To help PC makers reduce the cost of small tablets, Microsoft not long ago introduced a new SKU of its operating system called "Windows 8.1 with Bing." This is the free version of Windows for small form factor tablets, but as it turns out, it's also free when manufacturers offer a free one-year trial of Office 365 Personal, making it a really good value for consumers.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 EposVox | 2014-01-22 19:00:02 |  604 Views |
Windows 8.1 Basics – An Overview
Although the version of Windows 8.1 with Bing is ultimately free, there are some hidden costs and some discounts that make it all the more interesting in the end. To help you understand, there is a screenshot on the new Thurrott website that describes how manufacturers pay for this SKU of Windows 8.1 bundled with Microsoft's search engine.
It should be noted that this price only applies to devices with Intel x86 processors, they must be tablet form factors and Windows 8.1 must have Bing as the default search engine and MSN as the default homepage in Internet Explorer. However, after purchasing the product, the customer can change these settings to any search engine and homepage they want.
It's interesting to see that the configuration discount applies to both Windows 8.1 with Bing and the bundle with Office 365 Personal. And if you look at it, in both cases the final price of Office for small devices is free. So it's not surprising that manufacturers are giving away subscriptions to Office 365 Personal for small tablets. But of course, this must just be a strategy by Microsoft to make Office 365 accessible to more customers.
