Microsoft which is already struggling with shrinking
popularity of its Windows 8 operating system is now planning to release a free
or low-cost version of Windows 8.1 OS. The operating system also known as
Windows 8.1 with Bing will be offered to the users of Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
Redmond giant expects to overcome the massive loss in its
income by pushing more users towards services like Bing, OneDrive, and
Office. On April 8 Microsoft is ending
its support for XP and post April 8 users will be offered Windows 8.1 update
according to Neowin, citing a tweet from Supersite for Windows. April 8 is also
known as Microsoft’s “Patch Tuesday,” when it releases updates and fixes for a
variety of Windows products. A week before April 8, on April 2, MSDN users may
be able to get the update, according to the same report.
As reported by ZDNet Microsoft insiders revealed that
Windows 8.1 with Bing “is key to Microsoft’s experimentation with
monetization.” As for why there doesn’t yet appear to be any money-grabbing
monetization, it’s likely that this is just a very early build. We have no idea
if Windows 8.1 with Bing will debut at the same time as Update 1 (due to be
released on April 8), or whether it’s following its own separate schedule.
This week saw Microsoft offering users Bing Rewards program
100GB of OneDrive cloud storage in exchange for 100 Rewards credits, which is
worth $50. Microsoft offered the deal as a “perk for our most consistent and
loyal Bing users.”
Still the bigger question remains open that how Microsoft
will cope-up with massive financial loss by offering Windows 8.1 for free.
