In welcome news, Microsoft reported Tuesday that its upcoming “Windows Blue” update to Windows 8 will be free for existing Windows 8 users. Microsoft CFO Tami Reller delivered the news during an appearance at the JP Morgan Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference in Boston.
Once released, the update will be known as “Windows 8.1” and will be available for new purchasers at the same prices that Windows 8 currently sells for. Although Microsoft hopes to have the update ready to ship in time for the 2013 holiday season, the company has not revealed a hard ship date.
Leaked builds of an early version of Windows 8.1 became available via file sharing sites late last month, and the company will release an official public preview build by the end of June.
Microsoft’s announcement today ends months of speculation about the price of the first major update to the company’s controversial operating system. In addition to the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, many key features of Windows 8.1 are said to address customer concerns over the drastic changes Microsoft made to the operating system. While the company is not changing course in a broader sense, it has been implied that Microsoft has acknowledged that customers are not as pleased with the changes as the company initially hoped. It therefore seemed logical that Windows 8.1 would be a free update to address these broad customer concerns.
However, Microsoft’s silence on the issue created its own controversy, and left many wondering about a backlash against the company should it attempt to charge for the update. Now that the update has been confirmed as free, consumers are left wondering only about the rumored features of the update, which are said to include the return of the Start button (but not Start Menu), a boot-to-desktop option, and changes to the touch-centric interface to make the UI easier to navigate with a traditional mouse and keyboard.
