Microsoft confirms Windows 8 testers to get $40 upgrade price, too
Summary: Those running Microsoft's Windows 8 Release Preview also will be permitted to move to Windows 8 Pro when it's available for the newly announced upgrade price.
Earlier this week, I blogged about Microsoft's $40 ($39.99, to be precise) upgrade offer, meant to entice those running Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 to upgrade to Windows 8 Professional once it is available.
Microsoft's original post on the topic never spelled out explicitly whether one additional group -- those testing Windows 8 -- would also be offered the same price for Windows 8 Pro.
The answer is yes. Computerworld noted on page 3 of its own frequently asked questions (FAQ) document on the upgrade offer that Microsoft officials said testers would be able to get the $40 price through Windows.com once Windows 8 is generally available .
I asked for confirmation to be doubly sure. The spokesperson said:
"Computerworld got it right. Assuming the customer had a previous version of Windows installed before Release Preview, they’ll be able to upgrade from the Release Preview. They won’t need to reinstall the previous version to do the upgrade; they can just upgrade on top of the Release Preview."
Computerworld also noted that when and if Windows 8 Release Preview testers upgrade, they won't be able to preserve their system settings or applications; only personal files will be moved automatically to Windows 8. This is more like a "migration" than an update, and sounds a lot like what will happen to Windows XP users who opt to move to Windows 8.
Again, Microsoft has confirmed this information, as well. After posting details about the deal on July 2, Windows Communication Manager Brandon Leblanc added an update about the ability of Windows 8 testers to upgrade. He said (in the comments of the post:
"(P)eople can move from the Windows 8 Release Preview to Windows 8 Pro using the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant and will only have the options to migrate their personal files or keep nothing at all when upgrading. People moving from the Windows 8 Release Preview will need to make sure you have an underlying license for either Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7."
Microsoft officials still have not made public the price for new copies of Windows 8; this $40 is only pricing for the update version. Microsoft officials also have not stated exactly when Windows 8 will be declared as gold/RTM (something that could happen as soon as this month) or when Windows 8 will be generally available -- something rumored to be happening in October 2012.
One last thing to remember: This $40 upgrade price is currently positioned as a promotional price. The offer will be good from whenever Windows 8 is generally available until January 31, 2013. Microsoft may or may not extend the end date.
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Talkback
Ok.. that blows away Apple's upgrade...
Microsoft must really really want everyone on Win 8...
Microsoft is scared.
As evidenced by all the futile lawsuits over worthless design patents
If you can't compete, litigate!
But one thing is clear, the trend established here is about to get much more complete.
http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10
Windows XP: 40%
Windows 7 : 39%
Other: 7%
Windows Vista: 6%
iPad: 3%
Mac OS X 10.7: 3%
Mac OS X 10.6: 2%
iPhone: 2%
~~~~~~~~~~
If the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If the law is on your side, pound the law. If neither is on your side, pound the table.
{Old lawyer saying}
Good humor and a true WinTard you are.
I just seamlessly upgraded from Lion (10.7.9) to Mountain Lion (10.8) and I love my working UNIX desktop, which is really what my Mac is. It's OpenDarwin on top of a BSD Kernel. My Sony PS3 is really the home entertainment boss as it delivers DTS soundtracks to my receiver through a SPDIF cable.
I write video game components, all of that is done on my Lenovo laptop (An AMD E3 Vision), so what does my mac really do....email, browsing, PureBASIC experiments and a copy of Postal 2 that I found on the macgames.com site. Okay, it does good porn streaming as well.
Truthfully it's just a nice user experience. I know my Mac Mini is just a laptop stuffed into an odd shaped case. The Superdrive I bought for it matches well, but is certainly not super in terms of performance. When it dies, well, next time I'll spend the equivalent amount on a Windows desktop (cist me $1000+ when I was done with it all, I bought the faster Core i5 with the AMD Radeon chip).
Mountain Lion (10.8) is really more serious about security so hopefully that means apple will be updating weekly as holes in security are made known. OSX is great at memory management, energy management and all that happy stuff, but Windows still brings home the bacon ( well, figuratively ).
