Microsoft confirms Windows 8 upgrade pricing, System Builder edition
Microsoft's Windows 8 Pro will cost just $39.99 for a digital upgrade edition, but only when purchased before the end of January 2013.
Starting at general availability and running through 31st January 2013, the time-limited upgrade offer is good for users on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, and provides access to the full Windows 8 Pro package rather than the cut-down Windows 8 release. Even better, Windows Media Centre will be included as an optional but cost-free install even after the upgrade has taken place - but will be a paid-for add-on once the offer has expired.
The low-price upgrade offer will be available through the Windows.com website, with the operating system being downloaded for immediate installation or used to create a bootable USB or ISO install image. Those who prefer physical media can opt for an official backup DVD for $15, Microsoft has confirmed.
'We believe that your upgrade experience in Windows 8 will be a breeze by offering a faster experience, a single upgrade path, and compatibility from prior versions of Windows,' Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc claimed in a statement which handily overlooks the fact that upgrades from Windows XP won't migrate any programs or settings. 'We've continued to listen to our customers and have expanded the ability to download to over 100 countries and 37 languages. We have simplified the Windows upgrade experience with the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant which supports you during your upgrade with everything from selecting your language to pausing your download to built-in compatibility checks - it’s seamless. And if you're an enthusiast you will have the flexibility to download and control how you upgrade.'
Although the digital distribution upgrade is remarkably cheap, the news isn't so good for those on slower connections or who otherwise prefer to shop in a bricks-and-mortar establishment: the boxed copy of Windows 8 Pro Upgrade will cost $69.99.
LeBlanc also announced that system builders - including end-users building PCs for personal use, as well as those doing so as a business - will qualify for Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro System Builder editions at a reduced price. This special semi-OEM edition will also be made available to those installing Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro on a dedicated partition of an existing machine for dual-boot purposes, or installing the software in a virtual machine environment. Pricing for the System Builder editions has not yet been confirmed.
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Discuss in the forums ReplyHaving used it since the DP in October, it's taken a while to grow on me, but I prefer it on my touch enabled laptop to Windows 7 (one of the TouchSmart 2nd gen devices). The only reason why I haven't switched it on my desktop is that there are some stability problems with my GPU drivers and one or two issues with my chipset/graphical freezes, but, in my opinion, an upgrade key at that price is worth it. ;)
As correctly asserted by the Microsoft engineers I have all my apps pinned to the taskbar and very rarely delve into the start menu anymore. Plus, I like the Win8 tiles system. Right now, apart from my efforts to integrate Rainmeter my desktop is very sparse indeed and needs filling up!
Naah, if it works for you all the better. I'm still not adapting to it as well as I should. Or want to.
In what way is it an "upgrade"? How is it better than Windows 7? How was that better than XP? How was that better than 2000? How was that better than 98?
Yes, there are technical changes under the hood, and you can argue to an extent that they're better because of those (the GPU compositor in Vista and going to NT kernel in 2000 were both long overdue, for instance). At the end of the day, though, the user experience of windows hasn't changed in 17 years, and for the entirely circular reason that people buy windows to get that user experience. Obviously the whole tablet UI thing is worthless and will be immediately switched off by most people (it's also a trivial piece of programming which could have been made available as an alternate shell for anyone who wanted it).
So again, what features does this upgrade actually offer?
Precisely the same thing every GUI OS has done since they were invented 30 years ago, just in a nicer way. What else were you expecting? You know precisely what Win8 offers, you're just being deliberately contentious.
Enough with such pointless posts, I object to them using up my bandwidth.
If you can't find something in here that floats your boat, then it will do very little for you.
[Captain Patronising Analogy]It's much like "upgrading" from a Mk1 ford Focus to a Mk2 - they both do basically the same thing, but one is rounder and newer looking than the other.[/Captain Patronising Analogy]
I'll be doing what I always do. Wait six months after release, appraise the various comments, reviews, tweaks and tips, then buy the Family pack for three licenses, splitting the cost with my old folks. Tweak and profit £££.
;)
If it is only going to cost ~£30 to upgrade I would be very tempted
You mean the Metro UI? Yeah, it can disabled through the registry leaving you with the normal desktop + start menu.
lol, yeah I re-read the article and it says precisely what I was on about (right at the top!). My sincerest apologies Mr H.
The 31st of Jan' is when the cheap upgrade price ends. Expect it before that.
Also, I'm slightly ashamed of the amount of trollish anti start screen/metro comments on this site. Are people no longer able to express their grievance in anything more than a snide one liner?
Well to be fair, the Metro UI doesn't seem very streamlined. It's actually faster and more aesthetically pleasing if you're used to it, but we're too loyal to the start menu.
With that said, I happen to not care for how things are organized although I will admit that metro isn't all bad. I just happen to not care for a tablet like interface.
That one way of looking at it. I see it as an aggressive marketing strategy to establish a dominant OS ecosystem, much like Google is selling their Nexus 7 at cost price. Windows Metro is the future.
