Increased tablet sales and declining desktop and laptop sales make one thing clear: People want tablets. But they still need computers capable of multitasking high-power applications. With both Mac and PC sales down, Microsoft took this problem on with a completely reimagined new operating system concept in Windows 8, a system designed to be at home with both casual home use on tablets and serious business and digital media creation scenarios on desktops and laptops. Windows 8.1 doesn't abandon this strategy—far from it—but addresses a lot of shortcomings in Microsoft's first hybrid OS attempt.
Coming just about a year after Windows 8's release, Windows 8.1 is a free upgrade through the Windows app store for existing Windows 8 users. It will be available to anyone else from the Microsoft Web Store, as a packaged DVD and on new PCs, laptops, and tablets, starting October 18. As with Windows 8, there's a standard and a Pro version, priced at $119.99 and 199.99 respectively. The Pro version adds business capabilities like disk encryption and network domain joining, and is required for those who want Windows Media home theater capability.
Birthing an entirely new class of product that looks like nothing that came before is not always the smoothest of endeavors, and it's no secret that Windows 8 has met with a good deal of resistance. With Windows 8.1, Microsoft has moved faster than ever before to address concerns with a new OS release. And the device convergence may be taking a step farther, with reports that Microsoft is expected to combine the app stores for Windows Phone and Windows 8. This will be a boon to Windows 8, which, though it already boasts over 120,000 apps of its own, according to the MetroStore Scanner site.
Most of the major new features in Windows 8.1 have been widely available in the Preview version of the OS, though there have been some tweaks. The updated Mail app was not yet available at Preview time, and it adds much-needed things like drag-and-drop to folders. The Help+Tips app is also new in the released Windows 8.1, as are improvements to the Camera app for tablets, such as the very cool 360 panorama.
Improvements include a more consistent look between the desktop and mobile app interfaces, lock screen slideshow and notifications, better help to get people going with the new interface, the ability to boot to the desktop, a Start button, more windowing options for new-style mobile apps, and more settings in the new-style interface. The Windows app store gets a much-needed face-lift, and the default apps like Mail, Internet Explorer, Skype, Xbox Music and Video, and search also benefit from updates.
Help+Tips
This new app that arrives with Windows 8.1 addresses the top criticism of Windows 8—that it's confusing to use. Actually, Windows 8 could not be simpler to use for a lot of things—what's so hard about clicking a big tile with the name of an app on it to run it? But some essential activities of the OS are less obvious. Things like using the Charms (an always-accessible menu button bar along the right side of the screen), switching apps, and between desktop and new-style interface are all covered in the Help+Tips app.
Help+Tips' simple six panel interface offers help options titled Start and apps, Get around, Basic actions, Your account and files, Settings, and What's new. Going through the whole batch is not a major undertaking either, with its simple animated images showing frequently needed gestures. The new app does a lot to allay Window 8 fears and uncertainties of new users. Even if they don't visit this help app, Windows 8.1 adds pointers right in the interface showing how to use it.
Start Button and Boot to Desktop
Two features that longtime Windows users cried out for after Windows 8's original release have made their way into Windows 8.1—the Start button and the ability to boot to the desktop, where standard Windows programs can run just as they have for the last few versions of the OS. The Start button Microsoft has included, however, isn't quite what the longtime users were hoping for, since it opens the new-style Start screen.
But really, if you think of this as a full-screen start button menu, you'll use Windows 8.1 just as swiftly as its predecessors. (For more tips on quickly mastering the new OS, read my 5 Tips for Using Windows 8.1 Like a Boss.) The boot-to-desktop option is found in the Taskbar's settings dialog, shown here:
New Start Tile and Window Options
The tile-based Start screen has gotten more flexible, now with four size choices instead of Windows 8's two. Added are a huge square, for apps with a lot of live info to display, like mail, and a tiny one, for apps with nothing to update live. Not all apps have all size choices, depending on what the app developer deems sensible.
The Start screen gets more than just new tile sizes. It also can now display animated backgrounds, or use the same background as the desktop wallpaper, for a more unified interface experience. So that the Start screen doesn't get overwhelmingly cluttered with app tiles, now apps only are automatically added to the All App screen, not to the Start screen, but in Windows 8.1, you can get to this All Apps list simply by swiping up on the Start screen.
As to new-style app windowing, more than two modern apps can now share the screen. No longer are you restricted to a large window and one slender side panel, but two apps can each take of half the screen, or, depending on what the app's developer has allowed, any portion you choose. The number of apps depends on how large the screen is and its pixel density.
Apps can even sprout a second new-style window when it makes sense such as the new Reading List app, which keeps the list in a narrow left-side panel while the content you want to read takes up most of the screen. With multiple monitors, you can further augment the number of windows. Speaking of external monitors, Windows 8.1 supports Miracast, which lets you send video over Wi-Fi to large HDTVs and the like.
The Lock screen also has new tricks: It can act as a slideshow display of your photos, rather than just showing a static picture. The slides are chosen with some intelligence, too, rather than simply rotating through all your photos; for example, you may see photos from around the same time of year in previous years. Another big help, especially for small tablets, is access to the camera without the need to log in. The same goes for answering Skype calls—just tap on the notification to start videochatting with grandma.
A big bugaboo of mine for Windows 8 was that you have two Settings tools—the new-style one and the traditional Control Panel on the desktop. Windows 8.1 still maintains this duality, but the modern UI settings have gotten far more robust, eliminating the need to head to the massive number of choices in desktop Control Panel. For example, now you can configure display settings, change mouse and typing options, and see PC info. You can even make new adjustments, like changing the app-switching behavior in the Corners and Edges section.
Another peeve of mine was that, in order to sync documents with SkyDrive, you had to have two SkyDrive apps running on Windows 8, the modern and the desktop version. Now SkyDrive document syncing is a built-in capability of the OS, and it offers an option that lets you access any files on a PC, even if you didn't explicitly upload the file to SkyDrive. I still wish you could upload from the Pictures app, and auto-upload the way you can in Windows Phone.
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