Currently Windows 8 Pro can be purchased for $40 USD. But after scouring details I cannot find a clear definition of what I would get besides an ISO file. My biggest question is this: Do I have to keep up with my current OS and its registration information to use Windows 8, or will I be getting a real copy of Windows 8? For example, let us say that I take MS up on the offer since it is much cheaper than any other option. But in a few months or sometime early next year I intend to buy a new motherboard for my PC. (Everything else will be reused in the motherboard, the CPU, GPU, RAM, and drives will just be plugged in. And it will all be in the same case even.) Will I then have to purchase yet another copy of Windows 8 to use this "New PC" like the screw-over they do when you buy an OEM copy of your OS, or will this be a real, honest full version that can be used on just one system, but any system you choose? I suspect someone here knows the answer to this. I cannot currently use Windows 8 due to my insistence that *ALL* my applications work in the OS I use, so I will be using Windows 7 even if I buy 8. (At least until the applications and OS are patched enough to have most if not everything working.) I just want to plan wisely. Thanks for reading, and thanks for any replies. By the way, I am currently still searching for the answer to my questions, but MS is bogged down due to the big push to get everyone using 8.
Provide a link to get more concrete answers. I highly doubt you are getting a full windows 8, or even the OEM version for $40. It's most likely an upgrade license for vista/7 users.
That is what I now think I have proven. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&N=100006816 600021083&IsNodeId=1&name=Retail That link is to Newegg, showing only Retail packaged OSes, no OEM copies should be in the results. The "Upgrade" version of Windows 8 is there. And reading feedback on this upgrade version shows it requires an existing copy of Windows. That probably means a pain in the ass when it comes time to install it, since I would have to install 7 first then use the BS upgrade to this junk. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416562 Sad that Newegg is more helpful by a huge amount that MS was. I first tried searching the MS forums from here, then I searched more, but the forums are half-dead at current. It seems MS did not have enough servers for the demand or there is some unknown connectivity problem on my side. http://windows.com/ All in all I do *NOT* want Windows 8 anyway. I just figure as time goes on I will likely be herded that way against my protests. I am quite happy with Windows 7 for the time at least. The price looked too good to be true, and it looks like that is exactly right. Sorry for the waste of a thread everyone.
On another note, I am not ready to "Upgrade" to a new and largely unpolished OS yet anyway. Windows 7 is tried and true. I already know how to disable all the junk that destroys performance. I know what services to disable, and what to put on manual start so they do not bog down the boot time with garbage that I am unlikely to ever need. Windows 8 on the other hand is new and will need at least a service pack and another month before I trust it enough to even so much as check my e-mail with it. And I especially have no desire for their BS "Metro" abomination UI. I like "Classic" windows features and graphics. On my Windows 7 install I have "Classic Shell" installed to give me the lowest performance drain possible for a GUI that will still work with anything I do. I also lack a touch-screen, so the Metro UI claim to fame is null and void to me. People talk about Windows 8 being lean and faster than Windows 7, but so far it is all talk. I have yet to see or even hear of a real comparison. Benchmark the two with the same basic services running and all the garbage catch-all services set to manual so they do not bog down the system and I would wager there is little if any difference in speeds and performance. Some of the Newegg feedback says that you can do a full install from the "Upgrade" version. But I doubt that will apply to a new motherboard. And I still need to replace mine eventually. I do not want to repurchase an "Upgrade" just because I replaced a failing motherboard. And I do not want to fight with MS support to get them to accept the new motherboard was a required replacement and not a new system. So this upgrade is probably not worth even thinking about. Oh well.
The rule of thumb is that every second Windows release is a dire abomination. Given the pattern of XP, Vista and 7...
Quite true. I was lovin' me some Windows ME and was dismayed when 2k ruined everything that made ME great.
Listen to this person. You won't really need to upgrade for at least two years, and maybe by then they will have Windows 9 or whatever they will call it.
And we really, really need to see how controlling Win 8 and Win 9 will be. Even some devs are turning their back on it (I believe Valve are concentrating more on Linux at the moment).
If in another few years Linux is actually a reasonable platform for games, I will seriously need a change of pants. (Take that any way you want.) I love Linux, but it is just a royal bitch for gamers these days. Getting all the Windows stuff working in Wine is almost an impossible goal. But for a year or two, that *Was* my game. What will really make Linux a perfect OS is for GPU drivers to actually be made to work, rather than fail miserably in Linux because the hardware makers simply do not care. (Did I mention I hold long grudges against AMD and Nvidia?)
I totally agree that the hardware manufacturers need to care, but at the same time we're talking weaning them off Windows after about two or so decades of it being the prominent platform. If we look at Mac, that's improving as a gaming platform, but it's typically getting games ported by third parties (and at an inflated cost), so in a way it's shooting itself in the foot... and there is the issue of Mac OS being fairly closed in terms of hardware and software.
My only input regarding Windows 8 (or any OS upgrade, for that matter) is that I would not upgrade until you really have to, because Windows 7 is inadequate for your needs/wants. The longer you can avoid it, the less the chance of having problems with it (as any bugs get ironed out, compatible drivers get released, and so on). I hate the Mac OS -- my mom uses it on her main computer, and I hate having to help her with all of the problems (usually it's the same problems all the time with the print queue pausing for no apparent reason, and she just can't remember how to fix it -- all she knows is that her coupons and shopping lists seem to not want to print). It seems to me that whoever designed her iMac wanted everything to 'look cool', but without much thought to actual practicality. There's often just too many steps to do otherwise simple things and it always gets my mom confused. And I hate supporting it almost as much as my mom has learned to hate using it. Don't get me wrong -- Windows has its issues as well, and maybe a lot of this has more to do with my personal knowledge and experience (and/or lack of experience). But I have trouble seeing the Mac as being 'user friendly' for real normal users.
First of all, my apologies to Mac fans. I think of Mac as a console pretending to be a PC. Second, I too jumped from XP SP3 to Seven. Vista was not ever an option I would go with. Third, Windows 8 can *Expletive Deleted*. Thanks for the advise guys. I do appreciate it.
Windows 7 is an abomination too. They destroyed the start menu interface, they replaced the navigation bar in Windows Explorer with some kind of messed up thing, they turned off the menu bars on everything, and the default theme is ugly as sin. The only "positive" thing I can say about it is that at least they didn't add any fucking ribbons. I will never use MS Office again. At this rate their interface will be as bad as the Mac's (or worse) in just a few more years (if that) and I'll be forced to switch to Linux.
