News Microsoft confirms Windows 8 upgrade pricing, System Builder edition

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2012/07/03/microsoft-win8-upgrade-price/1

 

That's not too bad in terms of prices. It's a shame though, because I'm not a big fan of windows 8's UI.

 

Having used it since the DP in October, it's taken a while to grow on me, but I prefer it on my touch enabled laptop to Windows 7 (one of the TouchSmart 2nd gen devices). The only reason why I haven't switched it on my desktop is that there are some stability problems with my GPU drivers and one or two issues with my chipset/graphical freezes, but, in my opinion, an upgrade key at that price is worth it.

 

At that price I'm going to do my laptop but our four pc's are staying windows 7.

 

I think windows 8 is made purely for tablets. It seems that way. Mind you the upgrade keys should be more than welcome.

 

I know this is going to get me a load of hate mail but I’ll definitely upgrade if it goes on sale in the UK at ~£30.

As correctly asserted by the Microsoft engineers I have all my apps pinned to the taskbar and very rarely delve into the start menu anymore. Plus, I like the Win8 tiles system. Right now, apart from my efforts to integrate Rainmeter my desktop is very sparse indeed and needs filling up!

 

Naah, if it works for you all the better. I'm still not adapting to it as well as I should. Or want to.

 

Have paid £50 each for the last two Windows upgrades so can't see any reason not to buy this as well; been running it on both systems since January anyway.

 

I read elsewhere that the cheap upgrade price runs out in January 2013. So I will probably leave upgrading from win7 until December, by then there should be plenty of feedback from early adopters.

 

Again what does it actually do?

In what way is it an "upgrade"? How is it better than Windows 7? How was that better than XP? How was that better than 2000? How was that better than 98?

Yes, there are technical changes under the hood, and you can argue to an extent that they're better because of those (the GPU compositor in Vista and going to NT kernel in 2000 were both long overdue, for instance). At the end of the day, though, the user experience of windows hasn't changed in 17 years, and for the entirely circular reason that people buy windows to get that user experience. Obviously the whole tablet UI thing is worthless and will be immediately switched off by most people (it's also a trivial piece of programming which could have been made available as an alternate shell for anyone who wanted it).

So again, what features does this upgrade actually offer?

 

Precisely the same thing every GUI OS has done since they were invented 30 years ago, just in a nicer way. What else were you expecting? You know precisely what Win8 offers, you're just being deliberately contentious.

Enough with such pointless posts, I object to them using up my bandwidth.

 

If you can't find something in here that floats your boat, then it will do very little for you.

[Captain Patronising Analogy]It's much like "upgrading" from a Mk1 ford Focus to a Mk2 - they both do basically the same thing, but one is rounder and newer looking than the other.[/Captain Patronising Analogy]

I'll be doing what I always do. Wait six months after release, appraise the various comments, reviews, tweaks and tips, then buy the Family pack for three licenses, splitting the cost with my old folks. Tweak and profit £££.

 

Meh, I don't have a tablets so I doubt I'll be getting W8. I don't even thing my laptop is worth "upgrading"

 

Having just bought a new PC with Windows 7 Professional, I'll definitely be upgrading for just £14.99. However, metro will get disabled straight away. I'm only after the kernel improvements.

 

Is there a way to turn off the tablet interface? I would only be using this on a desktop without a touch screen so would prefer a more traditional interface.
If it is only going to cost ~£30 to upgrade I would be very tempted

 

You mean the Metro UI? Yeah, it can disabled through the registry leaving you with the normal desktop + start menu.

 

At £30 I'll definitely be upgrading my tablet, but I don't really sea the point of upgrading my laptop and desktop.

 

I'll be upgrading my PC, Laptop & media centre. Purely to make sure I can run latest software and be certain of getting driver support for newer purchases. It shall never be this price again.

 

Looks like a good way to get me onto the same platform for all my home equipment. Hope the price doesn't vary too much i.e. is not >£39.99 because otherwise the answer is no, I'll stick to Win 7 and Vista.