Microsoft is preparing the way to release its second update for the Windows 8 operating system next month, but thanks to both contacts within the industry and a foul-up by Microsoft which made the Windows 8.1 Update 1 packages available on Windows Update for anyone wanting to grab them, I’ve had the chance to take this latest update for a spin.
On installing the update it’s clear that Update 1 is an evolutionary step for the Windows 8 species as opposed to a radical revamp. It seems the Redmond giant still believes that the overall user interface and user experience debuted in Windows 8 is the way forward, and that the whining will eventually die off and people will take their Modern/Metro medicine.
I’d like nothing more than for Microsoft to take what it has learnt with Window 8 and Windows 8.1 and combine that with Windows 7 to give us Windows 7.5 in other words, a better version of Windows 7 but that’s just not going to happen.
I’m not going to cover specific changes rolled out in Windows 8.1 Update 1. For that you can check out the changes here, but little has changed since the leaked build I looked at back in the beginning of February. The bottom line is that if you liked Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, and you spent time getting to grips with the user interface and adapting your old workflows to suit the new system, Update 1 is going to mean tweaking that workflow a bit, but on the whole you’re still going to like the platform.
Read also:
3 ways to get a new Windows 7 PC in the Windows 8 era (PCWorld (blog))
A Guide to Making the Most of Windows 8 (Baseline)
Windows 8.1 Update 1: More interface concessions that still won't make people … (Ars Technica)
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