On Tuesday, Microsoft's Tami Reller, head of marketing and finance for Windows, announced that the upcoming OS update, previously dubbed "Windows Blue," would be officially called Windows 8.1, and would be free to current Windows 8 users. Reller was speaking at the JP Morgan Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in Boston.
While Microsoft said in a corresponding blog post that the final version would hit the Windows app store "later this year," there will be a public preview of the software available on June 26.
"Windows 8.1 will help us to deliver ... the experiences customers — both consumers and businesses alike — need and will just expect moving forward," reads the blog post. This is all part of Microsoft's new campaign to respond to criticism about the Windows 8 operating system, and to fix its biggest user issues.
Microsoft said that the update would apply to users of both Windows 8 and Windows RT.
Wilson Rothman is the Technology & Science editor at NBC News Digital Group. Catch up with him on Twitter at @wjrothman, and join our conversation on Facebook.