8-style apps in the Windows Store.

New Features Included in Windows Blue

There are also a few features expected to arrive with Windows Blue, according to screenshots published on the Winforum. These include a 50/50 split for the multi-tasking Snap Views function and the inclusion of Internet Explorer 11.

Sources have emphasized that the Start Button won't work the way the current Windows Start Button does. There is talk that Microsoft will bring back the Start button and therefore Start Menu with Windows Blue, which will be a repeat of the existing Charms Bar.

Other smaller changes include new tile sizes for the Modern UI Start Screen and a new Personalize menu for quickly changing colors schemes and backgrounds (shown at the top of the page).

Microsoft has announced that the Windows 8.1 update will be free and available from the home screen when it launches, while a preview version will be opened up to the public on June 26th at the beginning of Build 2013.

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