14 DAY TRIAL // After months of rumors and speculation, Microsoft has just confirmed that a new pack of improvements for Windows 8.1 will be shipped on August 12 as part of the Patch Tuesday rollout.
At the same time, Redmond has also publicly killed off rumors pointing to a potential Windows 8.1 Update 2, explaining that no such thing will ever be launched for the current modern operating system.
Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc has suggested in the announcement today that more updates are coming for its products, explaining that future Patch Tuesdays could bring similar improvements for the company’s operating systems.
“Rather than waiting for months and bundling together a bunch of improvements into a larger update as we did for the Windows 8.1 Update, customers can expect that we’ll use our already existing monthly update process to deliver more frequent improvements along with the security updates normally provided as part of Update Tuesday,” LeBlanc has explained.
“Despite rumors and speculation, we are not planning to deliver a Windows 8.1 Update 2,” he has added.
On the other hand, Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 8.1 is scheduled to receive a new important update on August 12, but as compared to initial rumors on the matter, no big changes are coming. There’s no Start menu included in this release, but you’ll still get the following, according to Microsoft’s own announcement:
• Precision touchpad improvements – three new end-user settings have been added: Leave touch pad on when a mouse is connected; allow right-clicks on the touchpad; double-tap and drag.
• Miracast Receive – exposes a set of Wi-Fi direct APIs for Independent Hardware Vendor (IHV) drivers or OEM drivers to develop Windows 32-bit applications that run on all supported x86-based or x64-based versions of Windows 8.1, enabling the computer as a Miracast receiver.
• Minimizing login prompts for SharePoint Online – reduces the number of prompts with federated use in accessing SharePoint Online sites. If you select the “Keep me signed in” check box when you log on for the first time, you will not see prompts for successive access to that SharePoint Online site.
As you can see, most of these improvements are part of security and non-security updates to improve performance and reliability of Windows 8.1, which more or less confirm that Microsoft has no plans to ship any big changes to its modern platform until Windows 9 sees daylight.
Since it will go live next Tuesday, this pack of improvements will be delivered via Windows Update, Microsoft has said, with more details to be provided on August 12, when the company officially starts shipping the update.