Users of Windows XP, Windows 7, or Windows Vista will be able to purchase and download Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99, a Microsoft spokesman said. “We set out to make it as easy as possible for everyone to upgrade to Windows 8,” said the spokesman.
1
Support the Blog — Buy This Book!
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
Put this ad on your blog!
Syndicate
Subscribe to Main Blog feed here:
Subscribe to Comments too (below):
Junk Email Filter
No Thanks.
I will wait until after the release of Service Pack 2 and just before Microsoft stops supporting Windows 7.
Probably. We’re a MS partner so we tend to sit on the bleeding edge.
Not looking forward to it, though. The metro style doesn’t suit me and I’m sure they make it as hard as possible to NOT use it.
The instructions said use windows xp or better so I installed Linux.
I don’t know about upgrading my desktop or laptop, since neither incorporates touch, but I am intrigued by the MS Surface tablets.
I might upgrade both my current PCs if the re-installation process is as easy as they claim it will be. But I will give it a couple of weeks after release before I attempt it, if no problems become apparent.
Stopped using Windows and switched to
linux, faster, no bugs and no viruses
and
FREE
survivingsurvivalism.com
Nope. I’ve tried it on a laptop and Desktop. I hate it on these two platforms. It’s a tablet OS…..
I’ve got the beta on a Thinkpad x200 Tablet PC and THIS is the user experience I was expecting out of it.
Weird that I haven’t been able to make it lock up yet. I’m hearing that all over the place but havn’t seen it myself yet.
That said…. On my workstation at the office FUCK NO I ain’t using it.
A) Between vendors trying to keep up with different versions and retraining that comes with every new version of an OS. That negates the improved functionality of the OS. Now that they’re back on tighter release schedules for higher profits again, the people who actually use it for productivity get screwed. Bunch of can’t come up with an original idea used car salesmen ass clowns.
B) The Desktop functionality for Office productivity without a start button is joke.
That’s a TRICK QUESTION !!! Win 8 is NOT AN UPGRADE !!! It’s just another of M$’s DO-OVERS – FOR MORE MONEY !!! If your XP is working, STAY AWAY !!! You don’t need a “Touchy-Feely” Non-Operating System !!!
I will likely get it for my Samsung Series 7 Slate because it has the touch interface but will not be using it on my gaming pc at home.
Throughout Windows history I have leap-frogged what seems like the unstable versions.
I Used:
Win 3.1
Win 98
Win XP
Win 7
Win 8 will be skipped.
That’s….. actually, that’s good advice.
You missed out on one of the better versions of the OS, Windows 2000…
I was using XP at work and Win 7 at home. As a user interface one was as good as the other. While my home machine is vastly more powerful most of those computer cycles are wasted. The single core at work with two gigs of ram can do everything I want done other than drive a 30 inch monitor and work on videos.
I agree with others that you actually do need a machine with a touch screen or win 8 is pretty pointless because that is the entire point of the OS and the bleeping OS is customized to run on a tablet. I’m not in the mood to buy a 30 inch touch screen.
The other issue has barely been mentioned but I did catch that they have bleeped up the file system from the user view point and since I have a massive collection of files I’m not going there any sooner than I can help it.
I’m a bit of a tech junkie but when the MS makes a latest and greatest that is just going to be a pain in the rectum for me I hope I have the self control to stay away from the feces.
Yep! Running Vista on my desktop now. How much worse can it be?
Actually I haven’t had too much trouble with Vista. Always set computers up to dual boot Ubuntu. Spend 99% of time running Ubuntu. Then after a few weeks I need to boot up Windows. It spends a lot of time upgrading.
TSA will, they like the touching flavor
For support purposes only. But yeah, it shore is fugly.
Running one legacy PC on Win XP, and that’s the last of the Windows for me. Most of my work I do on Linux anyway for more than a decade. I’m using Mac Mini for browsing and small tasks (and Apple just reached “XP” status for me because with 10.5.8 I just stopped upgrades few weeks ago – instead of fixing Java they sent upgrade that kills it,… no thanks), question is will I buy another Mac as well, ever. Neither MS nor Apple have me for a tablet, although I am perfect use case for it. MS proposed hardware is something but I played with Win 8 and it is unacceptable. Apple just obstructs hardware so much that I will not touch it even for free (would get it for free but eBay/Gazelle it ASAP). Android is almost there, almost got Lenovo Thinkpad, waiting for its rooting process to be better (and maybe for the same style and upgraded hardware).
So, Apple, MS – you did it for me, you made me switch to 100% Linux in a near future. Though, I am outlier case… general population will enjoy both brands and their Defective By Design software and hardware.
birddog, Sheila, dusanmal: which distro(s)?
