Microsoft is preparing the largest marketing campaign in the history of the industry to promote Windows 8, according to reports.
Forbes has revealed that the company will splash out an astonishing $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion (UK£1.1, AU$1.46) in a bid to ensure the new, radically different operating system is a smash hit with punters.
The publication pointed out that Redmond spent only $200 million (UK£1.24, AU$1.95) on marketing Windows 95, so prepare for your TV screens, web-browsers and favourite publications to be awash with Windows 8 commercials.
Renowned Microsoft commentator Rob Enderle has observed that "the marketing effort is on a scale you don't see outside presidential elections."
Big risk
The success of the "re-imagined" operating system, which becomes available to the public on Oct. 26, is crucial to the prominence of the PC hardware market.
With Windows 8, which moves away from the traditional 'desktop' model, Microsoft has placed a large stake on the prospective demand for tablets, like the Microsoft Surface and cloud computing.
Enderle says the launch of Windows 8 and the changes being served up by Microsoft are a "big risk" for the software giant and its hardware partners.
With that in mind, it's little surprise that the company will go all-out in its ad campaigns to ensure that the public connects with Windows 8 in the right way.
Via Forbes