Another day brings another new Windows 8.1 feature in the spotlight. Thanks to all the early builds that have leaked, technology enthusiasts have been hard at work trying to find out everything that is new or improved in Windows 8.1.
A report popped up at Neowin that claims that Microsoft is planning to introduce a new download progress bar (just under the Live Tile of a particular app) that would allow users to track the download of a specific app. See for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceShmo6eyrE
Obviously, Microsoft will not comment on any of these reports, at least not before a preview version of the operating system makes its way to general audience. But this seems to be one of the several new features and enhancements Redmond has planned for this new version of Windows.
This was something that has been a staple on mobile platforms — even Windows Phone 7 featured progress bars like this for apps. Android and iOS users will handily be aware of this.
In some ways the exclusion of this on Windows 8 vanilla was surprising.
Nevertheless, we can chalk this one up as one of the few basic features that did not make the cut in the current operating system. But it is nice to see this being implemented in Windows 8.1, more so when you consider the ever-increasing size of some apps and games.
This along with automatic updates for apps (another feature rumored for Windows 8.1) will surely streamline how users interact with apps.
