At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft made an announcement that should be music to the ears of thousands of frustrated Windows 8.1 users. In an upcoming update, it’s bringing back the Power and Close buttons to apps within the Modern (nee Metro) interface, making them much easier to use without a touchscreen.
Microsoft has drawn a lot of fire over the past 18 months for seemingly abandoning traditional keyboard-and-mouse desktop users in the transition to Windows 8’s touchscreen-friendly interface. No longer: Windows Phone corporate vice president Joe Belfiore announced the move to apparently “bridge touch and desktop”, including by adding in the sorely-missed buttons in the top right corner of Metro apps. It’s a little late for Microsoft to realise this, but at least they’re doing something about the problem rather than just ignoring it.
The update is hidden in a swathe of other changes to Windows 8.1 announced by Microsoft today. You can read the full list of changes over on Lifehacker.