Touching a computer, just seems unnatural.
WHY do I need an android interface on my computer..??
This is now the Award Winning Windows 8!
http://tinyurl.com/6m2xym9
Golden Turd award?!
Do a 180. They should get the golden SHOWER!
I too will likely pickup a MS Surface tablet when they come out. I love my Windows 7 phone, even though it’s effectively obsoleted by the coming Phone 8. So at least one of my PCs will run Windows 8. I’m running the Review Release version now on my laptop, and it’s not bad (especially once I installed Classic Shell on it). However, Windows 7 desktop is staying put for as long as it runs. And my wife’s photo scanner PC will remain XP SP3 forever as well.
+1 on the phone. Love it.
Its inferior to windows 7 so I wouldn’t call it an “upgrade”.
Its inferior to windows 7 so I wouldn’t really call it an “upgrade”.
wHy???
I will definitely be upgrading. I’ve been running Windows 8 since the preview release. 8 has been the most stable OS I have ever used. Never had a crash, look-up or even a slowdown. Being a developer I run mostly in desk top mode.
I was never a big fan of the start menu to begin with. It was always a pain to find stuff. Windows 7’s quick launch search was a big improvement. Just think of Metro as a giant full screen start menu. It’s so simple to launch programs, just start typing the name.
I like how, when going from XP to 7, the Accessories have improved quite a bit (Calculator, Paint, Math Input Panel (maybe)).
Anything like that in 8?
what is this windows you speak of? 😛
I remember when the Mac’s new GUI first came out, and the complaints about it looking like a candy shop, with all its glossy colored button gadgets. Compared to the previous Mac OS, which was stark white and black, and didn’t need anything colored, with highlights and drop shadows.
It wasn’t too very long before Microsoft decided to attempt to copy that, with Windows 7 and Aeroglass. Now with Windows 8, they’ve decided to switch to a more flat cartoon look. Giving you square, plain color, postage stamp tiles. That have none of the colorful aesthetics of the earlier Windows XP icons. It’s just single color squares, with white, International Travel signage style symbols. Looking more like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s electronic book GUI, from the 2005 movie. So I’m expecting to see a monochrome version of this on Win8 someday.
http://tinyurl.com/7do2wxg
And the text, labeling what these tiles actually are, is in the smallest, most unreadable font possible, down in the lower corner of each. The only customizable tiles I can see, are the ones of pictures, slideshows, and movies. Which also have tiny, hard to read text in their lower corners. No more having the text outside of the tile or icon, where it doesn’t have to compete with the colors or image. So I guess Windows 8 forces you to have a better memory of what all this crap does.
The Metro GUI completely avoids anything that might look like an iPhone or iPad app symbol. Just like Microsoft, to avoid the “look and feel” of rival’s product, while still copying it in every other way.
But here’s the real problem with Window 8 and a Win8 tablet. All that arm work, to replace what a small pressure sensitive pad could do, with less movement. It’s fine for a little handheld device, where a thumb can handle the selections. But scale it up to something that has to be held by one hand and touched by another hand’s finger. Or reached up to, if its a monitor. And you start getting arm fatigue, pretty fast. In short, “Surface” is a bust, beyond a small size screen. And the iconography is so simplified as to be insulting. All this time and development, and this is what you end up with for a GUI? No wonder it’s only $40 to upgrade. It’s stripped down to the bare GUI essentials. And there’s no tell what they’ve done to the file system. To force you to conform to their new way of thinking.
Hmmm….
I thought you could switch off the “Metro” interface and return to a Win7 style one.
IAC, I’d stick with Vista if it was a little more reliable. Rather “XP-ME” at this point. I like it better than XP or 7, but both of those seem to be more stable.
$39.95? Gotta be a hidden zinger hiding in there someplace. Like it quits working after you’ve moved all your stuff over, and trashes the HD so you can’t revert?
I’d be more interested if there was just ONE version of Windows. Instead of the usual half dozen, each with something included or excluded to suit some fictions user.
Home, Home Premium, Profession, Sleepy, Bashful, Ultimate
Just make one version and give everybody everything… with options to add it if they need it!
Ubuntu
The secret of using Win8 is search
Everything you need, Metro or Desktop is only one or two keys away, and if you use something very often, just put a shortcut in Metro and you’re done
Metro is OK but it will be much more usable if I can use trackpad gestures to scroll left and right.
Last thing I wanna do is lift my hands off the keyboard and touch something on the screen, or even worse, drag the scrollbar at the bottom of the screen.
No, wont be upgrading only to downgrade.. From what I have seen? looks like junk.. not for me thanks.