I am so getting Windows 8 - It's Dirt Cheap!

[Praxius]

For existing Windows users (XP / Vista or 7) you can currently upgrade to Windows 8 for only $39.99

$39.99!!!

A fresh new copy from not Upgrading is only $69.99!!!

That's for 5 licenses per customer, so you can upgrade up to 5 computers in your home for that price.

Holy Snapping Crap Batman, that's fick'n Cheap compared to past upgrades/new copies of Windows that started over $100 and went up.

That's cheaper than most games.

I personally love the OS feel on my Phone and seen a lot of good stuff towards Windows 8 OS for PC's... and since it's going to be more commonly used in the future like Vista and 7 was against XP, it only makes sense to pick it up now while it's so cheap (deal only lasts until the end of the year)

Get Some

 

[TenPenny]

From what I've seen, why would you?

 

[#juan]

I had fully intended to switch over to Linix after my current windows XP was finished but this does seem to be
a bit of a deal. What I'm wondering is, is that $39.99 the whole price, or is that some kind of per year price?

 

[Praxius]

I had fully intended to switch over to Linix after my current windows XP was finished but this does seem to be
a bit of a deal. What I'm wondering is, is that $39.99 the whole price, or is that some kind of per year price?

Not that I've heard anywhere, as that'd be something many would be complaining about and raising red flags over. The reason the price is so low is apparently in order to compete better against Apple.... And most likely, the price will go up after Jan 31st when the deal is over with.

The price I noted was if you get it straight from Microsoft's web site... It's about 10 bucks more at retail stores, and the price I noted is what comes up here in Australia... And there was no information describing additional fees later.

And also, that 39.99 is the upgrade price & you need a legit windows on your system.

From what I've seen, why would you?

While I imagine you aren't looking for a serious response, I'll give you one.

I've been using the Windows Phone 7.5 OS on my phone for the last few months and love it. The interface at first glance doesn't seem very spectacular, but it's actually quite impressive. The Win8 OS is built from this style of OS, have been under review and testing publically since February, so it should be stable enough for a new program just coming out and should be even better than what I'm currently using to post this message.

It's still basically Win7 under the hood, but better optimization (only need a 1Ghz CPU, 2gigs of RAM and around 20GB of HD space) it can run on pretty much any system made in the last 10 or so years.

And for me personally, I want a new interface to learn.... I've been using windows since 3.11 and the same UI since Win95.

And also, Win8 is going to be the future for PC's and will eventually replace Win7 like 7 replaced XP and Vista, like how XP replaced 2000, NT and 95/98/Me.... So why not get it when it's cheap?

 

[In Between Man]

From what I've seen, why would you?

What have you seen? What's the buzz? Cuz I'm using XP on my netbook right now and its sluggish. As much as I love Win 7 (have on my home PC) it's pricey, so any savings would be great.

Do you think Win 8 would be worth it just for a netbook?

Prax, your input too would be appreciated.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I have Win 7 on my PC. My old PC had XP. I only got Win 7 because I got a new computer. My laptop I upgraded to Win 7 since it came with Vista.

I predict Win 8 will be like Vista. A completely forgettable Windows release. A majority of Win 8 beta testers switched back to Win 7 which says something.

$39 is an interesting price point. Certainly it is a sign that Microsoft knows it can't make their bread and butter on Windows anymore.

 

[Praxius]

What have you seen? What's the buzz? Cuz I'm using XP on my netbook right now and its sluggish. As much as I love Win 7 (have on my home PC) it's pricey, so any savings would be great.

Do you think Win 8 would be worth it just for a netbook?

Prax, your input too would be appreciated.

Here's a Video showing the basics of Win8.... it's a Beta version being used I believe. (I have no audio on this system I'm on right now so can't hear anything)

This Is What Windows 8 Looks and Feels Like - YouTube

^ It's specifically designed with Netbooks/Notebooks/Tablets/Touchscreens in mind, which is why the system requirements are very little (thus more resources left for your other programs) while still being able to handle and operate your existing programs like WinXP/Vista/7.

... I predict Win 8 will be like Vista. A completely forgettable Windows release. A majority of Win 8 beta testers switched back to Win 7 which says something.

Funny, I heard the opposite when it came to beta testers.... the CBC news website covered the release and there was a top comment from a tester who said he's sticking with it, and installed it on a number of his computers a while back during testing:

Microsoft makes Windows 8 touch-screen friendly
Microsoft makes Windows 8 touch-screen friendly - Technology & Science - CBC News

at the bottom:
OldHazelEyes - I've been using Win 8 through an agreement between my workplace and M'soft for several months now. I've installed it on three of my own PCs and on several researchers PCs. Upgrades were painless, new installs went well, too. On some machines, I installed a free Start button replacement program, of which a number are available, called Classic Shell that makes it work like Win 7; on others I didn't bother. My 4-year old dual-core laptop with its standard (not SSD) laptop, now boots to a useable state in 17 seconds flat.

