The release date is nearing for the comprehensive update to Windows 8, now known as Windows 8.1 and formerly known as Windows Blue.
The
Windows 8.1 release date is October 17 - it will be available to
existing Windows 8 users for free on Windows Update. It will be
available to buy in retail from October 18 and has already been released to manufacturers (this stage is known as RTM). Volume licencees will be able to get their hands on it ahead of the update, too.
We've also had plenty of time with the new update and are running it every day, so check out our brand new Hands on: Windows 8.1 review. To whet everybody's appetite, Microsoft has released a preview version, called the Windows 8.1 Release Preview. It's now available to download.
- How to download the Windows 8.1 Preview free today
The new Windows 8.1 boxed versionsThe first Windows 8.1 laptops and Windows 8.1 tablets have already been announced, with numerous devices being launched already including Toshiba's Encore tablet, Dell Venue 8 Pro and Microsoft's Surface Pro 2. Surface 2 runs the new version of Windows RT, which is also known as Windows 8.1 RT. Then there are Dell's new Venue Pro tablets as well as the XPS 13 and 15.
The
official confirmation from Microsoft came back in the Summer: "Today we
are excited to share that starting at 12am on October 18 in New Zealand
(that's 12:00pm in the UK and 4:00am in Redmond - October 17th).
Windows
8.1 will begin rolling out worldwide as a free update for consumers on
Windows 8 through the Windows Store. Windows 8.1 will also be available
at retail and on new devices starting on October 18 by market."
Windows 8.1 boxed copies are available for pre-order right now.
If you happen to be one of the small number of users who have a Windows RT
device like Surface RT, we're sure you'll be thrilled to know that the
Windows 8.1 update will also be coming to your device - check out our Hands on: Windows 8.1 RT review
The
big headline news is that the Start button has returned to Windows 8
with Windows 8.1, although it still goes to the Start screen rather than
the Start menu.
There is also more integration between the desktop and Start screen to stop the jarring of the two interfaces.
- Microsoft: emphasis on Start Screen shackled Windows 8
On stage at the Microsoft Build
developer conference in San Francisco, Steve Ballmer said that in
coffee terms, Microsoft was "refining the blend" between the desktop and
Modern UI interfaces and a lot of Windows 8.1 enhancements have been
designed to make the change between the two interfaces far less jarring.
October 26 2013 will mark a year since Windows 8 was released.
Ballmer also promised plenty of new, smaller Windows 8 tablets would be released as well as new apps from Flipboard, Facebook and the NFL - though we didn't see any screenshots of these in action.
In
our own hands on review, Mary Branscombe sums the new release up as a
moderate success. "Windows 8.1 isn't a whole new operating system: it
isn't the same leap as Windows 7 to 8. But it's more than a service pack
as well.
"Performance feels generally faster, even for simple
things like zipping up files. The interface changes won't please
everyone, especially if you liked the Windows 8 Start screen and don't
feel you need for yet another Windows key on screen - or if you were
hoping for the Windows 7 Start menu back.
"Some things, like
customising tiles on the Start screen, feel a little more long-winded
until you get used to them. But generally the interface feels more
consistent and easier to learn. And the expanded PC Settings gives the
mass of control panel options a clean, simple interface that Windows has
needed for years."
- Windows 8 review
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- Windows 8 tablets: all we've reviewed
- Making sense of the Windows 8 versions
- All our Windows 8 content
There
will also be a boot-to-desktop feature in the final build - news which
attracted massive applause from the gathered Microsoft developers and
fans when it was announced at the Build conference today.
Windows 8.1 will bring greater personalisationLeblond is Head of Windows Program Management and references the marked change of tune that TechRadar detected earlier this year:
"Not
only will Windows 8.1 respond to customer feedback, but it will add new
features and functionality that advance the touch experience and mobile
computing's potential." The feedback he's talking about is surely the
mellowing of the Start screen dream and the reintroduction of a Start
button of some sort.
- Windows 8.1 security: what's been improved
"We're
only a bit more than seven months into [a] new, bold approach to
computing," continues Leblond. "The response to Windows 8 has been
substantial - from new devices to strong app growth to key enhancements
to the OS and apps.
"We've learned from customers in how they are
using the product and have received a lot of feedback. We've delivered
hundreds of updates to the product and to apps. We're just getting
started, and the potential ahead is tremendous.
"We've been watching, we've been listening"
We've picked out the top enhancements in Windows 8.1 along with some quotes from Leblond about each one.
