Windows 8.1 RTM to reach OEM partners in late August

Windows 8.1 RTM will reach OEM partners in late August, Tami Reller, Windows CMO and CFO revealed at the company’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) yesterday. Simply put, starting late August OEMs will be able to prep devices running the Windows 8.1 OS.

Windows 8.1 features demoed..

In addition to this announcement at the event in Houston, Texas, the company also demoed the features on the new OS. Microsoft’s Jensen Harris showed off some of Windows 8.1’s features and functionality. He showed how the new OS has been optimised to work on small-form-factor devices and in portrait view. He demoed the OS’ Reading List App that lets users share articles from the web and content from other apps for reading later. Harris also demoed the search experience on Windows 8.1, powered by Bing.

Among new features and announcements, Reller mentioned that Windows 8 has logged 60 billion hours of use.

Harris also demoed a varied kind of search for music integrated with Xbox Music, using which Windows 8.1 users can share a webpage to the Xbox Music app. The app “scrapes” the webpage for song mentions to create a playlist that is created based on the music mentioned on a webpage by the user. The Miracast technology too was demoed at the event and it is built into the refined OS. It streams HD video and audio over Wi-Fi to another display, say a TV.    

Early next year, the software giant will be launching the User Experience Design Competency that will essentially help partners train their designers and get recognised for skills in Microsft Design Language. Reller also announced TouchWins – Microsoft’s new commercial channel incentive for featured Windows devices, to offer incentives to authorised distributor and reseller partners who sell featured PCs and tablets with Windows 8 Pro and touch.

The Windows 8.1 release preview was announced on June 26 and it is set to be a free update for existing Windows 8 users. What’s new in Windows 8.1? Get the answer here.