SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is trying to avert slumping PC sales and growing criticism of its operating system with the release of a revised version of Windows 8.
Microsoft made a preview version of Windows 8.1 available for download Wednesday. It includes alterations meant to address consumer dissatisfaction with the operating system. Analysts believe users’ frustration with Windows 8 is partly to blame for the biggest drop in personal computer sales in nearly two decades.
At a conference in San Francisco, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer acknowledged that the company pushed hard to get people to adopt a radical new tile-based “Modern” user interface in Windows 8. Microsoft is now back-pedaling, making it easier to reach and use the “desktop” interface.
“Let’s make it easier to start applications the way we’re used to,” Ballmer told the audience of software developers. “What we will show you today is a refined blend of our Desktop experience and our Modern experience.”
Windows 8, released Oct. 26, was Microsoft’s answer to changing customer behavior and the rise of tablet computers. The operating system emphasizes touch controls instead of the mouse and the keyboard, which had been the main way people have interacted with their personal computers since the 1980s.