1. Lock screen slideshow
"As
people started using Windows 8, we found that people were using their
Lock screens to show pictures of their families," Leblond says. So in
Windows 8.1, you can turn your PC or tablet into a picture frame by
making your Lock screen a slide show of your pictures - either locally
on the device or photos from Microsoft SkyDrive.
You can unlock
the camera or answer a Skype call quickly without needing to fiddle with
a password. If small tablets get popular, that will be useful.
2. The Start screen evolves
Windows
8.1 offers more colours and backgrounds for the Start screen -
including some with motion. You can also choose your desktop background
as your Start screen background.
However, it's still perfectly
possible to get a really garish looking Start screen, like this - does
anybody actually use these patterns?
3. Different tile sizes
As
in Windows Phone 8, the Windows 8.1 Start screen features a variety of
tile sizes including a new large and new small tile. It's also even
easier to name groups and rearrange tiles, says Leblond: "We found
people were accidentally moving tiles on their Start screen so in
Windows 8.1, you press and hold (or right click) to move things around."
You can even have large double-size tiles (check the weather in
the picture above) but apps need to be written specifically to take
advantage of this.
To select a tile, you now need to press and
hold it. You can now select multiple apps all at once, resize them,
uninstall them, or rearrange them into a group: "View all apps just by
swiping from the bottom to view all apps, and we've added the ability to
filter your apps by name, date installed, most used, or by category.
"You
want the Start screen to be about all the things you love. So when you
install a new app from the Windows Store, we no longer put that app on
your Start screen. Instead, you'll find these apps under apps view as
mentioned above and marked as 'new' where you can choose to pin the apps
you want to your Start screen."
The Start screen has also been
refined to work with all screen sizes more effectively - Microsoft
believes Windows 8.1 really can scale from 8-inch tablets to 27-inch
devices.
4. Aggregated search
Instead of having to select
an app and then search when you go to the Search charm, Bing now powers
an aggregated search system from the web, your files, SkyDrive and
elsewhere. Leblond says: "We think this will really change the way you
interact with the Web and with Windows making it quicker and easier to
get things done. It is the modern version of the command line! Results
from local files, apps, and settings are easily accessed in the same
convenient view by scrolling to the left."
In the Desktop, the
Search charm now overlays a Search pane on the desktop rather than
chucking you over to the Start screen. More evidence that Microsoft is
'refining the blend' between desktop and Modern apps.
5. Enhanced apps
New
app enhancements are also coming to all the built-in apps like Mail and
Xbox Music, while there are new apps for food and fitness and there is a
'modern' version of Office that's set to launch.
The Photos app
now has some new editing features that let you quickly edit or adjust
photos when you view them in the Photos app or open them from other
places like the Mail, SkyDrive, and Camera apps - you can now create
Photosynth panoramas directly within the app.
- Windows 8.1 Photos app loses Facebook and Flickr support
Mail
includes some clever extra options for filtering mails, while there's
also a Reading List to gather links from Internet Explorer. The Photos
app now has a lot more editing options.
6. More snap views
If,
like us, you use Windows 8 a lot, you'll have been frustrated by the
lack of 50:50 split snap views. This is the game-changer for Windows 8
apps. "You will have more ways to see multiple apps on the screen at the
same time," says Leblond. "You can resize apps to any size you want,
share the screen between two apps, or have up to three apps on each
screen if you have a multiple displays connected, you can have different
Windows Store apps running on all the displays at the same time and the
Start Screen can stay open on one monitor (yes!).
This is one of
the fundamental changes in Windows 8.1 and makes multi-tasking and
multi-monitor use a lot easier. Also in Windows 8.1, you can have
multiple windows of the same app snapped together - such as two Internet
Explorer windows." We're really looking forward to that.
Yes! A 50:50 split!
7. An enhanced Windows Store
The
Windows Store gets a new look in Windows 8.1, designed to make it
easier for you to find new and interesting apps. Instead of having to
guess what the featured apps at the front of the Store do, a carousel
flips through large images and descriptions of each of the six featured
apps in turn (swipe down if you don't want to wait for it to flip).
- What's new in the Windows 8.1 Store?
App
updates will now install automatically in the background as they come
through the Store. And search is available in the upper right hand
corner for finding the apps you want. Leblond elaborates: "The improved
Windows Store is designed to show more info than before in Windows 8
with detailed lists of top free apps, new releases, and picks for you on
the homepage. The app listing is more descriptive and informative and
includes an area for related apps to help with app discovery."
