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Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

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Re: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

#51

Post by [deleted] »

nemo1618 wrote: post #44
WiseWeasel wrote: post #18

I have a hard time imagining that many Windows 7 users are eager to upgrade to Windows 8 on their desktops and laptops, given the drastic changes catering to touch interaction, bringing them little apparent value at best, and significant lost productivity and frustration at worst. My Windows 7 box is for gaming and productivity (not necessarily in that order), and after all I've seen of it, I wouldn't touch Windows 8…

Have you actually used Windows 8? I don't make much use of the metro apps, but there are lots of smaller improvements that I appreciate, like the new task manager, file copy dialog, login screen, etc. The sight of the new start screen incites revulsion in most power users, but try to remember that you won't be spending much time there. Treat the start screen like what it really is: a fancier start menu. Like me, you'…

[deleted]

Re: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

#52

Post by Xuzz »

mythz wrote: post #37
UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't you? Secure Boot is a root-kit protection mechanism; and Microsoft has required OEM partners to provide a way for users to disable it in the UEFI/BIOS. I think you're either trolling or hugely misinformed.

"As currently proposed, Secure Boot impedes free software adoption. It is already bad enough that nearly all computers sold come with Microsoft Windows pre-installed. In order to convince users to try free software, we must convince them to remove the operating system that came on their computers (or to divide their hard drives and make room for a new system, perceptually risking their data in the process). With Secu…

If you're technical enough to be buying old computers to work around it, I bet you could figure out how to disable it when the option is right there. :)

Re: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

#53

Post by thekungfuman »

barrkel wrote: post #36
thekungfuman wrote: post #27

The main complaint I hear is the change of start menu behavior, but most people I know use a keyboard based launcher anyway. If you're typing the name of the thing you want does it matter if it's going into Launchy, the Win7 start menu or the Metro interface? As long as you quickly get to the app or file you want, the interaction (typing) is pretty much identical.

It's not the most frequent method for launching. According to MS, their metrics indicate pinned task bar items are, or are trending to be, the most frequent method. When I don't remember the name of the thing I want to launch (which is quite frequent), I rely mostly on positional navigation through a customized start menu. That is, I don't remember programs by name, I remember them by where I left them. Windows Vista…

It's certainly not the most common method; I'm sure point-and-click is. But the kind of people who use keyboard launchers, the ones who are sounding off the loudest on their tech blogs and sites like HN and Reddit, surprise me. I'm sure the average user might be confused, but for me at least, I'll do what I do with Win7, OSX, or Ubuntu: Super + typing + Enter.

Re: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

#54

Post by WiseWeasel »

nemo1618 wrote: post #44
WiseWeasel wrote: post #18

I have a hard time imagining that many Windows 7 users are eager to upgrade to Windows 8 on their desktops and laptops, given the drastic changes catering to touch interaction, bringing them little apparent value at best, and significant lost productivity and frustration at worst. My Windows 7 box is for gaming and productivity (not necessarily in that order), and after all I've seen of it, I wouldn't touch Windows 8…

Have you actually used Windows 8? I don't make much use of the metro apps, but there are lots of smaller improvements that I appreciate, like the new task manager, file copy dialog, login screen, etc. The sight of the new start screen incites revulsion in most power users, but try to remember that you won't be spending much time there. Treat the start screen like what it really is: a fancier start menu. Like me, you'…

The task manager is something I use to find the app that's misbehaving (usually Firefox) and kill it; I can't imagine much relevant improvement, unless it somehow allows me to do this faster. It would have to be faster than "control-shift-escape -> [start typing name of offending app until it's selected] -> alt-E -> enter -> escape" -- maybe using the "control" modifier instead of "alt" would be an improvement, or maybe assuming I'm only going to kill one process and exiting the task manager automatically after killing the app.

Other than that, I've got the login screen bypassed on boot and file copying has not been a problem for me; I don't see any value here.

I don't need to put up with any of that other stuff; I'm happy with Win 7 the way it is.

Re: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

#55

Post by majorlazer »

SpikeDad wrote: post #29
zitterbewegung wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it great? Apple is worse than MS in so many other ways. In a few years you are going to see Apple being the person that everyone hates. Now, people seem to like it.

Eh? Next you'll be telling us W8 is going to be the nail in the coffin of Appple? There's NO question that the W8 upgrade pricing is a DIRECT result of Apple's usual $40 upgrade pricing. BTW: Lets see how easy it is to update WXP to W8 - a single click in the Microsoft Store?

