Windows 8 download upgrade for $39.99 ?

Shinobi · Post by **Shinobi** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 6:35 am

Seems like Microsoft is finally getting the point about not charging an arm and a leg for O.S. upgrades. I might actually put the OEM version on my laptop to replace Vista.

I like Windows 7 on my desktop.. I think that will stay on there for a while longer.

What do you guys think?

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bl ... 39-99.aspx

JawZ · Post by **JawZ** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 7:24 am

To upgrade to Mountain Lion will cost $29.99. So you can see that they are trying to compete with Apple in terms of pricing structure. I think $40 is cheap and cant wait to install the new OS.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 7:28 am

Its a good price but I'm sticking with Windows 7 for now.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 7:37 am

Seems like their only way to get this tabletOS-looking turd out to the masses.

Easto · Post by **Easto** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:45 am

I've never even read on article on it. I see them out there but I figure... why. Win 7 has been flawless in my opinion.

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:46 am

Do not like the Metro UI, Will need to use alot of tweaks to get it to look like 7. Metro makes me feel like im using a giant phone. I have it in a VM and play with it. Prob do a dual boot after release

TonyT · Post by **TonyT** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:30 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Seems like their only way to get this tabletOS-looking turd out to the masses.

yup...no upgrades for me. If I wanted an interface like that I'd buy an ipad or a samsung.

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 5:26 pm

That offer is only good until January 2013- they haven't announced pricing after that date. PR stunt if you ask me. Get users to upgrade so they try to create a positive buzz and the others buy into the notion and pay quite a bit more.

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 5:29 pm

morbidpete wrote:Do not like the Metro UI, Will need to use alot of tweaks to get it to look like 7. Metro makes me feel like im using a giant phone. I have it in a VM and play with it. Prob do a dual boot after release

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

Cheers!

Shinobi · Post by **Shinobi** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 5:40 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Seems like their only way to get this tabletOS-looking turd out to the masses.

Wow YOSC, That's not like you to rip M$

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 5:53 pm

I wouldn't mind it if MS would let the installer detect a touch screen device and if said device doesn't exist, just use a normal GUI. I think this a Win ME/Vista situation again (especially the ME reference).

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 6:33 pm

RaisinCain wrote:I wouldn't mind it if MS would let the installer detect a touch screen device and if said device doesn't exist, just use a normal GUI. I think this a Win ME/Vista situation again (especially the ME reference).

They need people to use metro for their cash shop. Only reason I can think of as to why they dotn at elast offer an option of a start menu, as it would help people transitioning over and eliminate a ton of the bad press windows 8 has gotten.

But then MS seems to like wasting money.

The Dude · Post by **The Dude** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 7:25 am

I'm dual booting the RP with Windows 7, wanted to give it a good evaluation. Even at that price I'm not interested. It's usable but Metro is not multimonitor friendly or really keyboard mouse friendly for that matter. It might be OK on a tablet or slate but just doesn't do it for me on a desktop or laptop. The default free Microsoft apps like Music and Video are full of adds. I don't need the cloud or adds shoved in my face to watch media I already have on my PC.

The whole metro thing seems to be geared towards apps and adds. It gets even worse if you get a ARM tablet with Windows RT. You're regular Windows programs, now referred to as desktop apps, won't run on RT.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 8:06 am

Shinobi wrote:Wow YOSC, That's not like you to rip M$

I know...they make me a lot of money!

It's cuz I'm in the business networking world...guess tis why this release doesn't excite me. With tablets and morphed touchscreens gaining in popularity, I see the market for a larger version of a smart phone/tablet OS from MS. But to focus an entire Windows desktop OS release around it....I don't see the logic in what they're doing so far...without a classic themed fork. We'll see what happens closer to release time....as to themes...notably for the Professional versions. I've seen the tricks to kill metro GUI and manually create a start menu.

Shinobi · Post by **Shinobi** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:22 am

YeOldeStonecat wrote:I know...they make me a lot of money!
It's cuz I'm in the business networking world...guess tis why this release doesn't excite me. With tablets and morphed touchscreens gaining in popularity, I see the market for a larger version of a smart phone/tablet OS from MS. But to focus an entire Windows desktop OS release around it....I don't see the logic in what they're doing so far...without a classic themed fork. We'll see what happens closer to release time....as to themes...notably for the Professional versions. I've seen the tricks to kill metro GUI and manually create a start menu.

Oh me too! They generate a lot of money for me as well.. keep me gainfully employed yada..yada..yada shabba dooba doo..

The logic is have the OS the same on the desktop and the tablet itself probably to try and grab more people to their tablets. Like "Oh, I can operate this.. this is the same as Windows 8!"

Don't for as a seasoned, enterprising business network guy such as yourself, mobile devices like tablets connecting to the enterprise are coming the norm now. I support now over 10,000 tablets not to mention smart phones that are on enterprise, that includes mail client apps to exchange and also, RDP / terminal services.

For $39.99

I still thinking about buying it for my laptop, just to get used to it as I have done for pretty much all windows operating systems heading back to Windows 2.1.

... but I'm keeping Windows 7 on my desktop for a while. My guess is that Windows 7 will have the long duration as windows XP did. Which imo, is the way it should be.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:37 am

Shinobi wrote: The logic is have the OS the same on the desktop and the tablet itself probably to try and grab more people to their tablets.

