Less than a year ago Windows 8 was launched, the sales were picking up fast for Microsoft but it eventually steadied to a slow growth. Somewhere in between Microsoft being praised for making Windows 8 a new OS with an updated kernel and hated for making it a touch based OS with dropping their iconic Start button, Microsoft announced that they already have started working on Windows 8.1
This was looked up as Microsoft’s gesture towards committing to their OS for improvement and customer satisfaction. Since, then there has been a frenzy of news, leaks, reviews, previews and feature news which gave a glimpse of the new soon-to-come Windows 8.1.
And today Windows 8 users finally get the much awaited 8.1 for free from Windows Store. Starting today, October 17th if you are a consumer running Windows 8 , you can download the free update to Windows 8.1 online through the Windows store. Click here to update.
For people who will be buying or want to buy a DVD or new device, from tomorrow October 18th. All the devices and packaged DVDs would be Windows 8.1 out of the box.
Quick Look at Whats New!
Personalization
More customisable lock screen and ability to put custom background on Start screen.
Live Tiles
3 Different live tile sizes to display more or less information of your Apps.
Desktop
Boot directly into the desktop and skip the start screen. Plus the addition of the Start Button makes a huge difference.
Search
Search through everything, apps, files, settings and even web ( bing! ) from within on Search option. Search pages from web give very disciplined and structured search result making it look like an app instead of a search result page.
Multitasking
No more app switching when clicked to trigger other app, Apps now open besides the running apps to make things very easy to view. Split-screen now doesn’t restrict the size of screen for each app. It can be adjusted as you want.
Windows Store
Windows Store has been redesigned with easier to navigate and discover new apps.
Soon to come apps are Adobe Photoshop Express, Box, Evernote, Facebook, Hulu Plus, Netflix, and NOOK, for Windows 8.1.
#MyStart Contest
Starting today for the next 8 days i.e. 17th to 25th October, Windows will pick 810 random winners per day who tweet and share their new Start screen after updating to Windows 8.1 with #MyStart hashtag.
Winners will receive a $10 promotional Windows Store gift card which can be redeemed to download Windows Apps and games.
How to take a Screenshot?
There are several ways to do so,
1. Open the Share Charm from Start screen and tap/click the down arrow next to ‘Start’ and choose ‘Screenshot’.
2. For Desktop users, Windows Key + PrtScr
3. For touch devices, Windows Logo + Volume down button
Windows 8.1 Reddit IAmA and Twitter Chat
Several Windows engineers who worked on making 8.1 possible will be having a IAmA on Reddit from 10:30am to 12:00pm (PST)
After that from 12:00pm to 1:00pm (PST), they will continue their discussion on Twitter chat. Follow @Windows, @kristinalibby and @brandonleblanc to join the LIVE Twitter Chat. Don’t forget to add #winchat to join the discussion & ask them the questions.
Download the latest Windows 8.1 update from here or checkout Windows 8.1 update page for details.
Source : Blogging Windows