How is it a "DIRECT result of Apple's usual $40 upgrade pricing" if the two OSes don't even run on the same hardware? A user won't be purchasing a Mac because his OS upgrade cost is $60 more (or however much Windows upgrades originally cost).

Microsoft knows that people will have little incentive to migrate from Win7 to Win8, so they are doing all they can to encourage that. This is not a response to Apple's pricing structure.

Re: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

#56

Post by hk__2 »

hcurtiss wrote: post #47
greenyoda wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that it will take a long, long time for enterprises to move to Windows 8, with most sticking with Windows 7 for as long as Microsoft continues to provide security patches for it. If you're an enterprise with 10000 or 50000 non-technical users running Windows 7, the cost of moving to Windows 8 will be primarily IT staff hours, including all the support questions from users puzzled by the new user interface…

Exactly. Our law firm is almost -- almost -- ready to roll out our Windows 7 build. And we only have about 650 users.

That's the same in my University. And there is 20K students.

Re: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

#57

Post by tzs »

polshaw wrote: post #23

Lets be clear; this has little/nothing to do with apple. You can't spend $40 to switch to the latest OSX on your regular PC, so it is just not direct competition. I can only assume they think this way is how they will get most money from selling to end users, and I wouldn't be surprised at that being the case. No doubt they make most of window's licence money from OEMs.

> Lets be clear; this has little/nothing to do with apple. You can't spend $40 to switch to the latest OSX on your regular PC, so it is just not direct competition.

I can't use Chevy parts in my Honda, but if Chevy started charging 1/10th of what Honda is charging for similar parts, Honda would need to lower prices if they wanted me to stick with them for my next car, or to use genuine Honda parts instead of third party parts to repair my current Honda. That's because Chevy's price would help recalibrate my expectation as to what kind of prices are reasonable, making Honda look overpriced.

OSes aren't as interchangeable as cars, but a Microsoft upgrade price significantly higher than Apple's upgrade price might convince more people to stick with what they have until it is time to buy a new PC and get Windows 8 bundled, rather than buying an upgrade, because Apple's prices lower the expectation of what an OS upgrade should cost.

Re: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

#58

Post by majani »

barrkel wrote: post #36
thekungfuman wrote: post #27

The main complaint I hear is the change of start menu behavior, but most people I know use a keyboard based launcher anyway. If you're typing the name of the thing you want does it matter if it's going into Launchy, the Win7 start menu or the Metro interface? As long as you quickly get to the app or file you want, the interaction (typing) is pretty much identical.

It's not the most frequent method for launching. According to MS, their metrics indicate pinned task bar items are, or are trending to be, the most frequent method. When I don't remember the name of the thing I want to launch (which is quite frequent), I rely mostly on positional navigation through a customized start menu. That is, I don't remember programs by name, I remember them by where I left them. Windows Vista…

I'm a Classic Shell user myself. It's great for point-and-click navigation, but searching for applications is faster for many people.

Re: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

#59

Post by vonmoltke »

gouranga wrote: post #22
3JPLW wrote: post #3

Competition is great! I'm very glad that Apple has managed to exert some pressure on Microsoft here. I really don't think that this would have occurred otherwise.

I don't think it's related to Apple at all. I can't believe people are trying to give Apple some credit for it. Two real things: 1) No one ever buys Windows upgrades, so this is a motivator to shift to Win8. Consumers and businesses just buy a new PC and large businesses get licenses automatically. 2) They now have the opportunity of upselling inside the operating system (which they've been playing with for a long ti…

> 1) No one ever buys Windows upgrades, so this is a motivator to shift to Win8. Consumers and businesses just buy a new PC and large businesses get licenses automatically.

Maybe I'm in a very small minority, but I have bought Windows upgrades. I don't buy prebuilt computers, but still have reason to keep a Windows box around. Plus, my Mom gets my retired boxes, so I need a couple additional installs at her house. One of those is still an XP box, so I will definitely be taking advantage of this upgrade deal for that.

Re: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade to cost $39.99

#60

Post by Simucal »

hcurtiss wrote: post #47
greenyoda wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that it will take a long, long time for enterprises to move to Windows 8, with most sticking with Windows 7 for as long as Microsoft continues to provide security patches for it. If you're an enterprise with 10000 or 50000 non-technical users running Windows 7, the cost of moving to Windows 8 will be primarily IT staff hours, including all the support questions from users puzzled by the new user interface…

Exactly. Our law firm is almost -- almost -- ready to roll out our Windows 7 build. And we only have about 650 users.

Can you describe a little bit about what all goes into preparing for a Windows 7 deployment for a company of your size? I'm genuinely curious.
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