Microsoft sometimes aggressively advertises its services in its own software. This primarily includes marketing materials for Microsoft 365 and the Edge browser. The company even posted an ad for Microsoft’s editor in File Explorer in Windows 11, later claiming that it was coincidental and shouldn’t be posted outside of the web. It appears that the Redmond tech firm is working on a business model that will rely heavily on increasing the value of Microsoft’s services on low-end Windows hardware through advertising and subscriptions.

As spotted by WinBuzzer, Microsoft recently released a job listing for a Senior Executive Software Engineer. In its initial release, it made it clear that the company was working on a model that would allow it to build “low-cost PCs based on advertising and subscriptions.”

While certain phrases have now been removed, the list still clearly highlights exploring cloud and web solutions. It also talks about its “mission to bring a cloud-first experience to Windows.” The current job description is as follows:

Are you passionate about shaping the future of the personal computer? Do you have the passion and experience to create and lead a new engineering team to explore the Internet and cloud capabilities of Windows?

The Windows Incubation team is empowered to explore new concepts for Windows in the cloud and web world. Our team is looking for an outstanding Engineering Manager to build and manage a team of talented and passionate engineers. You will work on innovative web and platform technologies. You and your team will collaborate with Product Management and Design to generate ideas and build new capabilities aligned with its mission to bring cloud-first capabilities to Windows, build prototypes to validate early thinking, and use existing customer data and research to validate our ideas. You will be responsible for defining the architectural, engineering plans and processes that ensure quality and agility in your team and move the team from idea to delivery. You will play an important leadership role in defining and fostering an inclusive team culture with engineering best practices to deliver experiences with quality and customer love.

Given Microsoft’s trajectory when it comes to Microsoft 365 and its role in the overall Windows environment, it’s not entirely surprising that the company is down this road. Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 were free upgrades, and the firm often offsets development costs by attracting people to the Microsoft ecosystem through subscriptions and other cloud services, with customers paying recurring fees to use certain software.

With all that said, the move is likely to be controversial if it ever happens. Advertising on services you’ve already paid for is going to annoy some people, and Microsoft really needs to think about how it’s marketing these efforts. Some can draw parallels with Amazon’s Fire Phone, which was based on the same idea but ended in a huge commercial failure. With all this, the effort should also lower the cost of Windows PCs, which should lead to more people switching to Windows dissatisfied with the ads and subscription plans.