Just moments ago, Microsoft has revealed a brand new variation of Windows 8 that the company called Windows 8.1 with Bing. It is essentially the same Windows 8.1 that we all know of but this particular variant is specifically made for OEMs to preload on their devices.
Given the name, Bing will obviously become the default search engine for Internet Explore on this particular version of Windows but users are free to change it through the browser’s settings menu.
This is indeed a follow up of the company’s previous announcement at the recent Microsoft Build Developers Conference whereby Windows will be made available for free to OEMs for devices with screen size under 9-inch. By doing that, OEMs should be able to lower down the cost of their devices which in hand enables them (in theory, at least) to come out with more affordable Windows devices for consumers.
Speaking about devices, the announcement also pointed out that plenty of new Windows devices will be announced at the upcoming Computex 2014. Naturally, expect them to feature Windows 8.1 with Bing as a standard.
[Source: Windows Team Official Blog]
