
With the Mail, Skype, Calendar, and People apps on Windows 8.1, the company has finally come closer to that vision.

It was tempting to excuse the poor nature of the applications by saying they were really just meant for tablets, but Microsoft always maintained that Windows 8-Metro and all-was to be usable on both touchscreens and desktops. For serious productivity-the kind you do on a PC with a mouse and keyboard-they were missing critical features, and were frustrating to use. When Windows 8 was born one year ago, our review of its Mail application and other core communications apps found them to be just good enough for casual use on a tablet. Hands-on with the Windows “Blue” desktop experience.Windows 8.1 includes seamless, automatic disk encryption-if your PC supports it.Review: In Windows 8.1, Mail is finally usable on tablets and desktops.Windows 8.1: What a difference a year makes.

Windows 8.1 Music and Video: More playing music, less hard selling.