What does this have to do with Windows 8?
Well I had two trial versions on an HP laptop, found them both good and I anxiously look forward to them on my next Laptop and probably desktop. Heck, I'll keep the Mac for a while, maybe even buy another, it does a great job with Blender and Unity 3D. Every time I sit down with my colleagues, all of us game code monkeys, we all whip out our W7 laptops as we have the correct version of Direct X and all the DLL's and development kits in place.
Here's the real rub. PS4 CPU architecture is probably going to change, Xbox 720 architecture may change as well. But my good old X86_64 Windows machine will always be good for gaming. I have an Xbox 360 control pad for it already.
We develop on Windows machines and cross compile. Man that new PS4 looks nice, but I think I'll wait until it drops below the rumored $1000. I'm a sucker, at $500 I'd snap it up in a heartbeat. Getting back to it, I'm scared because of some changes in W8 API's and tools may cause me some heartburn.
Why?
What happens when you reformat?
I would rather not have to install XP and do the upgrade to 8 when I upgrade my system eventually AFTER launch.
Yes
you can use it to do a clean install.
Check the comments in the MS blog post
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/07/02/upgrade-to-windows-8-pro-for-39-99.aspx
MJ
Not quite the same thing
Or will they allow the install after you provide the original system install disk? (If you even have it or can find it.) After all, if you format and have a completely clean system, how would that be different from upgrading a completely new (and virgin) system?
Will this be valid for OEM Windows 7 licenses too?
Yes
Seems like you should be covered, too
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/07/02/upgrade-to-windows-8-pro-for-39-99.aspx
MJ
Gartner, Wall Street -- what does incredibly low upgrade pricing mean?
It also shows that Microsoft knows that Win8 is not going to be popular on existing non-touch computers: if they expected upgrades to sell reasonably well, there would be no reason to sell the upgrade at such an incredibly low price. I think they had to announce the deal now, too, because if they waited a month after general availability to announce the deal, then the technorati would interpret it as a response to lackluster upgrade sales (so better to announce it now in anticipation of the same and maybe get a boost). I'm sure Wall Street and Gartner are crunching the numbers right now...
MJF, will Microsoft also slash the licensing costs to OEMs producing WinRT tablets too for the same reason?
While that may be true...
Businesses should make plans now on how to get their organization in on this special deal.
Note:
No, I don't work for MS, and no, I don't find Win 8 very intuitive, and no I don't like the new Metro interface. It's clunky, it has little new to offer, and non-touch users on laptops/desktops are not going to see any performance improvements. (For the record, Solitaire absolutely sucks on the Preview, as mynon-touch 4GB desktop has MASSIVE I/O delays through the mouse, while other regular PC apps have no delays whatsoever.)
However, I do know that most businesses are wedded to the Microsoft Suite and Windows OS, therefore, a business moving ahead to leapfrog from XP will get a distinct financial advantage by following up on this offer, as they don't have anything else to look forward to except EOL on XP Security support....
Jump over Vista to...Windows 7
agreed!
If people didn't like Vista (which IMHO, being so very, very similar to Windows 7 was actually a rather decent operating system), then they are going to absolutely despise Windows 8, which plays "Hide the icon" in a way never seen before in Microsoft operating system.
It's my prediction Windows 8 will be a complete and utter failure on non-touch screen computer systems. And businesses will not touch it with a ten foot pole.
Unusable?
So if I want to quickly check the weather, I just hit the windows key, look at my weather app icon, hit the windows key again and get back to work.
You can move between apps really quickly! windows-tab and alt-tab still work. Or move your mouse to the upper left or lower left corner and move down/up respectively.
Need to access more settings, or search, clock, devices, sharing options? Press windows-c, or go to the upper right or lower right corner and drag down/up.
Need to quickly find a program? It's the same as in windows. Press the windows key, or click in the lower left corner (same place as the start menu), and then start typing.
Very usable!
It does take some getting used to, but after a bit of poking around, I find Metro to be a very nice interface. Note that I've had Metro on my phone for over a year now, so I was familiar with the concept.
This is where you're wrong