Microsoft announced an update on Tuesday releasing a "set of improvements" in extensive areas, weeks ahead of the Windows 8 launch date.
The new improvements are rolled out for "performance, power management and battery efficiency, media playback, and compatibility," said Steven Sinofsky, Windows president in a blog post. "Windows 8 Client and Windows Server 2012 General Availability Cumulative Update is available. This cumulative update package provides a collection of performance and reliability improvements that are designed to improve the Windows 8 experience."
The update will only be available for all Windows 8 machines with the Oct. 26 launch.
Microsoft seems to have learnt an important lesson of pushing in updates when they are ready rather than saving it till the Service Pack update, which was the case previously. Service Pack update may not exist for Windows 8 in the future. This is a good shift in Microsoft reported CNET.
The blog says that the improvements will help increased power efficiency leading to an extension of battery life. There are performance improvements in Windows 8 apps and Start screen, audio and video playback has seen improvement in many places, application and driver compatibility with Windows 8 has also been improved.
Mail, Calendar, People and Messaging have got the needed improvements, Mail has a Conversation view for Inbox and invitations can be accepted or declined directly from email. The People app now lets users to capture and update account picture. Users can also search for contacts from Messaging app. Calendar has been integrated with Mail app, CNET reported.
Many other apps also received updates like the SkyDrive app, Photos app, Video app, Music app, Bing search app and Games app. Maps app is integrated with Big and Travel apps.
Microsoft has more fixes to make as its Windows 8 forums are full of complaints on various aspects of Windows 8.
