Windows 8 Receives Its Own Strange Upgrade-related Update

Just a couple days ago, an unannounced update for Windows 7 surfaced and without any subsequent explanation other than it was to improve the upgrade experience for those choosing to migrate to Windows 8.1. Obviously, Microsoft found some pieces that could be improved and the update was released.

With Update 1 for Windows 8.1 now available, I guess Microsoft is starting to feel pretty comfortable that the company has addressed many of the complaints of Windows 8, particularly for normal, keyboard and mouse users. But, it still begs the question about what needed to be improved (read: fixed) in Windows 7 to ensure a better upgrade.

Now, a couple days later and a similar update has been released for the original Windows 8 version. Surprisingly, there are many people still running the original release and they never chose to update to 8.1. I suspect some of those were due to how Microsoft decided to provide the 8.1 update through the Windows store and the problems associated with that. Like many update offerings over the past couple years, the Windows store method has its own unique issues.

In the official KB article (2957026) for Windows 8/Windows RT update it reads:

This update makes feature changes and improvements to the Windows 8.1 Upgrade notification in Windows 8 or Windows RT. After you install this update, the upgrade will be more discoverable and faster.

The wording is a little different that the Windows 7 version of the update, but the meaning is the same: Microsoft is fixing something. At this point, who knows what it is. Let's just call it an improvement for now and hope it doesn't break other things.