Microsoft's Windows 8.1: When will users get the final bit

Microsoft is closing in on its publicly stated target of the end of August for releasing to manufacturing Windows 8.1.

But many of those waiting for the new release are less interested in the RTM date than the date when they'll be able to grab the final bits. And Microsoft officials still have said nothing about when that will be.

Just this past weekend, a fairly recent build (9471) of the OS leaked to the Web. This is a pre-escrow build (as far as I know), but includes the new tutorial and navigation aids, which Microsoft officials said back in June would be coming to Windows 8.1 by RTM.

(Escrow builds are typically builds that are near-final milestone builds on which development stops while final testing is done. One of my sources said August 5 is when Windows 8.1 actually entered escrow.)

Microsoft execs said last month that the company would deliver Windows 8.1 RTM code to its OEMs by the end of August. I'm still hearing that Microsoft is on track to finalize Windows 8.1 the last week of August.

Unlike the case with Windows 8, however, I'm hearing scuttlebutt that Microsoft is not planning to make available the final Windows 8.1 bits to its MSDN or TechNet subscribers shortly after the release RTMs. In the case of Windows 8, Microsoft RTM'd on August 1 and made the RTM bits available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers in mid-August, even though consumers couldn't get the final version until late October 2012.

Read more at: Microsoft's Windows 8.1: When will users get the final bits? | ZDNet

 

[adamf]

Yes. Dumb terminal with the really thick cables. some had color, not mine though.

Had to ask the secretary to use MS Word as it was too complex for me (at the time) and she had the only PC in the company.

I know I'm in a minority here but I prefer 8 to 7. I still have to use XP (just for clients through TeamViewer or WebEx) and it feels, old. It will be good when we get some more interesting apps though - at the moment I only check the weather when I'm day-dreaming. The rest of the time I could be in 1986.

EDIT: No I can't stand new Office either. 2010 is great - the new version just looks horrible.

 

[DJRoff]

I'd like to ask what is "Business use"?

I go to work, I use Outlook, TN5250, IBM Access, Notepad ++, Excel and Word. Very occasionally I'll use Project or some other program but generally I'll remember the name if I need it. In what way does 8 make this difficult for you?

I'm not trying to be difficult - I hated moving from 5250 to Windows 3.1 but I can not see why 8 is worse when it makes the admin easier than 7.

I've been in the workforce long enough to know that most employers are a rather stodgy sort, is all. And the last thing they would want at every workstation is a screen full of winking tiles showing the latest thing "trending" on the social networks, what's hot in music, and the weather in Paris. I know, I know, those things can be disabled, but why would an employer choose to buy 7 to 10 computers which he immediately has to pay someone to tweak to make them look professional? It wouldn't have made any sense, when his XP or W7 gear already sported a clean, businesslike look.

 

[DJRoff]

I know I'm in a minority here but I prefer 8 to 7.

After my tweaks -- I'm actually with you. I have two machines at home, one running 8 and one 7, and I spend most of my time in 8 now.