The company has prepared a new discount to bring more users on Windows 8

Nov 8, 2013 09:41 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is getting ready to launch a new massive discount for those who want to make the move to the newly-launched Windows 8, cutting down the price of the operating system to no less than $49 (€36.5) in China.

According to a report by Chinese website WPDang and cited by Neowin, the discount campaign will kick off on November 11 and will run through November 24. Of course, Chinese users who buy the operating system at the discounted price can now switch to Windows 8.1 using the Windows Store update.

Microsoft is attempting to kill two birds with one stone with this new campaign.

First, the company is attempting to bring more users to its modern operating system, as Chinese uptake has so far been relatively slow, with only a few users rushing to see what’s new in the touch-ready Windows 8. Many are still running Windows XP and, with end-of-support coming soon, Redmond is hoping that more users will take advantage of this offer.

Second, Microsoft is also struggling to tackle piracy in the country, as China remains one of the nations whose users are mostly running illegal software. While there are no details as to how many Chinese consumers are currently using a legitimate copy of Windows, it’s a well-known fact that piracy remains a pretty big problem for Microsoft in the country.

Windows 8.1, on the other hand, is also supposed to lend Microsoft a hand in this struggle to reduce piracy. The operating system is being offered free of charge to Windows 8 users and, in addition, it also brings many of the features requested by people, including a Start button and several new customization options.

At the same time, it also packs options to make the operating system a bit more appropriate for desktop computers, with settings to boot directly to desktop and skip Metro now being part of the package.