A couple of interesting tidbits came out of Build 2014 yesterday. The conference is being streamed for those who cannot attend in person.
Apparently competition, combined with a desire for Microsoft to invade new market spaces, is applying downward pressure on the price of some forms of Windows licenses. Microsoft announced that Windows would be available at no cost for "Internet of Things" devices as well as for phones and tablets with screens less than 9 inches. Not included: Whether this applies to Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.1 RT, but the inclusion of "phones and tablets" leads me to believe that it will be the RT version.
After nearly a year and a half since it was removed in Windows 8, the start menu is finally returning. The previews shown at BUILD show that live tiles (similar to those on Windows Phone) will be displayed side-by-side with the more traditional hierarchy of groups. No word on when this will finally be released to users.
(Score: 3, Funny) by dotdotdot on Thursday April 03 2014, @12:42PM
Just when I finally get used to working without a start menu (by pinning icons to my task bar), they change it again.
When Microsoft released Windows Vista Service Pack 3, they called it Windows 7. Maybe they should just rename Windows 8.1 Update 1 to Windows 9.