Windows 8 business use was given by MSFT's announcement Friday revealing it was going to give away Windows 8 for free to promote more tablet and PC manufacturing, since vendors wouldn't have to charge for the Windows software.
The free version of Windows is an update to Windows 8 and Redmond is calling it 'Windows 8.1 with Bing', an update released at its developers build conference.
Although Bing is an optional search engine, users can also use other search engines on the free Windows version. Hardware makers will have access to the free Windows 8 version so they can build low cost computing devices outfitted with 16GB storage and 1Gb memory. The software could also come with Microsoft Office, which is not a free product for Windows users.
Brandon LeBlanc, Windows spokesperson, writes in a blog post, "Customers will be able to change that (default Bing) setting through the Internet Explorer menu, providing them with control over search engine settings."
This strategy, although defying the $4 billion revenues from licensing fees, is in line with Google's offering of the Google Chrome on Chromebooks. Two versions of Chromebooks are slated for release are expected in the next couple of months. The end result is that offering free software makes the notebooks cheap and consumers are more likely to buy, if they only require an atom processor with slower speeds and performance.
The Taipei Computex, a PC conference with a large following, will host some of these newer models.
The current Windows free version is the second of its type after Microsoft gave away Windows for small-screen computing devices at its Build developer conference in March.
Business Insider reports, "Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the company would be willing to give away more versions of its operating system for free, or at different price points, as it expands Windows into new markets, like Windows for Wearables (which he said the company is working on)."
Windows 8 is largely unpopular with mainstream PC users and to get rid of the stigma Microsoft will be doing the best it can to push the strategy, "it's hard to compete with free."
