Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $40

[flyinghaggis]

Hopefully we'll get the same offer in the uk as that makes for a nice cheap upgrade path. Mind you its about time that Microsoft started making upgrades cheaper as its in their interest to get users running the latest version of their software. When it's £100 to upgrade it puts most users off as its verging on cheaper to buy a new computer than upgrade an existing one. It's even more of a problem if you have several windows computers/laptops in your home as the upgrade cost could run into hundreds of pounds.

 

£30 would make the update a no-brainier as far as I'm concerned though.

 

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/paul-thurrotts-wininfo/windows-8-pro-upgrade-cost-40-special-promotion-143592

 

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090112213504/uncyclopedia/images/5/5d/Bill_Gates_and_Steve_Ballmer_dance.GIF

Edited July 2, 2012 by flyinghaggis

[glennda]

Microsoft would have to pay me £30 to use Metro...

[jamesfed]

I've seen £15 or less in the UK to upgrade to Win 8 Pro - e.g. Novatech

[Arthur]

I've seen £15 or less in the UK to upgrade to Win 8 Pro

That offer is only valid for people who buy new PCs running Windows 7 between 02/06/2012 and 31/01/2013.

[SYNACK]

Microsoft would have to pay me £30 to use Metro...

On a desktop/laptop, for tablets its great.

[glennda]

On a desktop/laptop, for tablets its great.

 

Still trying to decide on that one - i've only used it briefly on a tablet PC (one of those swiverly touchscreen ones). and didn't like it that much.

 

I think i read somewhere that metro is the default theme for Server 2012?

[Michael]

I think Windows 8 will sell on tablets, but I still have reservations about the corporate/education market on desktops/notebooks.

 

I waited until Windows 7 SP1 was released before deploying it in a live network and I would do the same with Windows 8 too. All the new quirks with Windows 8 would be well documented by then.

 

To be honest I think keeping Windows 7 on desktops/notebooks and Windows 8 on tablets (in the same domain) would be advisable and probably how I'll end up moving forward with developments.

 

You should be able to copy updated ADMX templates to 2008 R2 server, just as you could copy Windows XP ADM templates to a 2000 server. There are no significant changes between 2008 R2 and 2012 that I've read about, other than the stress of a server OS with no GUI or Metro with a GUI enabled.

 

Again - waiting for 2012 R2 to deploy in a live network would be a good idea. 2008 R2 based on Windows 7's core is much more stable than 2008 based on Vista's.

[SYNACK]

Server2012 is only metro if you install the desktop experience role otherwise it is similar in gui to 2008r2

[Michael]

Server2012 is only metro if you install the desktop experience role otherwise it is similar in gui to 2008r2

 

That's good to know. Not quite sure why you'd install Desktop Experience on a server OS but there you go!

 

I think another reason to hold fire with Windows 8, is because IE10 is bundled with it. Sure it's the most up-to-date and probably most secure version of IE, but as it is, there are numerous internal Government/Council websites which do not work properly on IE9, so I'm forced to downgrade a handful of admin users to IE8.

[FN-GM]

That's good to know. Not quite sure why you'd install Desktop Experience on a server OS but there you go!

 

RDS server

[sted]

That's good to know. Not quite sure why you'd install Desktop Experience on a server OS but there you go!

 

 

media player is at least in 08 in the same packages and that can be useful occasionally