Windows 8.1 Will Have Miracast, Wi-Fi Direct Printing
Microsoft released more details regarding Windows 8.1.
As promised, Microsoft continues to reveal tidbits about the upcoming release of Windows 8.1. The latest blog entry, written by Erwin Visser during the TechEd conference in New Orleans, reports that the update has modern businesses in mind by introducing new manageability, mobility, security, user experience and networking capabilities. Some of these new features also apply to consumers including native Miracast wireless display support and NFC tap-to-pair printing.
"We built Windows 8 to bring the most powerful and modern computing experience to businesses and to help professionals stay connected to their colleagues and clients from anywhere, anytime. Windows 8.1 advances this vision," he writes. "Our goal for Windows 8.1 [is to] offer customers the best business tablets and versatile, next generation business PCs driven by the most powerful operating system designed for modern businesses."
Some of the new network features include broadband tethering, allowing the user to turn a Windows 8.1 mobile broadband-enabled PC or tablet into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot, thus allowing other devices to connect and access the Internet (and essentially nukes the need for third-party solutions). There's also W-Fi Direct printing which forms a peer-to-peer network between a Windows 8.1 device and a wireless printer without the need for additional drivers.
Visser says that Windows 8.1 is also more secure. An enhanced Windows Defender includes network behavior monitoring to help detect and stop the execution of known and unknown malware. There's also now support for fingerprint-based biometrics, and easier multi-factor authentication when using Virtual Smart Cards.
Another new feature added to Windows 8.1 is NFC tap-to-pair printing: simply tap an NFC-enabled Windows 8.1 device against any printer and users are instantly good-to-go. "No more hunting on your network for the correct printer and no need to buy a special printer," Visserr writes. "Just attach a NFC tag to your existing machines. And you don’t need to buy new printers to take advantage of this; you can simply put an NFC tag on your existing printers to enable this functionality."
Microsoft plans to release a public preview of Windows 8.1 for Windows 8, Windows RT and Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry on June 26 at the BUILD developer conference in San Francisco. Upgrading to Windows 8.1 will be a simple process as it does not introduce any new hardware requirements and all existing Windows Store apps are compatible.
However until then, the company will continue to reveal details about what the update will bring, so stay tuned.
While the new "all apps" view option may please some people and make it a more bearable experience, pressing the returned Start button will still take you to the Modern interface, and with that, by not making the taskbar visible from the Start screen, you're still working within the same two desktop disruptive philosophy.
Let's just hope that the update is also available through Windows update and / or as a separate download and not only through the Windows Store like Tami Reller mentioned, I intend to use a local account and thus won't be playing along with the low move by Microsoft to try to lure people into the store. Make the update available without the need to log into Windows by using a Microsoft account.
I'm the only one that thinks this is ridiculous? I mean you need to:
1º Carry your device physically to the involved printer, unplugging it from the cradle/dock/cable/whatever.
2º Put the device just above the printer.
3º Hit the print/pair button.
4º Wait until it prints.
5º Go back carrying both the device and the printed paper.
A great "improvement" over your tipical network shared printer.
1º Print on your shared printer.
2º Go to the printer, pick the paper and go back.
You know you can resize those? I do it everyday. It's a different process than just clicking and dragging the window though. You have to move the mouse to the left hand side and click and drag the window to the right, but only partially. This makes it take up a third of the screen. Great for taking notes while looking at slides or have a calculator right there on the side. Takes some getting used to though.
If you are using RT, u are using it for touch anyway.
I understand, this is a stupid design decision by microsoft and i hate it..but get over with it
If you are using RT, u are using it for touch anyway.
I understand, this is a stupid design decision by microsoft and i hate it..but get over with it