My personal experience is just with my windows phone and videos I have seen, plus a few reviews... with my experience with my phone, I'm already willing to pop Win8 on my systems at home.

 

[In Between Man]

Here's a Video showing the basics of Win8.... it's a Beta version being used I believe. (I have no audio on this system I'm on right now so can't hear anything)

This was helpful, thank you!

 

[Praxius]

This was helpful, thank you!

No worries...

See, I'm not an arsehole all the time

Oh I should correct/clarify myself with some of the above information:

You do not get 5 licenses for five computers for the above price mentioned, you only get one license for that price and are limited to 5 license purchases per customer at that price... after that the price goes up apparently.

My mistake. My first impression was that you could buy once and then install on 5 systems, which is not the case.

Still cheap though.

I'm currently installing it on my system as I type this... the update system said I can keep doing whatever I want on my system while it does its thing.

I'll let you know what my first direct impressions are with it when it's all ready.

 

[In Between Man]

No worries...

See, I'm not an arsehole all the time

Oh I should correct/clarify myself with some of the above information:

You do not get 5 licenses for five computers for the above price mentioned, you only get one license for that price and are limited to 5 license purchases per customer at that price... after that the price goes up apparently.

My mistake. My first impression was that you could buy once and then install on 5 systems, which is not the case.

Still cheap though.

I'm currently installing it on my system as I type this... the update system said I can keep doing whatever I want on my system while it does its thing.

I'll let you know what my first direct impressions are with it when it's all ready.

Right on man, give us the scoop!

 

[DurkaDurka]

I paid 15 bucks to upgrade, in my opinion. It is junk

 

[Praxius]

Alright, well the install was finished about two hours ago, but I was busy with house work and such.

I love the interface, although it still will take some getting used to.

It is basically like Windows 7 except that the Start Button is a big window covering the entire screen and with more options, as well as more personalized..... moving my mouse to the top left of the screen pops out a active program tab section which has the desktop there to choose from, and when I click on it, I am brought back to a very familiar Windows desktop with all my programs, files and styles all exactly where they were before I upgraded.

Oh... the above video I linked to mentioned an issue with using the scroll wheel for scrolling multiple windows (vertical and horizontal) - which the example used was the weather app. I can safely say that isn't an issue and scrolling with my mouse works just fine and as expected.... it was the first thing I tested.

Programs load a lot faster, resources are more available from my system, and the Task Manager has a lot more information I find very helpful.

In particular there's a new tab for start programs, where you can enable or disable anything you wish.... which is great because in Windows 7, I was having some issues trying to find certain programs that were loading up at startup that I couldn't easily locate.

I'm currently typing through the new Internet Explorer and while it is very similar to the IE on my Windows Phone, it still takes a wee bit of getting used to, but does do a lot more... it's much faster with loading pages and as I type in this thread, there are no tool bars or URL sections or anything filling up my screen. All I see is the forum and that's it. When I move my mouse, the scroll bar pops up.... if I right-click, the tabs and URL bar all pop up.... left click back into the forums and they disappear.... very nice. IE also now has Auto-Correct/SpellCheck available.... bout time.

There is an App store similar to what's found on the Windows Phone (or what Mac users would be familiar with) which makes it easy for getting Apps/Programs specific for Windows 8.... and there are plenty that are free.

If you are interested in an App that is one you pay for, you can click "TRY" to use the App & determine if you want to actually get it, rather than paying for something you may not want.

There is a new program for Music playing which is called "Xbox Music" but Windows Media Player is still available for me on the Desktop.... but this new player is purdy.

I just went into the Desktop and decided to change the wallpaper. Neat thing is, when I select a specific image for the wallpaper, it automatically compliments the image by adjusting the window/taskbar colours to the colours found in the image.... fancy shmancy.

Gee... what else?

Ummm..... All my keyboard shortcuts work as expected.... but the Windows Key now toggles you between the Start Screen and the current app/program you are using. WinKey+Tab Brings up the left tab with the active programs & toggles between them (Similar to Alt-Tab)

Basically, I like it.... it's a nice change from the old Windows style I have been using since Windows 95 and have yet to run into any bugs or issues yet.... besides my typical unfamiliarity of the interface, which is to be expected.

I can see this growing on me.

