Windows Newsroom: What Others Are Saying


April 28, 2014

Jefferson Graham, USA Today, explores five cool things you can do with Windows 8.1 Phones on Talking Tech.

April 10, 2014

Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet “I had a chance to sit down with Myerson earlier this week, a few days after Microsoft’s Build 2014 conference, to get clarification on his plans, products and strategies for operating systems at the company.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Shira Ovide, Wall Street Journal “Happy Windows 8.1 day! Microsoft is rolling out a fresh version of its Windows 8 operating system, to add features and smooth over some rough edges in the year-old software.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Alex Wilhelm, TechCrunch “The grass actually is greener on the 8.1 side of the fence.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Dan Graziano, CNET News “Microsoft’s latest operating system brings a handful of new features and improvements to the Windows platform.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Peter Pachal, Mashable “The update introduces many useful tools while simultaneously fixing some of Microsoft’s more unpopular design choices in Windows 8 (welcome back, Start button!).”

Oct. 18, 2013

James Kendrick, ZDNet “Lenovo’s tablet has impressed me since buying it a while back. Having updated it to Windows 8.1, I find it even better due to Microsoft’s improvements.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Eric Limer, Gizmodo “Windows 8.1 is Windows 8, but better. For everyone.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Janet Tu, The Seattle Times “Windows 8.1 arrives with a host of new features that address some of the biggest problems users had with Windows 8, which itself offered a radically different user interface than previous versions of Windows.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Adrian Covert, CNN “The Windows 8.1 update doesn’t run away from last year’s drastic redesign. It’s doing the opposite.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Tom Warren, The Verge “Microsoft has achieved a lot within 12 months, even if a lot of the additions feels like they should have been there from the very start with Windows 8. The intelligent SkyDrive integration alongside a beautiful and powerful built-in search are the best examples of Microsoft’s quick work to improve Windows 8 with this 8.1 update. They also best demonstrate the company’s promise of a collaborative Microsoft that’s working together to improve Windows and other products.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Ed Bott, ZDNet “Last week, as I was preparing to write this article, I rolled back a few of those machines to their original installation, and returned to Windows 8 for a few days. That experience was enough to confirm for me that the changes in Windows 8.1 are substantial and go a long way toward overcoming the objections that early adopters had to Windows 8….for anyone who thought Windows 8 was basically a good idea, poorly executed, Windows 8.1 is worth a serious look.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Harry McCracken, TIME.com “How a theoretically minor upgrade portends an entire company’s new direction.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Adrian Covert, CNN.com “But it isn’t until you actually start using the latest version of Windows that you can appreciate the big benefits of little tweaks.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Dana Wollman, Engadget “Today’s the day: October 17th, the day Microsoft starts rolling out Windows 8.1.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Mat Honan, WIRED “Do you use Windows 8? If so, then get the new version.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Peter Bright, Ars Technica “Review: Not perfect, but 8.1 is an OS that actually works for desktop, mobile.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Devindra Hardawar, VentureBeat “The Windows 8.1 upgrade is available now to those who already have Windows 8, bringing with it some significant personalization upgrades along with the usual performance boosts.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Jamie Gondliffe, Gizmodo “You’ll find a lot of little changes which make a big difference. And a Start button. What are you waiting for? Go download it.”

Oct. 17, 2013

Ed Baig, USA Today “Not quite a year later, Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 arrives with considerably less drama than Windows 8, and that is to be expected—the changes are far less radical than they were for consumers who made the leap from Windows 7 to Windows 8.”

Oct. 14, 2013

Michael Muchmore, PCMag “I’m tired of hearing about what a huge adjustment using Windows 8 is. I’m using it on a desktop right now, more speedily than I ever could use Windows 7.”

July 30, 2013

James Kendrick, ZDNet “The 10 features in this collection that give Windows 8 an advantage over the competition are by no means the only ones. They are significant enough to break them out from the rest.”

July 27, 2013

Tony Bradley, PC World “At first blush, Windows 8.1 seems to be a dramatic improvement over Windows 8. Microsoft has addressed crucial complaints that have forced many businesses and consumers to avoid Windows 8, and it has added a variety of features and improvements that make Windows 8 a better operating system overall.”

June 27, 2013

Alan Buckingham, betanews “This is one more reason to make the switch to Windows 8.1, as Microsoft refines the OS and partners up with services that users want.”

June 26, 2013

Brooke Crothers, CNET “You only need one hybrid device, not both a tablet and a laptop. That, ostensibly, is the salient advantage Windows 8.1 (and past Windows 8) devices have over Apple and Android tablets.”

June 26, 2013

Frank Gillett, Forbes “I come away from the announcements believing that Microsoft has better product and product team integration than Google and is focused on creating cohesive experiences for the individual across work and personal.”

June 26, 2013

Avram Piltch, LAPTOP Magazine “Though more of an evolutionary upgrade to Windows 8 than a new OS version, 8.1 provides a number of key features that dramatically improve the user experience, including enhanced multitasking, universal search, virtual keyboard improvements and a new-look Windows Store.”

