Windows 8.1 to officially launch in October

Posted by David Bernstein
 

The first major update to Windows 8, Windows 8.1 will officially launch in October of this year. The free update will start rolling out on the 17^th in New Zealand first of all places and will be available in the Windows store as well as for download online. The 8.1 update will also be available to retailers and on new devices starting on the 18^th. You may have got your hands on for the 8.1 preview last June to see how it worked and the final release should be pretty much the same.

Windows 8 has had less than stellar sales number thanks to its total redesign which is better suited for touchscreen devices such as tablets rather than personal computers. The 8.1 update brings back the Start button even though there is no Start menu. The Start button just brings you to your apps instead. One nice feature is the option to be able to boot right to your desktop rather than the “metro” screen. Other improvements will be Internet Explorer 11 and some new built in apps. If you are into cloud computing there will also be built in access to Sky Drive.