If you’ve been following the breadcrumb trail of news here on Windows IT Pro, you could have written this announcement yourself.
Related: Tell-tale Signs that Microsoft is Apologizing for Windows 8
Though a mobile event, Microsoft took time at Mobile World Congress (MWC) this week to announce the key focuses for the upcoming Windows 8.1 Update 1 release. And, because the announcement came at a mobile event, it gives more clue to show how Microsoft feels that Windows 8.1 is a mobile OS, and gives support for Satya Nadella’s “Mobile First/Cloud First” chant, stated in his first email as CEO of Microsoft.
At the event in Barcelona, Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president and manager for Windows Phone at Microsoft, announced the company focused on the following features for the next update to Windows 8.
- Improvements in the non-touch experience, making Windows 8.1 a better OS for pure desktop users. Features include discoverable search, power and settings access directly on the Start screen, new right-click menus and close buttons for modern UI apps, and better application launching and switching.
- More hardware options, including lower priced, lower end devices. Hardware requirements will be lowered, once at 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, the new requirements are 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.
- Compatibility improvements for government, education, and business through a new IE8 compatibility mode in IE11.