 

[TenPenny]

While I imagine you aren't looking for a serious response, I'll give you one.

I've been using the Windows Phone 7.5 OS on my phone for the last few months and love it. The interface at first glance doesn't seem very spectacular, but it's actually quite impressive. The Win8 OS is built from this style of OS, have been under review and testing publically since February, so it should be stable enough for a new program just coming out and should be even better than what I'm currently using to post this message.

That's why I wouldn't want it. I don't want my work computer to act like it's a phone, or a tablet. That was my point.

I use my work computer for work, and that involves technical work, and proprietary applications from our suppliers. I don't use it for social networking, or playing with pictures. I don't want or need the frippery that Windows 8 is designed for. It's designed for dabblers and civil servants, who spend their days playing with facebook, and uploading pictures.

In my opinion. Others may differ.

 

[Praxius]

Well I use my PC mainly for Graphics Design & 3D Modeling... when I click on those programs, it jumps to the desktop like in Windows 7 and runs just as it always did.... the other stuff is just bonus in my opinion.

But more importantly, I have more of my system's resources available and my programs run a lot faster than compared to Vista or 7.

To each their own I suppose.

 

[Locutus]

This.

Open my photobucket and view all.

Pictures by Locutus1958 - Photobucket

 

[Praxius]

Oh, in regards to people's views towards not liking Windows 8 due to being "Geared" towards a specific audience and perhaps being a bit simplified....

I felt the same way when Windows 95 came out. After being used to Windows 3.11 for a couple of years, I was not impressed at how they changed everything around and added a "Start" button.... it seemed too simplified and felt I couldn't do the things I used to do easily... it seemed gimmicky and annoying.

I missed my File Manager
]

lol... ^ I was about to put the img tags in to include this image and IE automatically placed the image... cool.

Anyways... over time, I just got used to Win95's layout.... Win98 won me over on the new UI.... and it took me a long time before I decided to switch to XP after using 2000 for a while.

This time with Windows 8, I just figured I'd jump right in and see what's up.... I guess I finally got used to Change... and the change isn't really that bad once you give it a chance and take the time to get used to it.

My wife just sat down to the computer a few minutes ago and didn't really want to get into it & just stick to her laptop which is still on Win7... but after I showed her the basics and got her stuff all setup, she began to get pretty impressed with some of the new features.

 

[spaminator]

there is a free version of windows 8 called release preview. there was a setup.exe file that you save on the hard disc that was on the windows8.com website. i'm not sure if its still there. Microsoft Windows

 

[Praxius]

I figured now that it has been a few days since I upgraded to Windows 8 from Windows 7, I would provide some more information about my experiences thus far.

First, one of the biggest improvements to my system is the performance. I image it would be even better if I did a fresh reformat and installation from scratch, but even just the upgrade being slapped over top of my Win7, the computer loads much faster, it shuts down fast as well.... Resource usage from the OS had dropped across the board compared to Win7, my programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Maya all load a hell of a lot faster than I've ever experienced before, as well as more responsive to operations within the programs.... And for the gamers out there, not only do games load faster, but with games such as Red Orchestra 2 and Skyrim, I've been able to practically double my graphics settings and maintain the same FPS as before on Win7.... Or I could leave the settings as I had before and double my FPS.... Either way, Windows 8 feels like I bought more RAM and a new Video Card for my PC....

I'm very impressed.

One downside thus far:

There seemed to be an issue with some of the "Apps" after a day or two where they used to work (weather, news, pictures, etc.) but then stopped working. You would click to start them, they would go full screen and normally you would see a timer while it loaded, but it never showed up and then you'd be right back at the start screen.

I uninstalled the affected apps (takes like two seconds) and then installed them again... They're working just fine now and hasn't had an issue since. May have had something to do with my wife removing them from her side of the computer or something... Just a minor issue overall and was resolved quickly since you can select multiple apps and install all at once.

My wife was a bit frustrated with it at the start, mostly because it was different, but has figured it all out in the last day or two and said it has grown on her.

I think that's Win8's main hurdle... People being hesitant in giving it a chance simply because it appears to be different from previous Windows, which it is, yet isn't.

Others are put off because it gives the impression that it has been dumbed down and won't do half the thing their WinXP / Vista or 7 can do...which isn't the case at all based on my above experiences with my programs... In fact I'd say it does more in regards to performance improvements and stability.

I learned from my past experiences from going to Win95 from 3.11 and thinking the same way... But once you get past that first impression hurdle of the user interface changing from what you'reused to, it's truly an improvement, at least in my experiences.

Oh and in the new OS, you can better customize both the mouse and keyboard.... But I will get into that later.

Best money I spent in years.