Chrome is very slowly growing in popularity with education and corporate users that understand the benefits of, and limitations of, thin clients – where the server (in this case the cloud) does the work and the notebook or desktop simply shows the results.

In reality, Chrome is really nothing more than a very light weight operating system that boots to Google’s browser and uses a variety of its apps. The other reality is that Chromebooks and desktops have not been selling all that well in Australia – there are few academic reference sites and even fewer serious corporate users.

HP, Dell, and Lenovo are getting behind Windows 8.1 with Microsoft providing it free of charge for lower specified Chrome-style devices. There is only one catch and it is no biggie – the device must use Bing as the search engine in Internet Explorer.

Early reviews suggest that Windows 8.1 at the price level of Chrome is a real winner and others say that its performance and compatibility with the rest of the Windows world is a compelling reason to buy – in a similar manner as Microsoft providing Office Home and Student free on sub 10” tablets has helped drive that market too.

Typically, these Windows ‘lite’ laptops have common features such as 1366 x 768-pixel resolution screens, 4GB ram, 300-500 GB hard drive storage, USB and HDMI ports. The processors include Intel’s dual core Celeron and AMD A series – fine basic computing and casual gaming.

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You may wonder why Microsoft are prepared to give away Windows – the answer is that under its new management it is tired of playing the bridesmaid (to Google) any more.

It gives users with lower power needs and lower cost imperatives the ability to stay with Windows, it does everything (and much more) that Chrome does (it will even run it) and it looks to be cheaper (unless Google starts a bloody subsidy war for its hardware and OS costs).

Meanwhile I have noticed that Chromebooks are starting to come with ‘oceans of bloat-ware’ – shallow attempts by the manufacturer to boost revenue by ‘hard-wiring’ this into the OS – just as you see in the Android smartphone world.

Be prepared to see Microsoft fight back and defend its turf – the desktop – from recent interlopers.