Microsoft has announced at the JP Morgan Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in Boston, USA, that its next version of Windows 8 operating system will be available for free to its existing Windows 8 users.
Previously codenamed as ‘Windows Blue’, the update is named Windows 8.1 and will be available for the customers later in 2013.
Microsoft Windows unit finance and marketing head, Tami Reller, said: "Windows 8.1 will be delivered as a free update to Windows 8 and to Windows RT and it will be easy to get right from the Windows start screen through the app store."
"Windows 8.1 will help us to deliver the next generation of PCs and tablets with our OEM partners and to deliver the experiences customers, both consumers and businesses alike, need and will just expect moving forward," Reller said.
The company is planning to release a preview version of Windows 8.1 at the Microsoft’s developer conference in San Francisco scheduled to start on June 26, 2013, while a final version will be released later this year.
Microsoft has been working on an update for Windows 8 operating system (OS) under a code-named Blue, which is expected to restore the start button that had been familiar to users, which was removed from the new version.
