Upgrade only - but there looks like there's a workaround...

Another (legal) way to avoid paying full price is to take advantage of Microsoft’s $40 Windows 8 Pro upgrade offer for existing Windows users. This promotion also runs through January 31, 2013 and provides a discounted upgrade path to owners of licensed copies of Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7, no matter how old your PC is.

Even better, Microsoft recently confirmed it will make the $40 upgrade offer applicable to users of the Windows 8 Release Preview. That means you can kill two birds with one stone by giving Windows 8 a free test run to find out if you want to upgrade in the first place, and if so, an opportunity to make the jump to the final build at a significant discount. This effectively means the cost of Windows 8 — if you’re willing to install the Release Preview first — is just $40.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/132509-windows-8-release-confirmed-for-october-heres-how-to-get-the-best-upgrade-deal

Was also covered on the TWIT network on Windows Weekly.

We can but hope, but only if you can get the start button back ....

I'm running the release preview on my laptop right now

It is very different and everything has been moved! Took a while to work out how to close apps and even shut down the system. It's nice and fast though, promising. Doubt the old Start button will be coming back though.

I'll see how it goes, might take them up on the $40 upgrade

It doesnt multi task properly, something even the Amiga and ST managed with 512MB of RAM about 20 years ago; M$ already suspect it is a lemon, so are pushing the discounts before it is even launched.

It doesnt multi task properly, something even the Amiga and ST managed with 512MB of RAM about 20 years ago

....and no hard-drive either!

Lots of people have bought Win7 now and much like when they bought XP there is little or no compelling reason to change again.

8 is a touch centric OS from what I've read and might be better on their surface tablet than a desktop.

Just switched from W7 pc to Lion on Mac, will get upgrade to Mountain Lion free, & for everyone else it will be £14.99.

I cant see how MS can justify their prices when it is virtually the std OS, talk about money making schemes, this seems a dead cert., specially within a week there will be a need for fixes.

any comment about needing the money to sort out fixes is rubbish, why dont they get it 90% sorted instead of less that 60% before selling.

Hopefully it will be free through the MSDNAA at work

Although, i'll be sticking with 7. I have tried 8 and didn't get on with metro at all, i have a feeling that it might all fall on its arse. Its too radical a move, especially in a corporate environment.

It is a radical change for sure, there's going to be a lot of confused users about when it escapes into the wild! It is plainly designed to work on touch screens, I'm going to have a play to see just how configurable Metro's tiles are. With a bit of re-arrangement it may work better with the mouse.

It might spur on a re-appearance of touch screen laptops, and may make the current touchscreen desktops less of a gimmick.

Just rereading my post and realised I made a foolish error 512 KILOBYTES of RAM(and no HDD).

I've tried a couple of previews of Windows 8, and Metro is just horrible on a regular desktop PC. I can see the potential on a touchscreen, but on a desktop is just destroys the desktop metaphor and creates a very jarring sensation between desktop and Metro.

I can see why MS are pushing Metro, because if they don't, nobody will write applications for it. Hopefully it will split to a tablet version with no desktop, and a desktop version with no Metro by Windows 9.

It's also another attempt to pull us kicking and screaming into cloud based, subscription services to increase revenue. I guess that's progress.

Edited 16 July, 201213 yr by corbo

It might spur on a re-appearance of touch screen laptops, and may make the current touchscreen desktops less of a gimmick.

Said it a number of times, in threads like this, i think Desktop PCs are the past, and computers like the Asus transformer (like a laptop, with removable tablet screen) are the future.

I'd happily replace my home iPad with a Metro tablet. If a tablet could plug in a USB Bluray drive, and read/write stuff, i think i'd happily replace my home laptop with a tablet.

I completely agree with everyone that says Metro isn't right for hardcore corperate users at the moment, for work, i'd really like to use my dual screen setup, so one window is desktop mode, and one is metro mode.

I think Microsoft will sell professional versions of W8, that boot straight to the desktop, but why bother now? Coperations won't use W8 for years, by which time forcing Metro on people will guarantee a substancial amount of the tools needed are available in a metro format.

