Microsoft is working on an update to Windows 8 that brings Internet Explorer 11 and should become available by August this year. Users on a Chinese Windows forum have posted screenshots of Windows Blue revealing that IE 11 will become part of the update. The users report that the performance of Windows 8 should be improved with the update and that the Windows kernel will be downsized.
Devices running Windows 8 should consume less power after the update and scaling of Metro Apps should be improved, likely to make apps better viewable on smaller tablets. Windows Blue appears as such in the systeminfo application that can be run from the command line. The version number of the leaked Blue screenshots is 6.3.9289.
The update is free for Windows 8 users and currently Microsoft is working on the first Milestone Preview. By the start of June this year a RTM version should see the light and become available to MSDN and Technet subscribers. By August it should be launched for retail. From what can be gathered from the Chinese forum, there have not been much changes in the Metro interface which means that Microsoft seems to be confident about the new Windows UI that was introduced in Windows 8.