8. Save direct to SkyDrive, plus offline files
In
Windows 8.1 your files can be saved directly to SkyDrive - it's
completely integrated into the OS. The SkyDrive app has also got a new
update so that files are available even when offline - as in the desktop
version.
There's no longer a separate desktop interface for picking folders to sync.
SkyDrive will get offline support
9. You no longer need the desktop Control Panel
The
updated PC Settings in Windows 8.1 gives you access to all your
settings on your device without having to go to the Control Panel on the
desktop. "You can do things like change your display resolution, set
power options, see the make and model of my PC, change the product key,
let me do Windows Update, and even join a domain – all from PC
Settings," says Leblond. You can also manage SkyDrive from PC Settings
as well.
10. A new Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer 11
will ship with Windows 8.1. "IE11 will offer even better touch
performance, faster page load times and several other new features we
think you will enjoy," says Leblond. "For example, you can now adjust
the appearance of modern IE11 to always show the address bar and you can
have as many open tabs as you like. And you can access your open tabs
in sync across your other Windows 8.1 devices."
11. Better with a mouse and keyboard
For
devices without touch, Windows 8.1 features a number of improvements
for easier navigation using a mouse and keyboard. "PCs today are
evolving for a world of mobile computing where people interact with
their devices through touch, and we designed Windows 8 for this,"
explains Leblond. "But we also recognize there are many non-touch
devices in use today - especially in the commercial setting."
12. A change to the Start 'tip' and the Start button
You've
already heard about this one, right? Leblond adds that there are also
options to change what the corners do, and options to boot into
alternate screens: "For example, if you prefer to see the Apps view
versus all the tiles, you can choose to have the Start screen go
directly to Apps view."
Here's a picture of the new Start button on the desktop.
13. Improvements to the Desktop and All programs
Your
tiles will overlay over your desktop background when you access the
Start screen from the desktop, while you can now swipe up from the Start
screen to access your All programs view. This really is a game changer.
14. Changing app switching
You can now also change the
settings for the hot corners and App switching, so you can prevent the
Charm bar or app switching bar from appearing if you don't want them to.
15. Changes to Windows Explorer
File libraries no longer
show up in Explorer automatically, even though they're still the way
you put media into the Xbox Music and Video apps and the first place
Mail looks when you add attachments.
To avoid filling all the
storage on a tablet with a small drive, all you get by default is the
Documents and Pictures folders from your SkyDrive.
You can see
your other folders and the names of all the files in them and when you
click on a file Windows 8.1 automatically pulls it down from SkyDrive
and caches it offline and syncs changes to it.
When you
right-click on folders in Explorer the option to add them to a library
is still on the context menu, but if you want to find and work with them
in Explorer you have to turn them back on in the navigation pane.
Instead you see This PC where you're used to seeing Computer, along with
SkyDrive which is installed as part of Windows (in both 8.1 and Windows
RT 8.1) and syncs some of your files automatically.
16. Native 3D printing support
Windows 8.1 also includes baked-in support for 3D printing. It's still niche, of course, but it's an interesting development.
Here are our earlier Windows 8.1 rumors
Windows 8.1 release date
The final Windows Blue release date is late 2013, while there will also be some new Windows Blue hardware.
In a post on the official Windows blog
early in May, Tamy Reller, Microsoft's chief marketing office and chief
financial officer, confirmed what we already knew - the update will be
available "later this year", and certainly by Christmas.
Reller
went on to say that the update will provide "more options for
businesses, and give consumers more options for work and play".
Microsoft now has more than 70,000 Metro/Windows 8-style apps in the
Windows Store.
Reller later confirmed the Windows 8.1 name during a conference call with J.P. Morgan, where plans for the operating system were discussed.
There
aren't likely to be too many massive surprises from Windows 8.1 which,
as our writer Kate Solomon says, "we feel a bit guilty for passing off
as a minor Windows update" now that we've seen plenty of screenshots.
Too late!
Windows Blue is actually Windows 8.1
Windows Blue, we now know for sure that Windows Blue will not be the software's official name. Shame. Instead Windows Blue is just the internal name for the software.
Windows Blue will officially be deemed Windows 8.1, first revealed in early April. Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet's All About Microsoft
blog said the original Windows 8.1 tip came from a reliable source and
screenshots of the About Windows screen also appeared on Twitter - see
below.
In stores, the update will still be called simply Windows 8
- that means Microsoft isn't about to start naming its incremental OS
refreshes like Apple does (like OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion). But it does indicate a new attitude to the type of software updates that it has previously called Service Packs.