Coperations won't use W8 for years, by which time forcing Metro on people will guarantee a substancial amount of the tools needed are available in a metro format.

I don't know where this had come from but it's been repeated so many times it's become "true". I know of at least one multi-national that will have the majority of it's computers on W8 by the end of the year (assuming the expected deadlines are made).

I can see the advantage. I was looking at my work laptop the other day thinking the number of times it's actually used as a laptop are so small I'd almost be as well to carry about a SFF PC. My laptop travels to work where it's plugged into a screen, keyboard and mouse and then home again where it's plugged into a screen, keyboard and mouse - the only time it's ever used as a laptop is on training and travelling to and from training.

A Win8 Pro tablet and two docks (one for the office and one for home), could almost be perfect, assuming the core hardware is powerful/robust enough to last a 3 year refresh cycle.

I wouldn't be surprised to see far more rotating screen tablets >>example<< in a corporate environment over the iPad type of tablet.

I'm sure *some* will use W8, but a lot of bigger businesses that have standardised hardware and software builds won't bother with it. Quite simply there isn't enough benefit to the migration to outweigh the hassle, not least of which will be user training and education.

Look how many skipped Vista and you'll see the same thing happen for W8, and MS have admitted that they expect this to happen.

I don't think I'll be putting W8 on any of the 100+ machines I'm responsible for, and I'm seriously considering buying a Mac to replace my home PC.

We wont be going Windows 8 in the office I work at, we have just recently finished a migration to Windows 7 from XP so will be skipping 8 completely.

it's like the opposite of the Star Trek movie franchise

We wont be going Windows 8 in the office I work at, we have just recently finished a migration to Windows 7 from XP so will be skipping 8 completely.

Indeed, we're still in the throes of XP->Win7, and knowing the speed of our central corporate desktop team, we'll just skip 8 so they can get an early jump on 8+1, and we'll take advantage of the reasonable lifecycle of Windows 7 in the meantime.

We won't be moving to 8 for a considerable amount of time to come. The "one at a time" multitasking system is no good for what our sister company does. Slates / Surface screens are too small to use. Many many applications will take time to migrate to a new interface, especially a touch-based one.

Accounts departments won't go near anything like that. I have found accountants to be the most resistant to change, not for cost, but for the amount of time lost in adjusting to a new system. And they are not alone. Whilst there are many who will benefit from a more portable device, there are many more who sit at a desk in an office. 9" screens on desks are very very much a thing of the past. Our sister company (I.T. Recruitment) has deskside PCs with 22" screens. They're not interested in "the future" beyond their next placement. The guys are commision-based. To them (and their boss), loss of time and functionality is loss of money.

Touch-based systems won't have a huge take-up for some time to come. People simply don't have the time or money to **** around. You'd need to change the whole ethos of how people do their jobs, and that's not an over-night event. As with all computer stuff, it'll find it's niche, and it'll sit there for a long while.

Essentially, from an interface point of view, Windows 7 wasn't broken, so it didn't need fixing.

I wouldn't be surprised to see far more rotating screen tablets >>example<< in a corporate environment over the iPad type of tablet.

That looks like a Toshiba one of my customers has. Note that it's running XP too. Touch is not a "new" thing, despite what Fruityloops Apple Fanboys would have you believe.

Touch-based systems won't have a huge take-up for some time to come

Surely thats the whole point. They already do have a huge uptake. There are billions of iOS/Android/etc devices out there. Its only a matter of time before they start eroding into the home user market of windows.

Essentially, from an interface point of view, Windows 7 wasn't broken, so it didn't need fixing.

Just because we are used to something, and have been doing it the same way for 10+ years, doesn't mean it isn't broken. The iPad is brilliant for some stuff, i bet if we added a keyboard, it would be even better. It just requires someone to look at what most of us do day to day, to work out what can be done to make it work in a iPad/Metro/etc enviroment.

