Microsoft has made an announcement about its soon-to-be-released “Windows Blue” update, officially naming the next iteration of its operating system as “Windows 8.1”. More important than the labeling however, is that Microsoft intends to make the update available for free to all Windows 8 users via a download in the Windows Store.

The news came from Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer Tami Reller, who made an appearance at the JP Morgan’s Technology, Media and Telecom conference in Boston yesterday. During the show, she confirmed that the updated version of Windows would be available to both Windows 8 and Windows RT users.

According to Reller, the update will be easy to download via the Windows Store, meaning that “customers today who have Windows 8 or plan to buy a device in the near future can seamlessly get the advantages of Windows 8.1”.

We still don’t have an exact release date for Windows 8, but Reller hinted that it’ll arrive in time for the summer holidays. “We’re very sensitive to the timing of the holidays,” she commented. She added that in an ideal world, Microsoft would be able to ensure that all new devices running its OS would have Windows 8.1 pre-loaded in time for the holidays, but if that doesn’t happen it’s going to make it very easy to update anyway.

The first concrete evidence we had of “Windows Blue” came back in March when screenshots were leaked that revealed some of the changes Microsoft is planning to introduce, although talk of an update to deal with the most heavily criticized aspects of the OS had emerged within weeks of its launch last year. Finally, Microsoft admitted to Windows Blue’s existence last month, adding that it would reveal more at its Build conference in June. Now, Reller has stated that a preview of the update will be available for anyone to download as of June 26.

Some of the updates we can expect include customizable “tiles” on the Windows 8 Start Screen, more extensive settings and options in the “charms bar”, and perhaps even a return of the old Start Button and a “boot to desktop” option for those dissatisfied with the Metro layout. The last two suggestions are quite speculative – as I previously wrote, it would in effect mean that Microsoft is reverting back to Windows 7, something that would seem to be contrary to its strategy of pushing Metro as the first genuine cross-platform OS. Certainly, Microsoft can expect to take a lot of flack if it does so.

Windows Phone Gets a Revamp Too

Desktop users aren’t the only ones in line for a free update courtesy of Microsoft. The company’s also planning to roll out fresh changes to its Windows Phone OS as well, with the updates expected to take place at some unannounced date later this summer. Known as the “GDR2 update”, the changes are unlikely to be as extensive as Windows Blue on laptops is, but users should notice some small improvements.

A Microsoft blog post this morning outlines “a small number of improvements and upgrades” that we can expect to see, including messaging and Wi-Fi improvements, among other things.

Crucially, Windows Phone will soon be able to support CardDAV and CalDAV, which means that it will still be able to work with Google contact and calendar syncing services. In addition, we can expect to see support for FM radio reintroduced, although carriers will be given the option to opt out of this feature. FM radio was a feature of the old Windows Phone 7 OS, but dropped from Windows Phone 8.