Windows 8.1 update images pop up online

An update to Windows 8.1 reportedly planned for the spring is now showing off online via a series of leaked screenshots.

Served up by Russian Web site Wzor, the images show the same internal version number currently found in Windows 8.1 Pro (version 6.3.9600) but the full build number is intentionally blanked out. Assuming the images are accurate, that means the update won't carry with it Windows 8.2. But it won't be a simple service pack or collection of security updates, at least according to Wzor.

Instead, the update is being dubbed a new and updated RTM (release-to-manufacturing) release of Windows 8.1, although Wzor's screenshots don't reveal anything different from the current version. The final build will be available around March, Wzor claims, and then launch publicly on April 1 as a free upgrade to Windows 8.1 users. The update would reportedly be available through the standard Windows Update service and as a standalone installation package.

The new build itself has not been fully leaked online, according to Wzor. However, it will enter wider distribution after January 14, at which time the full build may surface. The public rollout of the update is being geared to coincide with Microsoft's Build 2014 conference, which will run from April 2 to 4. That timeframe gibes with information provided last year to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley claiming that Microsoft will release a spring 2014 update to Windows 8.1.

:story: c|net