Microsoft has launched its long-awaited “Blue” update for Windows 8, now dubbed Windows 8.1, in Preview form today for early adopters. Major improvements include improvements to the Start Screen, the addition of a permanent Search button in the Charms menu, new versions of Internet Explorer, Xbox Music and Windows Store.
“Refinement” is the word of the day here, with many changes being seen as necessary to fix the majority of user complaints from Windows 8. The new version is rolling out to x86- and ARM-based users in the form of Windows 8 and Windows RT, and users of the Surface RT [...]
Microsoft, which is being berated for taking out the Start button from Windows 8, may put it back in the next major Windows update known as Windows Blue.
The classic Start menu which Windows users have come to know and love over the years, was missing in Windows 8, which was released in October 2012, resulting in an unprecedented backlash.
The Verge is also reporting that plans have been revealed to them to indeed bring back the Windows 8 start button together with the boot to desktop option also rumoured earlier this month.
There’s certainly been no shortage of leaks surrounding Microsoft’s Windows Blue in recent weeks, but now the company has confirmed that the long-rumored Windows 8 update is underway.
Microsoft confirmed to The Verge on Wednesday that the public preview version of Windows Blue will debut at its Build developer conference in late June. Sources familiar with the company’s plans revealed that Microsoft began working on a “milestone” preview of the software update earlier this month.
Some of the features that have been exposed in the new build include a new File Manager app, improved [...]
