MSFT Gives IN (Again!!)

With another update to Windows 8.1, Microsoft will be bringing back a Start Menu and windowed Metro-Style/Modern apps, Microsoft officials confirmed during the company's Build 2014 show.

Terry Myerson, the Executive Vice President of the operating system group, told attendees of the Build keynote on April 2 that Microsoft will be making these tweaks to Windows in an update to Windows 8.1 that will be available at some point in the future.

Microsoft is making its first update to Windows 8.1 available to customers starting today. It wasn't clear from Myerson's remarks if he was referring to an Update 2 later this year or to Windows 9, which we Microsoft watchers have heard is a Spring 2015 deliverable. Microsoft officials have not publicly confirmed that an Update 2 to Windows 8.1 is in the cards. My sources have said that an Update 2 was a possibility for fall 2014.

Sources of mine had said Microsoft would talk about Windows futures at this week's Build show, offering developers some guidance about what to expect as the company moves toward Windows 9, codenamed "Threshold."