Of course, Windows 8.1 can’t change the fundamental disconnect in the underlying product, which remains a strange amalgam of the classic Windows desktop environment we’ve been using since Windows 95 and a brand-new touch-first mobile environment that I will continue calling Metro. (The phrase “kicking and screaming” was used in one humorously descriptive note.) And while there are ongoing murmurs of discontent about being forced to update Windows so quickly, this much is clear: If ever a product needed this rapid an update, it’s Windows 8. Based on conversations with numerous sources throughout Microsoft, it’s become fairly obvious that this team has moved more uncomfortably into the online services model that has been embraced by other parts of the company like Office and Windows Server. Windows 8.1 is also our first peek at what the Windows team can accomplish in a year. Windows long-timers might draw some not-unreasonable comparisons between this release and Windows 3.1 from 20 years ago like its ancient predecessor, this release is essentially a fine-tuning of an earlier major update that was perhaps released a bit too quickly. Its bizarre name suggests that it’s a new Windows version and not just an update, and perhaps not coincidentally even Microsoft has sometimes referred to it as such. Windows 8.1 represents a lot of things for Microsoft. Is this the release that Microsoft should have shipped originally? It’s perhaps trite to suggest such a thing. After spending two weeks with a near-final version of the Windows 8.1 Preview on several PCs, I’ve found that this update does indeed smooth over many of the rough patches in Windows 8, providing a more cohesive and complete experience than what Microsoft first delivered late last year.

That may be a hasty decision, as it turns out. And there’s a lot in it, both for users and for businesses that, until now, were ready to give Windows 8 and Windows RT a pass. Dubbed the Windows 8.1 Milestone Preview (MP) internally, this release is meant to encapsulate the Developer Preview, Consumer Preview, and Release Preview milestones of previous Windows versions in a single release, a sign of this product’s much quicker development schedule. By the time you read this, Microsoft will have delivered its first and only prerelease version of the Windows 8.1 update for both Windows 8 and RT.

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