Early adopters of Windows 8 found a surprisingly stable operating system. Although it has its flaws, Windows 8 has received generally favorable reviews, even if these reviews are nowhere near spectacular.
Microsoft could eliminate many user complaints about Windows 8 with its upcoming Windows 8.1 patch. In the past, Microsoft has released incremental patches to respond to user suggestions and complaints (remember Windows 3.1?). And if it did the same with Windows 8, it might be able to silence a fair number of its critics while drawing in some new users in the process.
An article over at PCMag.com argued the importance of incremental release dates for Microsoft. In that article, world-renowned tech writer John C. Dvorak claimed that the incremental upgrade model showed that Microsoft was being proactive about its user support and was introducing new features as it saw fit, now because users were complaining about the operating system so much.

Although Windows XP, Vista, and 7 don’t use the incremental numbering scheme (switching instead to the ‘Service Pack 1, 2, 3 model), it could be argued that ‘8.1’ sounds a lot more important than ‘Service Pack 1 for Windows 8’. Service Pack sounds like it’s fixing an existing problem. 8.1 sounds like it’s introducing something new.

Windows 8 Service Pack 1 aka Windows 8.1 release date

So when would this software package be released? Nobody knows. But if Microsoft values its customers – and more importantly, its brand image – then it will want to release a large Windows 8 package as soon as possible.
Something as simple as giving users the ability to disable the Metro interface could have a hugely positive impact on the new operating system – especially for those users who don’t own massive touchscreen monitors on their desktop computers.
We hope to see the Windows 8 Service Pack 1 released soon. Whether it’s called Windows 8.1 or simply Service Pack 1, one single patch could totally change Microsoft’s future.