Microsoft, is looking to take on Chrome and Chromebooks with a new Cloud version of Windows 10, the move could strip further revenue from retailers as Microsoft looks to sell direct.
Dubbed “Windows Cloud” by insiders, the latest version is said to be a stripped-down version of the current Windows 10 which users are now being charged for after an initial “free” offering.
Labelled as development kit 15003 the new software offering has been described as an attempt to stymie the gains being made by Google’s Chrome OS.
Various companies who traditionally relied heavily on the Windows PC market have been shifting Chromebooks at a rate of knots.
Microsoft reacted to this earlier this month by releasing Intune for Education, an app specifically targeted at the education sector where Chromebooks have been doing so well particularly for Companies such as Acer a traditional Microsoft partner who is now selling thousands of Chromebooks into schools.
Microsoft has gone down the bargain basement route before with its OEMs.
They offered Windows 8.1 with Bing, in May 2014.
This was a cheaper alternative to its full version OS. The trade-off for device manufacturers looking for a cheap slice of the pie was that Bing shipped as Internet Explorer’s default search engine to try to encourage take up from users for the fledgling search engine.
The exercise failed and Google continued to grow their share of the browser market. At the same time sales of PC’s running Windows continued to fall as Chromebook sales continued to climb.
Chromebooks even outsold Apple range of Macs in the US last year to further underline their success.
