Windows 8.1 Bible
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John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright 2014 by Jim Boyce, Jeffrey Shapiro, and Rob Tidrow
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-1-118-83531-9
ISBN: 978-1-118-83518-0 (ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-118-83527-2 (ebk)
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Credits
Executive Editor
Steve Hayes
Project Editor
Elizabeth Kuball
Technical Editor
Todd Meister
Copy Editor
Elizabeth Kuball
Editorial Assistant
Annie Sullivan
Sr. Editorial Assistant
Cherie Case
Project Coordinator
Ana Carrillo
Cover Image
iStockphoto.com / Aleksandar Velasevic
About the Authors
Jim Boyce has authored and co-authored over 50 books on computers and technology, covering operating systems, applications, and programming topics. He has been a frequent contributor to Microsoft.com, TechRepublic (www.techrepublic.com
), and other online publications. Jim has written for a number of print publications, including Windows IT Pro, WINDOWS Magazine, InfoWorld, and others, and was a contributing editor and columnist for WINDOWS Magazine.
Jim has been involved with IT in various capacities for nearly 30 years. He has been a CAD system administrator and trainer, college instructor, independent IT consultant, ISP owner, and practice director for managed services practices in a global environment. Today, Jim is a Support Practice Manager for Microsoft in its Premier Support organization and a former Microsoft MVP.
Jeffrey Shapiro has worked in IT for more than 21 years. He has published more than 20 books on IT, network administration, and software development, and has written for numerous publications. Some of his books include the Windows Server Bible (from version 2000 to 2008), Building High Availability Windows Server Solutions, and numerous books on Microsofts server technologies, Visual Studio, and the .NET programing languages.
Jeffrey works for MISIQ (www.misiq.com
) an organization that specializes in IT infrastructure and software architecture, systems, and development for large companies. MISIQ caters to cloud-based infrastructure, high-performance software for large web and line-of-business solutions, and Windows Server and Windows 8.x migration strategies.
Rob Tidrow has authored and co-authored over 35 books on computers and technology. He specializes in operating systems, social media tools, live video technologies, office suite applications, web technologies, and networking. Some of his books include IBM Lotus Symphony For Dummies, Teach Yourself Visually Microsoft Windows Vista, Teach Yourself Visually Wireless Networking, and Master Visually Windows XP SP2. Rob has been guest speaker at several industry events, including Blog Indiana, Hoosier Educational Computer Coordinators (HECC) Conference, and the RCS TechExpo.
Today, Rob is Technology Coordinator for Richmond Community Schools in Richmond, Indiana (www.werrichmond.com
), where he leads the IT department, serving over 6,000 students and staff. He lives in Richmond with his wife, Tammy, and two sons, Adam and Wesley. Follow him on Twitter (@robtidrow) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/robtidrow
).
Chapter 1: What's New in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1
IN THIS CHAPTER
New platforms
The Windows 8.1 Interface
The Windows store
Cloud synchronization
Messaging
Other new features
In some ways, Windows 8.1 is a radical departure from Windows 7, as well as the other versions of Windows that preceded it. In other ways, Windows 8.1 isn't much different from Windows 7. Both possibilities are good ones, both from a technology standpoint and for the user. The differences mean an expanded set of features, richer experience, broader platform support, performance improvements, and much more. The similarities mean that if you're familiar with previous versions of Windows, you can put Windows 8.1 to work right away without a steep learning curve.
In this chapter, we focus not on those familiar features, but rather on many of the new and changed features in Windows 8.1. You'll find an overview here of those features, with deeper explanation in other chapters. We can't cover every new feature here, but we hope to give you a good overview of the key features and conceptual changes introduced in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.