Surely thats the whole point. They already do have a huge uptake. There are billions of iOS/Android/etc devices out there. Its only a matter of time before they start eroding into the home user market of windows.

My posting was business orientated. I would have said that touch will get into the home user market way before it'll ever dominate business desktops. As I said before businesses don't have the time, nor the money (especially in the current financial climate) to waste on things such as this. I suspect if you look at companies that are not in the IT supply sector, you will find "if it ain't broke, don't fix it, because time is money" will rule supreme.

Just because we are used to something, and have been doing it the same way for 10+ years, doesn't mean it isn't broken. The iPad is brilliant for some stuff, i bet if we added a keyboard, it would be even better. It just requires someone to look at what most of us do day to day, to work out what can be done to make it work in a iPad/Metro/etc enviroment.

Adding a keyboard to an iPad tablet PC: Asus Transformer, with a touch-pad too.

The problems still remain with the size of the screen and the software availability. Quite a few businesses have narrow market/bespoke software and will not pay tens of thousands of pounds to have it re-developed just to just on a smaller, portable devices. You'd be re-inventing the wheel to gain no advantage.

Even the anally retentive, megalomaniacs at Apple realised that desktops and pocket devices do different things, hence the twin beasts that are MacOS and iOS. Microsoft's insistence that one size *WILL* fit all is mis-guided at best. I suspect that Windows 8 will very quickly be superseded by Windows 9 (in the same way that Windows Mistake Millennium Edition was very quickly replaced by XP).

Undoubtedly you will hear that Windows 8 will be the best selling operating system ever (just like Vista was), mainly because PC sales are always on the up, coupled with W8 will be the only one on sale (so no choice), but there'll be no figures released to show how many people abandoned to go to 7, Linux, or whatever else can be conjured up. Amongst our customers there are quite a few machines with Vista licenses on, that were downgraded to XP. According to M$ they still counted as a Vista sale.

You also have to consider that W7 does touch, but Microsoft have still had to release their own slate to get anyone to consider using it. Windows tablets just aren't "out there". Microsoft has such a reputation for bloat that people just won't consider them. If you'd like a parallel: just consider how long it's taking (yes still present tense) for Skoda to stop being laughed at. M$ have an uphill battle, and it's not one that'll be won with a primary-school interface and limited functionality.

The problems still remain with the size of the screen and the software availability. Quite a few businesses have narrow market/bespoke software and will not pay tens of thousands of pounds to have it re-developed just to just on a smaller, portable devices. You'd be re-inventing the wheel to gain no advantage.

i completely there are companies that won't update, but i disagree about the lack of advantage. In the last year or two, the power, and form factors of phones and tablets have been increasing rapidly.

Stuff like that transformer in your picture will definitely start snapping at the ankles of laptops very soon.

Even the anally retentive, megalomaniacs at Apple realised that desktops and pocket devices do different things, hence the twin beasts that are MacOS and iOS. Microsoft's insistence that one size *WILL* fit all is mis-guided at best.

Users are scared of change. Push them at the deep end, otherwise they'll just dip their toes in, and go back to what they are used to, regardless of which is the better solution.

I've said before, i'm certain Microsoft will release professional versions of W8 that default to the desktop, rather than Metro, but they'll wait a year or so, to co-incide with businesses actually considering the move to W8.

I've said before, i'm certain Microsoft will release professional versions of W8 that default to the desktop, rather than Metro, but they'll wait a year or so, to co-incide with businesses actually considering the move to W8.

It will be a Service Pack 1 feature, when they realise that they have sold a grand total of 12 copies to businesses and Steve Ballmer has been fired.

Said it a number of times, in threads like this, i think Desktop PCs are the past, and computers like the Asus transformer (like a laptop, with removable tablet screen) are the future.

.

Desk tops will not go away any time soon, ok i will maybe qualify that be saying PC's with a dockable ability to be used as desktops will not go away any time soon.

With in our business(1000+ users) many never leave there desk - so why would any business want to pay more for mobile technology. A large number more use, and will continue to need to use, multi monitor set ups.

Tablets are just a toy with limited business use.