Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Announces Windows 8.1 With Bing To Sell Cheaper Devices
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft today confirmed the rumors of a new edition of its latest operating system by unveiling Windows 8.1 with Bing. The company says the main purpose of the new SKU is to allow its hardware partners to sell lower-cost Windows devices; the first ones with the new edition will be announced next month at Computex in Tapei. Windows 8.1 with Bing is exactly like Windows 8.1 with the recently released Windows 8.1 Update, with one major difference: Bing is set as the default search engine in Internet Explorer. Users can still change that option in IE's search engine settings, but OEMs do not have that luxury."
install the browser of choice and this only means you got a copy of 8.1 that was a bit cheaper without any real difference? Gotcha, besides not like the majority of computer users are still using IE so in truth this would only matter to the small perce=nt of users who both don't download a different browser or know/care to change the default search engine.
I know
Google just cannot compare to Bing. I'm a rabid, frothing Binger for one reason: There is nothing that Bing cannot find! Bing found a cure for my uncle's cancer. Bing found the answer to all well-known unsolved math problems. Wherever you go, people prefer Bing over Google.
Don't believe me? Bing it on, you insignificant insect! Luddites such as you are unwelcome in the 21st century!
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
Waiter! Can I get this without the bing?
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
I want a "Windows Gaming Edition".
Why is Windows so expensive? I'm trying to build a low-cost gaming PC (Celeron G1840, GT 640, etc) and the cost of the Windows license is greater than the CPU and the motherboard combined!
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
I tried the "Bing it On" website when it was being heavily advertised on TV. Guess what: the Bing results failed to load (server problems). Utter failure.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Can you upgrade it (for free) to Win 7 and Seamonkey?
You'd have to pay me a lot to use Win 8.x
Hint: In 2 years I have yet to see a Surface "in the wild" nor has ANYONE asked about a Surface.
To find porn.
And it even sucks at that.
But ever since Google started sucking the dicks of obese lazy parents to protect the childruns, even the most innocent of things have been censored.
Fuck them.
They also ruined Google Maps recently too, so off to Bing maps I go, sadly.
Am I hell using that atrocious mess. Google Maps now runs about half as well as it used to, it has so many obtuse interface annoyances, it looks UGLY, it is slower at scaling, so SO many others.
The only thing I hated with Bing Maps was the atrocious flickering bug whenever you scrolled, but when I checked recently, that didn't seem to be there.
So I might just get used to that awful thing. At least I can't see my god damn childhood in Bing Maps. Step your damn game up Google. Your maps are older than your entire company!
Isn't this essentially MS admitting that Bing is a search Engine you should have to be compensated for using?
Sounds like their fishing for another round of EU antitrust proceedings.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
Is Bing so bad that in order to get people to use it, MS has to pay them (by reducing the price of Win 8.1)?
The only time I've used Bing is on my phone, when it was switched to as the default search.
I would search for something and got strange results.
Then I realized, I got Bing'd
I know that there will be a lot of negative comments here about Bing, but when Microsoft started paying people to use Bing, I switched. The web results seem to be just as good as Google. I can't tell the difference. The image results seem to be slightly behind, but for the ~$8/month I make, I don't mind at all. :)
I religiously visit bing for about 5 minutes daily, to get my points and see which celebrity is diddling which one or who had a fight with whom. Other than that, it might not as well exist. I am still unable to find something that can replace google. Tried duckduckgo but tomorrow, I am going back to google. Results are abysmal at best.
__________
The more I know people, the more I love animals
Let me guess, this edition is not available in the EU where Microsoft got in trouble for bundling IE with Windows XP.
Someone please forward the memo to microsoft. They can stop referencing BING as if it's a thing.
It's a DEAD thing.
[click here to have Bing translate this thing lol]
... in the butt.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Bing wasn't their default search engine already?
(I guess even they like google better!!)
I tried running YY-CHR in Mono, and YY-CHR crashed with a traceback because it couldn't load a file from a path with a hardcoded backslash as a path separator. To replace Windows, it needs to run even poorly coded Windows applications at least as well as Windows does.
Just as Internet Explorer is "program for downloading Firefox", Bing is "web site for searching for Firefox". Use Bing in IE once to find Firefox. Then you can install Firefox without the Bing.
Or s/Firefox/Chrome/g in the above if that's your cup of tea. Personally, I'll have the egg, sausage, and bacon with a Diet Mtn Dew.
Classic Shell gets you 90% of the way to Windows 7, and nothing in the summary says the user can't install a third-party web browser.
Do iTunes for Windows and Titanfall for Windows work perfectly on Linux yet?
If I don't use ie I won't see any change.
Microsoft To Sell Cheaper Devices. Sounds like HTC Samsung tactics.
https://duckduckgo.com/html/
I have a Nokia Win 8 phone, and I can't install any alternative browser to IE or change the default search engine. Should I be entitled to a refund?
are directed to Chuck Norris.
The USA is only 4X older than me...perspective
Bing in hell!
Am I having flashbacks from the 90's? Why are they doing this Monopoly shit again? They got sued and lost over this.
"Bing, the discount search engine!"
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
When I heard these plans a few months ago, I was expecting much tighter integration than some user-modifiable setting in the browser. I was expecting a themed wallpaper, a guide at the startup, custom search widgets/apps, and possibly the blocking of alternative browsers or all third party apps.
I guess the antitrust judgment advised their process.
This is indeed a smart move to seed Bing. In fact, Bing is getting better and better all the time and is a comparable search engine to Google, still catching up but with a solid tech behind. Guess what? The more people use Bing, the more data its algorithms have to operate with in order to make itself better. So seeding the search engine is very important, considering that MS has all set of competing services comparing to Google.
Now what this change actually does? It defines what search engine is used for people who access Internet by typing web site addresses in the Google search bar. Also for those who don't bother switching away from the IE. And for those who will see that Bing is suddenly getting better.
Google should be worried. And I'm sure they are.
I predicted this from day one - a locked down OEM Windows 8 that drove traffic to Bing and other MS sites to make money off of their captive users. If the backlash to Windows 8's metro interface had not been so great as to threaten MS's future, I was looking for a metro-only desktop for consumers which couldn't even run Win32/Win64 programs, and an "enterprise" version for corporations which could. The consumer version MS wanted would have locked you in to Bing and other MS services. (Have you tried to set up Win8 without an MS online account? Possible but very hard.) So we've been spared the worst of a bad situation by Win8's rejection.
are all based on the IE rendering engine. That is not real browser competition.
newegg.ca
45.00$CAD for the Intel Celeron G1840 (Haswell 2.8GHz) (its regular price is 55$CAD but it has a 10$CAD instant rebate right now) 55.00$CAD for the MSI H81M-P33 Motherboard (its regular price is 65$CAD but it also has a 10$CAD instant rebate right now)
110.00$CAD for Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit - OEM
And I could get something for a lot less using AMD parts while still keeping away from a Sempron.
That seems high for Win OEM, just a quick check on a few online stores all priced it below $100 (Amazon at $94), before any additional rebates. But, you still have a point, building a low-priced PC with the types of components you are looking at, the price of Windows, even OEM, is significant.
Doh.. didn't catch the CAD..
They are paying you for it by allowing the OEM to knock a few dollars off the selling price of a computer.