In an atypically terse post on the Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft announced on Friday that many of the apps that come with Windows 8 will be receiving updates in the lead-up to the October 26 release of Windows 8 and Windows RT. According to the company, it has been beavering away on bringing new features and improvements to these built-in apps since August.

Together Microsoft and Intel have ruled the PC industry for a ridiculously long time, but with smartphone and tablet sales going through the roof, they now have a lot to think about. While both parties don’t seem entirely averse to venturing out of their longstanding relationship, Intel’s Android-compatible Medfield SoC and Microsoft’s ARM-friendly Windows RT OS seem little more than half-hearted attempts at being unfaithful. On Wednesday, however, a report that Intel CEO Paul Otellini had been heard criticizing Windows 8 in a recently held company meeting in Taiwan painted a slightly different picture.

During an investors conference last month, Asustek president Jerry Shen had said that if Microsoft launched its Surface tablet at the then much-rumored $199 price point, it would effectively jeopardize the survival of the Taiwanese PC vendor’s own Windows 8-based tablets. Now, a new report suggests Asus may have found a rather ingenious way of preventing Microsoft from doing so.