It would be an update designed to attract users of Windows 7. Exactly one year before the Wall Street Journal quoted that Microsoft has decided to lower the price of Windows 8 and Office for OEMs licenses. The Verge now evokes an experimental project of Redmond called " Windows 8.1 with Bing " which would be a free or low-cost version of the update for users of Windows 7 operating system.
The Verge indicates the exact intentions of Microsoft are not yet finalized and that experimentation is part of a series of initiatives to monetize cloud services and applications of the publisher. According to The Verge, the free version called "Windows 8.1 with Bing” and is currently in development. Hence, they also contain the most important Microsoft apps and services and put an emphasis on the search engine Bing. In addition, Microsoft is targeting apparently from it, to win by no or low price more users for Windows 8. Early versions of Windows 8.1 with Bing are leaked on the internet and the familiar Windows Leaks website WZor.net already published screenshots of the software installed .
The Verge goes on to write that Windows 7 users might get the upgrade to Windows 8.1 with Bing free or very cheap. Another possibility is that the operating system is also available to PC manufacturers on favorable terms. The focus is to get as many new Windows 8 users. This information last week via Bloomberg that Microsoft would charge more for Windows 8.1 license of $ 15 on devices sold in more than 250 dollars. Service Pack 1 for Windows 8.1 is expected in early April.
Now Windows 8.1 download costs currently around 120 Euros for individuals. It is therefore questionable how Microsoft makes money when it offers (nearly) the operating system and key applications for free. The Verge suspected that the company wants to move to new customers to use its fee-based additional services, such as major cloud storage. Details of these plans of Microsoft may known public at developer conference which will be held in San Francisco on of 2 up to 4 April.
