14 DAY TRIAL // While the company’s Windows developers are hard at work to make the upcoming Windows 10 operating system as advanced as possible, Microsoft executives around the world are trying to make it loud and clear that the firm is really listening to consumer feedback and willing to release more devices that fit everyone’s needs.
Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman of Microsoft India, said this one more time during a recent event in the country, explaining that as part of its plans to bring more affordable devices to the market, the company was offering Windows free of charge to partners building products with screens of 9 inches or smaller.
“We will make our (Windows) operating system (OS) available free for all devices smaller than nine inches,” he was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
This new strategy, however, isn’t really new, as Microsoft first presented plans to make Windows free of charge for OEMs earlier this year at the BUILD developer conference in San Francisco. Back in April, the company’s executives revealed during the first day of BUILD that Windows would be free for companies that wanted to release a device that would cost less than $250 (180 euro) and come with screens below 9 inches.
This plan has more or less succeeded, but the biggest challenge is now to make more such devices available to customers after the launch of Windows 10, as Microsoft clearly needs as many laptops and tablets running the new operating system to be offered to potential buyers in order to boost adoption of its software.