Microsoft has already stated that the free upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 will be handled via a download from the Windows Store. This week, the company offered up some more specific details on how the move from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 will be handled.
ZDNet.com reports that, during a session at this week's TechEd conference in New Orleans, Microsoft reps stated that when the preview version of Windows 8.1 is launched on June 26th, users will first see a Windows Update notification, which will then cause the Windows Store to offer up information about the features in the update; users will then have the option to install or not install the preview build.
The same procedure will be followed when the final RTM version of Windows 8.1 is available for download later this year. All data and account info will remain in the tranfer. However, Microsoft says that people who download and use the preview version of Windows 8.1 will have to reinstall all of their Windows 8 and desktop apps when they install the final RTM x86 version of Windows 8.1; Windows RT users will also have to reinstall all their Modern-Windows Store apps for their own Windows 8.1 upgrade.
If Windows 8 users decide to simply wait until the final version of Windows 8.1 is released, and bypass installing the preview build, the good news is that they won't have to reinstall their apps. Some more good news: Windows 8.1 is expected to use less hard drive space compared to Windows 8, thanks to Microsoft making the move to remove older and temporary files, along with improving NTFS compression.
Source: ZDNet.com | Image via Microsoft
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