I agree with you there....what surprises me here, is their "lets put most of our eggs in one basket" approach to pushing a tablet/smart phone OS approach to the desktop....after such a failed history of prior smart phone attempts (Windows Mobile).

Didn't know you managed tablets so much....PM me your e-mail addy so we can have a conversation about that.

The Dude · Post by **The Dude** » Wed Jul 04, 2012 10:26 am

The last rumor I read stated that Microsoft was busy striping out all the unused legacy code tied to the old start menu. They are deliberately trying to prevent any workaround that would enable the classic start menu in Windows 8. The reg edit that enabled it in the Consumer Preview doesn't work in the current Release Preview. I'm also thinking Windows 7 will be the new XP.

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:08 am

RaisinCain wrote:http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

Cheers!

Thanks for the link, Just what I needed!

Shinobi · Post by **Shinobi** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:13 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote: Didn't know you managed tablets so much....PM me your e-mail addy so we can have a conversation about that.

PM sent :-)

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:34 pm

Shinobi wrote:PM sent :-)

Got it..just been slammed....new Hyper-V setup giving quirks on a RAID 10, and some demo stuff with a BDR company.

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 7:12 pm

jawz wrote:to upgrade to mountain lion will cost $29.99. So you can see that they are trying to compete with apple in terms of pricing structure. I think $40 is cheap and cant wait to install the new os.

BS. Microsoft doesn't have to compete with Apple.

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 7:14 pm

I say stick with what you have. If you need to "upgrade" look at your needs and go forth accordingly.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 7:17 pm

RaisinCain wrote:BS. Microsoft doesn't have to compete with Apple.

It makes snese. Lower price to compete with Apple and also to try and sway the XP people to switch again. But I feel liek XP users switchign to Windows 8 will hate the lack of the start menu the most.

Shinobi · Post by **Shinobi** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:40 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Got it..just been slammed....new Hyper-V setup giving quirks on a RAID 10, and some demo stuff with a BDR company.

Hyper V?... no VMWare ESXi ?

Mad_Haggis · Post by **Mad_Haggis** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:52 pm

comes with a fancy front destop board where you could put a dvdrom....

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:04 am

Mad_Haggis wrote:comes with a fancy front destop board where you could put a dvdrom....

yes,but you should check the clearance section at office depot first

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 1:59 am

Mad_Haggis wrote: Mhy Phone is silent!

like a fart ?

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 4:00 pm

Just installed 8 Preview Release..... can't believe I actually like it. There is a definite learning curve, but it is faster than 7 and the Metro gui is growing on me. I think once there are more apps it will improve greatly. Once you go to your desktop it's just like 7 other then the start menu, control panel, options are the same, Windows Explorer is much nicer. I'm gonna use it for a while to give it a real evaluation.

Also, all drivers for Vista and 7 work fine and all the software I installed works fine as well.

Philip, you need to make an app for SG.

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:02 pm

mnosteele52 wrote:Just installed 8 Preview Release..... can't believe I actually like it. There is a definite learning curve, but it is faster than 7 and the Metro gui is growing on me. I think once there are more apps it will improve greatly. Once you go to your desktop it's just like 7 other then the start menu, control panel, options are the same, Windows Explorer is much nicer. I'm gonna use it for a while to give it a real evaluation.

Also, all drivers for Vista and 7 work fine and all the software I installed works fine as well.

Philip, you need to make an app for SG.

Just download Start8 as previously mentioned and you essentially have 7 with the improvements of 8 (minus the Metro crap if you don't like it).

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:14 pm

RaisinCain wrote:Just download Start8 as previously mentioned and you essentially have 7 with the improvements of 8 (minus the Metro crap if you don't like it).

mnosteele52 wrote:Just installed 8 Preview Release..... can't believe I actually like it. and the Metro gui is growing on me. I think )

Err..sounds to me like he's liking it? Hence doesn't need the bloated adware laden (multiplicity adware) stardock stuff.

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:16 pm

YeOldeStonecat wrote:Err..sounds to me like he's liking it? Hence doesn't need the bloated adware laden (multiplicity adware) stardock stuff.

Hence the minus the Metro crap if you don't like it. It was a generalized statement directed toward other users who may have not witnessed my previous post. Get over yourself.

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:00 pm

RC, I want to use it as MS intended, gotta support it soon so I need to try it "as is". From the pictures of it I had seen I thought I would hate it but it's not bad, programs are renamed apps and they are all there just like a modernized start menu when you select show all apps and you can pin your favorites. I kind of do agree that the start menu is out dated, been around since Windows 95 (maybe 3.1 can't remember), it's time for a make over.

From what I'm hearing we will get the RTM in August as MS Partners? Is that what you guys have been hearing?

RaisinCain · Post by **RaisinCain** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:08 pm

I didn't intend to disrespect anyone BTW. It will RTM the first week of August with the general release in October. I like the OS but for me, Metro is a PINA for anyone not having a touchscreen. How do you mean "support it"? Personal business I am guessing? If that is the case I am in the same boat- my customers are going to FREAK out when they purchase an new PC.

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:48 pm

Owner of Dr Tweak LLC, the doctor that makes house calls for your pc.

It's not too bad once you figure out where to move the mouse to bring up your menus.