Beginning Windows 8.1

CHAPTER 1

Introducing Windows 8.1

When Microsoft first began talking about “the next version of Windows” in January 2011, it used words such as “bold” and “risky” to describe both it and the venture that the company was undertaking. Microsoft was already some years behind the competition in the ever-expanding consumer tablet market and it needed desperately to catch up.

At the Windows BUILD developers’ conference that September, it was actually no surprise to discover the entirely new Microsoft tablet-centric interface based on its highly praised Windows Phone user interface. What did come as a surprise, however, was the beginning of a move ...