chitchat about Windows 8.1 Update 1 and Windows Phone 8.1. The mobile platform looks like it is about to go from sedatives to steroids. And that’s all good. It was due a detailed look. I bet it’s going to hit the competitors in the pocket with some of the reported features that Microsoft is set to include in Windows Phone 8.1. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of Update 1, which is just shaping up to be a feature pack release; a minor feature pack release at that. Sure there are small (read: much needed) tweaks here and there, some UI enhancements, and some necessary groundwork for future advances. But I’ll be darned if what we have seen so far cannot be coded over a week, what with the thousands of software engineers working at Microsoft. Heck, with the right paperwork, many of these enhancements can be coded in over a weekend. This is not something that requires 4 months of work. Not something that should require 4 months of work. For the detractors Update 1 looks to be as interesting as a sleeping pill on screen. Few will become converts based on these small improvements. That is unless, Microsoft have been keeping the real goods secret. There have been enough hints here that the company might be saving it for BUILD. We are yet to see lengthy blog posts doing a features breakdown as with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. There are doubts that even the two leaked builds were not RTM final. If Windows 8.1 Update 1 does indeed bring around more than what the eyes have seen, then it would be quite a sight. If not, then as they say, no money, no honey.]]>
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Sounds like the normal hating to me. If Update 1 isn’t enough for people to finally make the upgrade, then those people were never going to upgrade or were never going to suggest it to some else. They’re either looking for whatever reason they can to dislike whatever MS comes out with or simply are stuck on whatever description you want to give them because they can’t “it’s still not exactly like Windows 7” out of their head. Also every problem has been addresses in either 8.1 or update 1 with the exception of quicker access to libraries. Things that you couldn’t find or were hidden in charms are now obvious. You now have a quicker way to get to things like control panel. A lot of things have been done to eliminate the “I don’t know what I’m doing” or “how do I do this? ” affect from Win8.x
We’ll see in a couple hours but I believe cross platform Windows Store & APIs will be the focus today and less so the usability enhancements we have seen in the leak.
Sure seems like that. Can’t wait for the event to kick off!
They should put Cortana on everything, not just phones. There was a hint of this in Cortana being able to suggest web pages to visit in IE under Windows 8.1 based on actions by a user on his phone, but I wonder if they have followed through with this and actually put Cortana on Windows 8.1 update 1. I doubt it though. But why oh why delay?
They should let me make phone calls and send texts from a device that has a SIM card but that is not a phone, eg an 8-inch tablet. Currently such devices only handle mobile data when for YEARS Android tablets with SIM cards have done voice, SMS, MMS, and mobile data.
They should allow phone apps to run in a 1/4-width windows at the left or right of the screen.
Update 1 provides some missing ingredients to round off the recipe for the pie, namely the essential bits of the navigability that were missing. As such, even though it is short on features, what it is providing is important. Not sure though why it was necessary to make such a big song and dance about it. It’s not like they’re having to persuade anyone to pay for it. And indeed it will install just like regular Windows Updates.