On July 8, at the Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, Microsoft executives announced that Windows 8.1 will be released to manufacturing in late August. Still no word on when the update will become available to consumers in retail stores or through other channels.

Another question that remains is whether Windows 8.1 will be available through Windows Update or Windows automatic updates. If so, will it be a forced update, or will it be optional? In the past, Windows Service Packs (which are the closest analog to the 8.1 update) were available via Windows/auto update and – at least initially – not forced.