Please don't think I'm against people who don't like Metro, I just can't stand people not articulating their issue and instead making unhelpful and trollish comments.
Case in point:
This chap has shown a lack of understanding on the subject matter, and has assumed this discount which is a sign of a lack of confidence in windows 8. If he had read previous comments or knew what he was talking about, he would know this upgrade version is more expensive that the first batch of windows 7 pre order offers.
For the record, I've been using Windows 8 on and off since the Developer Preview, so it's not like I have an uninformed opinion. I just don't blindly accept Microsoft's claim that Metro is perfect for both the mobile and the desktop environment unlike some others do. Truth be told, I _like_ the interface for mobile devices and I would happily buy a Windows Phone 8 smartphone.
For enterprise it's ideal. We're talking about staff who don't know how to start Word if the icon is not on the desktop and there is no Word document to click (true: this was an admin with years of working on a PC under her belt). Metro allows the IT dept. to set up a simple Start screen with just the applications that they want staff to be able to access and nothing else. No Windows explorer to get lost in; no Start Menu with layers of cascading directories to root through. To them it will be bloody perfect.
Even if Windows 8 didn't have Metro and all that, business will still not adopt it. I think Microsoft knows this, that is why they focused more on Home users for this version. Of course, they will try and push it to businesses. It will be silly not too do that. But I think deep down Microsoft knows it.
Also, EVEN if business would be interesting in getting Windows 8, as an absolute must, they will STILL wait for SP1.
You know the famous silly list that people make with all odd or even numbers of OS is "bad", and the other one is "good"... well if you replace (except for Windows Me), "bad" with "designed for lay people (average Joe)", then it applies equally well. As for XP, when it came out, every computer enthusiasts, IT's, etc.. HATED with aption XP. The only reason why people like it now, is because after 6 years people got used to it.
If you go back to XP now, you will notice:
-> Bugs everywhere, in your face even. Like the tool-tip on the task bar showing behind the task bar when you roll over an icon.
-> Windows view settings can be corrupted over time and at that point it doesn't remember what you pick
-> Prefetch never really worked
-> Firewall blocks programs and warns you well after you already ran it after a few times, on some occasions.
-> Running a program as "Run As" saves the settings on either the current account only or the elevated account, depending on the program or setting panel you used
-> It looked like a fisher price toy
-> Poor memory management for any system with over 512MB of RAM
-> Poor security
-> Too many BSOD's
-> Activation system (this was new)
-> Update system is IE only, and annoying to use, and anything can break it.
and many many many more issues that should not be there as they are really "in your face" ones. And the above list, is just the "in your face' bugs AFTER SP2. So imagine before.
Anyway, that's my view on the hole thing.
I agree though that Windows XP looks tired now compared to Windows 7, but it took until now for most people to upgrade, as Vista had a (undeserved) poor reputation. I think you're putting too much emphasis on Service Packs too. XP was the exception when it came to feature adding Packs and now, we have much more rigorous public betas. Going back in time to XP again, I remember having to download leaked betas from dodgy FTP sites to test it out. Anyway, that's enough nostalgia from me for today.
I'll be upgrading to 8, as I'm one of those users (Microsoft have identified) who pin everything to the Taskbar and seldom use the Start Menu. In fact, I'm looking forward to having space to pin one more program to the taskbar when I start using 8 :)
£30 is a small price to pay to buy (potentially) 3 years more support for your PC's operating system, even if it means an upgrade. Once support is withdrawn for XP, there will be a few folk wishing they'd bothered to shell out such a (IMO) small amount...
I stand corrected, though I think your hard pushed to try and suggest that the prices are not about equivalent to win7 considering there is no home version on this upgrade offer.
Lucky I don't blindly accept Microsoft's claims either, I do how ever find the start screen far superior to the start menu, untill you want to turn your PC off of course.
If we get a Windows 8 upgrade forced on us, I'll be switching to Ubuntu instead. No license fees at all.
eps_1gXmhE4
windows 8 has a lot of feature that interest power users. People should stop looking at only the start screen. Which personally I think it's great. Check out this post, from dullonien on this forum:
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost.php?p=3104989&postcount=607
Windows 8 provides:
-> Ability to pause and add transfer /move actions
-> Ability to automatically change between wireless and wired network, And when on wireless it will pick the normal wireless over 3G/LTE /4G when a wireless is detected to not consume your bandwidth. Everything is automatic
-> Ability to know how much you downloaded and uploaded on your wireless network (including cellphone communication network (3G/LTE/4G, etc.)
-> More power efficient (I have 1h more of battery life on my laptop over Win7 64-bit)
-> More performant , as early benchmark of Win8 shows
-> Can view all sorts of information at the start screen
-> New task manager
-> support for newer technology such as TRIM on RAID setup, and USB 3.0.
-> and of course all the new features that was talk about on this thread which is long.