Windows 8.1 Comes to Manufacturers

In advance of the "official" October 18, 2013 release, the first looks at Windows 8.1 have been seen as it's been sent off to manufacturers. 

Following several betas, a modestly well received preview led to a very brief five month lag to completion which Microsoft is touting as an "unparalleled level of collaboration" between customers and Windows product teams. 

Current Windows 8 owners will get the update for free, but all end users will have to hang on until the official October 18th release date.