June 26, 2013

Tom Warren, The Verge “As I said back in May, Microsoft has taken the right approach with Windows 8.1. It has recognized its operating system’s weakest points and addressed the issues. No, it’s not an update with many stand-out features, but it represents a real refinement of what was already a strong OS.”

June 26, 2013

Alex Wilhelm, The Next Web “All told, Windows 8.1 is a worthy and welcome upgrade, and one that stands up to testing.”

June 26, 2013

Mat Honan, Wired “This is Microsoft listening, evolving, and growing its next generation operating system. It’s clear that the company has finally realized we’re in a new modality now — one where Microsoft software has to appeal to consumers as much or more than it does IT managers.”

June 26, 2013

Adrian Covert, CNN Money “With Windows 8.1, Microsoft is slowly pushing us deeper into its Modern UI. Many of the new tweaks to Windows exist to make the Modern UI more enticing as the primary mode of computing.”

June 26, 2013

Ed Bott, ZDNet “It’s not just a service pack. Windows 8.1 is filled with dozens of significant improvements, large and small, that improve its usability. The built-in apps also get some major upgrades and additions. Is this enough to silence the skeptics?”

June 13, 2013

Mark Hachman, PCWorld “Best Buy will be partnering with the software giant to add stores-within-a-store to 500 selected locations within the United States, plus another 100 more within Future Shop and Best Buy locations in Canada. And the size will be in your face as well: 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet, on par with the size of the homes into which those PCs will be installed.”

June 13, 2013

John Paczkowski, AllThingsD “These stores-within-a-store will occupy between 1,500 square feet and 2,200 square feet of floor space inside the Best Buy locations in which they’re built, and will showcase a broad range of Microsoft products — software like Windows and Office, and hardware like Surface, Xbox and the Windows Phone portfolio. Essentially, these Windows Stores are replacing the retailer’s existing PC departments. To support them, Best Buy is staffing some 1,200 Microsoft-trained sales associates, and it’s adding an online version of the Windows store-within-a-store to its website. The new stores will begin opening this month.”

June 13, 2013

Mae Anderson, Associated Press “You have to see and feel and touch these devices,” Tami Reller, Windows’ chief marketing and financial officer, said in an interview. “I feel like we have learned a lot in the last six months to make this experience perfect.”

June 13, 2013

Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet “Making good on promises to improve the Windows buying experience in existing retail stores, Microsoft and Best Buy announced on June 13 that the pair will be launching dedicated Windows stores inside Best Buys.”

June 13, 2013

Neal Ungerleider, In a blog post, Microsoft CMO Chris Capossela said the stores-within-a-store will “be a department-level takeover within Best Buy stores. And they will be massive in size, up to 2,200 square feet in some locations. The other unique thing about the Windows Store is the people. There will be an additional 1,200 staff on hand to provide a great customer experience, whether it’s choosing the right PC or showing consumers how to stream Xbox music through their Surface.”

May 30, 2013

Peter Bright, Ars Technica “The new operating system will keep the same core elements as Windows 8 but assemble them in a way that’s more flexible, more personal, and fundamentally more useful.”

May 30, 2013

Ed Bott, ZDNet “The Start button is back. But that’s just one of a very long list of changes you’ll find in Windows 8.1, which will be available as a preview in a few weeks and will be released before the end of the year. Don’t let the name or the price tag (free) fool you: this is a major update.”

May 30, 2013

Mat Honan, Wired “Windows 8.1 is getting real improvements over Windows 8, some of which will please longtime users who found the shift from Windows 7 jarring or uncomfortable. And yet it also goes even farther in the new direction Microsoft is taking.”

May 30, 2013

Tom Warren, The Verge “Originally codenamed Blue, Windows 8.1 sets the pace for changes to Microsoft’s software that will continue in the future for both the ARM (RT) and x86 versions of the OS.”

May 30, 2013

Dana Wollman, Engadget “Microsoft just unveiled the first major update to Windows 8, and it includes tweaks to nearly every aspect of the operating system: the lock screen, Start menu, Windows Store and onscreen keyboard.”

May 30, 2013

Alex Wilhelm, The Next Web “Windows 8.1 is improving nearly every corner of Windows 8 while at once adding greatly to its capabilities. To be frank, it’s a damn exciting release, and one that should make Windows 8 more palatable to the average consumer, power user, and enterprise warrior alike.”

May 30, 2013

Brian Barrett, Gizmodo “Microsoft today is giving a sneak peak at Windows 8.1, previously known as Windows Blue. And while it may not be the drastic walkback of the Metro design theory you were hoping for, there’s plenty here to like. Starting with: The Start button.”

May 22, 2013

Jay Yarow, Business Insider “This is the best ad for Windows 8 we’ve seen yet. It very clearly, and simply lays out what’s better about a Windows 8 tablet as compared to an iPad.”