Microsoft seemingly wants to get rid of a bunch of small cloud companies with its latest unbeatable offer – 100 GB of cloud storage absolutely free for the next two years. You’ll only need to sign up for a Bing awards account and claim the offer.
Your data will be stored on OneDrive, the enhanced version of Microsoft’s former SkyDrive, which was successfully integrated into Windows, making it irresistible to people looking for on-line storage or on-line synchronization of their devices.
However, after two years, you’ll either pay to continue to benefit from the OneDrive service or let your gigs deleted. Until now, 100GB of storage space on Microsoft’s servers usually cost $2 per month.
The company announced that people do not need to earn Bing Rewards points to get access to the free gigabytes. Bing Rewards usually require such points to reward its users’ loyalty to the web search service. You can usually earn points by performing Bing web searches, and later cash them in for gift cards or other digital goodies.
Still, starting from Feb. 28, anyone with a Bing rewards membership can claim the free 100 GB of free cloud storage on One Drive. However, the offer does not apply to Office 365 subscribers and non-US residents (yes, only people living in the U.S. can benefit from Microsoft’s offer.) The regular OneDrive free offer involves only 15 GB of data.
So, any Bing Rewards member can claim the free offer, but also anybody with a Microsoft account. If you accept the offer, OneDrive will be entitled to e-mail you with its latest offers, but you may cancel the promotional e-mails at any time.
Microsoft surely hopes that after two years you will have filled up all the cloud space and will have to pay to keep your treasured data. If you plan to drop the service in two years time, then make sure you read on what happens when your cloud data vanishes.
Bing Rewards members will be able to activate the 100 GB offer in their account dashboard under the “Free Storage” tab next to the OneDrive logo.
Tech experts claim that as Microsoft expands into the cloud business there are more freebie offers to come from the tech giant. Its main marketing strategy is to hook the current users of one of its services into using other of its services as well.
For instance, Windows 8.1, which had integrated Bing as its default web search engine, is rolling out on low-cost devices that may have a storage problem.
So, their owners may turn to Bing Rewards to get more free storage space on OneDrive. So, the free 100 GB offer only completes the cycle. Additionally, Bing Rewards will push its users to use Bing, rather than other search providers. So, it is a win-win strategy for Microsoft.
Image Source: Info.cwps.com