The news was announced at the firm’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Houston, Texas by Tami Reller, Windows CMO and CFO, Microsoft. As per reported in Windows blog, Reller announced that “Windows 8.1 RTM will be available for OEM partners in late August”. She also disclosed that some of the Windows-powered devices will be shipped in the holiday season with this updated Windows 8.1 software. However, Reller didn’t spill the beans on as to when consumers will get hold of the updated software. Considering Microsoft’s previous track record, we should expect the software to reach consumers by October. At WPC, Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft said, “Windows has always been more a device than a piece of software; it defined a class of device called the PC”. This year, on June 26th, Microsoft took out an open preview of Windows 8.1 to let users take a trial of the software before it went official. Earlier, Microsoft disclosed making Windows 8.1 available to all Windows 8 and Windows RT users, giving them a free upgrade. With Windows 8.1, Microsoft is expected to fix the dents caused by Windows 8. This updated version is also expected to hold the Start button.