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Windows 8 Arrives

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41–50 of 223 posts

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#43
post #6

Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $39 dollars ($15 for newer PCs). [1] That's... reasonable. I might consider buying a copy of Windows 8 Pro at that price and then waiting until it hits SP1 to install it. I might even spin up a VM to try it out. I like that the $39 upgrade applies to anyone with Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. I think they're realizing that a lot of people don't upgrade OS because they don't want to…

The Taskbar and Start Menu have worked so well in the past, why change? Perhaps the price might be a hint that it's worth less than previous versions..

The horse and buggy worked so well in the past, why introduce automobiles?

(Note: Example with exaggerated contrast is used here for illustration purposes only, not for comparing size of change.)

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#44
post #15
post #6

Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $39 dollars ($15 for newer PCs). [1] That's... reasonable. I might consider buying a copy of Windows 8 Pro at that price and then waiting until it hits SP1 to install it. I might even spin up a VM to try it out. I like that the $39 upgrade applies to anyone with Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. I think they're realizing that a lot of people don't upgrade OS because they don't want to…

That's the upgrade price. AFAICT they haven't announced pricing for an installable new copy of the OS.

Newegg is listing OEM pricing at $100[0], and Pro for $140[1]. FWIW, this matches Win7 OEM pricing.

(It appears "retail" copies have been given the axe entirely, which isn't particularly surprising.)

[0] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416...

[1] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416...

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried it?

I have. The interface is freaking unusable. It is like Microsoft decided to exit the desktop market with a bang. "We are failing, and we are taking Windows with us".

Windows XP - success

Windows Vista - failure

Windows 7 - success

Windows 8 - potential failure

Just following a pattern.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#46
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upgrade copies of Vista and Win7 can be installed on an empty hard drive with minimal tweaking, but I guess being kosher with the licensing is important for some users.

If you're not willing to honor the license, what possible point would there be to paying for the software in the first place? I'm willing to be a Win8 crack is live on thepiratebay within the week. The discussion was about whether or not MS has decided to reduce their retail OS price from the ~$100 it is at right now. AFAICT, they have not.

There is a grey area where you can have a Genuine copy of Windows that you paid for (and that can still Windows update) but was derived from an OEM license that was transferred to another machine.

This is still desirable compared to torrenting because a pirated copy will end up failing the Genuine check, will no longer get updates, and will happily be a part of some botnet some day.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no way out of the "metro" interface? Clarification: I assumed el_cuadrado was refering to metro being "unusable". Is that true?

To run desktop apps, you can go to the desktop. I've been using it as my primary OS for several months now Disclosure: MSFT Employee

I recently bought a laptop and it's the first time I've had windows on my home machine since 2004. Since it's only $15 to upgrade: Is it possible/easy to upgrade and go back to Windows 7 if I find it detestable?

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#48
post #15
post #6

Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $39 dollars ($15 for newer PCs). [1] That's... reasonable. I might consider buying a copy of Windows 8 Pro at that price and then waiting until it hits SP1 to install it. I might even spin up a VM to try it out. I like that the $39 upgrade applies to anyone with Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. I think they're realizing that a lot of people don't upgrade OS because they don't want to…

That's the upgrade price. AFAICT they haven't announced pricing for an installable new copy of the OS.

Upgrade price for Win7 was ~115, so it's much more reasonable than Win7 was, which probably means they're going to try and monetize the Windows Store or whatever it's going to be called pretty hard.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#49
post #30

I'm trying to download it from GB and looks like it only allows from the US. So I hopped on my US-VPN and still redirects me to the GB site. Anyone have any idea how I get around this? (Note - I have a valid US credit card and am prepared to pay in USD)

Change your language setting to en-US?

Yup, that'll do it. Thanks.

Re: Windows 8 Arrives

#50
I happen to think that Windows 8 is a welcome refresh. At first, I was confused by the dashboard but I am finding it easier and easier to navigate around.

For instance, going to the traditional desktop is as easy as clicking the "Desktop" tile. And opening a new tab in the metro-IE was a bit confusing but after figuring out that double finger pressing the touchpad brings up the tab list and url bar it has become easier.

I also like the new native mail client and calendar apps.

For the record, I am running Windows 8 on a 2011 macbook air via bootcamp and it runs perfect. Guild Wars 2 also gets about 10 fps more than it does on the mac client for what its worth and makes it actually playable on an Air :)

Following this tangent a bit more, I feel like if the drivers were updated enough to support 3 finger left and right gestures to wipe between the different screens I wouldn't revisit OSX for a while.

Windows 8 is a fun operating system.

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