Still running the preview version of Windows 8.1? Well, you better hurry your horses, as Microsoft has just announced that this build of the new operating system will be retired next month.
The company is now encouraging users to switch to the final, stable build of Windows 8.1.
Windows 8.1 Preview was officially released on June 26, smack at the start of the BUILD developer conference in San Francisco. This early version was supposed to let users get a feel and try out the then upcoming operating system — and a whole bunch of users did exactly that.
Now, without providing any specifics on the day this will happen, Microsoft has announced in a new blog post that Windows 8.1 Preview licenses will expire next month:
“Partners should communicate with their customers to make sure they move to the final released versions of Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 before January 2014 when the license for the preview will expire.
Plans should be made to move to the released version of Windows 8.1 or return to the prior OS version as soon as possible to avoid interruption in use of the device on which the Windows 8.1 Preview was installed.”
There is a substantial amount of users that deployed the preview version of Windows 8.1, but it is clear that Microsoft wants to move these users to the full version of its latest operating system, if they are still using the early build.
Not to mention that the full version of Windows 8.1 is a fair bit stable than the preview version, while also packs a number of enhancements and subtle improvements.
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I’m actually using a 90 day trial of 8.1 Enterprise as I’ve had trouble getting the 8.1 ISO for my version of Windows 8.