One thing we definitely would say, it's unlikely that Windows Blue will mean the merging of Windows 8 and with Windows Phone 8 into a single product.
This leaked image is the first reference to Windows 8.1 [Image credit: winforum.eu]
Windows 8.1 Start menu
There
has been a lot of speculation over whether Windows 8.1 will actually
introduce a Start Button and on May 30 we saw a preview of what the
brand new button will look like, thanks to Paul Thurrott at Windows SuperSite.
However,
we'd like to point out a big caveat with this screenshot - the new
button shown by Thurrott looks awfully like Stardock's Start button
replacement tool Start8. Will we actually get a Start button in Windows 8.1?
Credit: Windows SuperSite
New Windows 8 apps
As well as the operating system itself, Microsoft is apparently building some new Windows 8 apps,
looking at new ways to run apps side-by-side on smaller-screened
devices without needing hefty black-box-level resolution. That's in
addition to the March updates for standard Windows 8 apps.
Blue
is also bringing in new Snap Views so you can share your screen 50:50
between different apps rather than the current 70:30, including across
multiple monitors.
You'll be able to split Windows 8 apps 50:50 on screenAs
expected, Microsoft is upping the Sky Drive integration, with some new
treats like auto-camera uploads and more back-up options, as well as tab
sync which will see your tabs mirrored across devices.
The grabs also reveal the inclusion of IE11 but not much detail on the next iteration of browser beyond that.
And
for the personalisation fans, the grabs show a quick and easy menu of
options for customising your desktop background and other design
elements
Windows Blue will also see IE11 launch
Windows Blue desktop
Could Windows Blue enable users to boot straight to the desktop? Some rumours think so. You can't boot straight to the desktop in Windows 8, though you can resume to it.
Some
coden supposedly includes an option that disables the start screen so
users would jump straight to the desktop layout - known as
"CanSuppressStartScreen".
Certainly there are no plans to ditch the desktop any time soon. In an interview with TechRadar, Windows Product Manager Ian Moulster was candid about the desktop's important role in Windows.
"To
be honest I don't have an answer because I don't know. I'm loathe to
speculate. It seems highly unlikely to me. I haven't seen anything
either way. I'd be surprised, but that's my personal view."
"I
think it's a continuation of us always building on what's there. Windows
8 is built on Windows 7 and starts from where Windows 7 stops, and I
don't think there will be a change to that approach. We'd be crazy to
throw anything away.
"But what form that takes we'll have to wait
and see I suppose. I think we have said that we'll be releasing updates
more frequently, but precisely what that means I don't know. There's the
apps as well, we've released plenty of updates to our apps."
Windows Blue sync
It seems that more features
will be synchronized between PCs and your user account with Windows
Blue. It looks like this will extend to the Start screen as well as
device associations and Internet Explorer tabs.
Further Windows development
According
to a February 15 job posting on the Microsoft Careers site, the
software giant is seeking an engineer to join its Windows Core
Experience Team.
That part of the operation will be working on
improving the centrepiece of the new Windows UI, including the start
screen, application lifecycle, windowing and personalisation, according
to the post.
This seems to suggest that Windows Blue will bring
more than a few tweaks under the bonnet and offer tangible visual
enhancements to the Windows 8 software.
Indeed, the post mentions
Windows Blue by name and says the updates will look to "build on and
improve Windows 8" as time goes on.
An excerpt reads: "We're
looking for an excellent, experienced SDET to join the Core Experience
team in Windows Sustained Engineering (WinSE). The Core Experience
features are the centerpiece of the new Windows UI, representing most of
what customers touch and see in the OS, including: the start screen;
application lifecycle; windowing; and personalization. Windows Blue promises to build and improve upon these aspects of the OS, enhancing ease of use and the overall user experience on devices and PCs worldwide."
Windows Blue will extend to other platforms
It
is also thought that Windows Blue updates will be extended to multiple
Microsoft platforms, including Windows server, the mobile OS Windows Phone 8 and applications like SkyDrive and Outlook.com.
Indeed, another post on Microsoft's job site mentions Windows Phone Blue by name, so that is definitely on the horizon.
The
plan from Microsoft's point of view is reportedly to move towards a
more regular update pace, rather than the three year gap that separated Windows 7 and Windows 8, with little improvements in between.
Apple has enjoyed great success in this arena, gradually adding new strings to the bow of Mac OS X every year, through its feline-themed updates.
