Windows 8 Pro, Ultimate Upgrade $39.99

Tdavis5432 · Oct 13, 2012

The $15 upgrade is for pro only, I wonder if they will give you the option for the Ultimate for a little more...

balloonshark · Oct 14, 2012

balloonshark said:
Is this upgrade valid for OEM Windows XP Home keys?

postmortemIA said:
should be - at least for windows 7 upgrade OEM editions were eligible for upgrade.

Thanks for your reply. Does anyone know if you can buy a couple upgrade copies of Windows 8 upgrade but use them later (6 months)? I guess it would also be good to know if there is an expiration date on the WMC download.

qliveur · Oct 14, 2012

Tdavis5432 said:
The $15 upgrade is for pro only, I wonder if they will give you the option for the Ultimate for a little more...

Pro=Ultimate.

There will be no Ultimate edition of Windows 8.

lillebusy · Oct 16, 2012

daveybrat said:
You don't have to install it twice like that. Here's the instructions:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/clean...t-key-on-formatted-or-empty-blank-hard-drive/

I've used that trick above dozens of times and it works the same way as yours, but without installing the OS twice.

Anyone tried this with any of the Windows 8 upgrade disks? Inquiring minds want to know

etrin · Oct 17, 2012

did they remove the home media from winders 8 ?
Is it an upgrade or ?

jalaram · Oct 17, 2012

Do you mean the Windows Media Center? Yes, it's an additional cost.

KingFatty · Oct 17, 2012

Currently, through Saturday, you can preorder Windows 8 on Amazon for $39 after a $30 Amazon credit (pay $69 up front).

So, it seems you can get a hard copy of the DVD etc. if you buy from Amazon and are willing to deal with a $30 amazon credit.

But, for comparison, does anyone know details on how the $39 digital offer works, which will be offered soon? Will it be just like the other digitalriver downloads that Microsoft sells, where you can download and install via USB, and keep a digital copy?

Which would you choose for $39, a digital download or the physical DVD package? I think the Amazon offer will expire before the digital download is available, so I'm interested in all the details I can collect so I can decide which to get this Saturday, whether to wait for the digital download.

Basilisk · Oct 17, 2012

jalaram said:
Do you mean the Windows Media Center? Yes, it's an additional cost.

I've read several places that WMC will be a separate pkg, but available for free download (until January?). Here's another restatement of WMC's "future". The last paragraph has me confused and concerned. Lack of WMC would be a game-stopper for me.

tdawg · Oct 17, 2012

KingFatty said:
Currently, through Saturday, you can preorder Windows 8 on Amazon for $39 after a $30 Amazon credit (pay $69 up front).

So, it seems you can get a hard copy of the DVD etc. if you buy from Amazon and are willing to deal with a $30 amazon credit.

But, for comparison, does anyone know details on how the $39 digital offer works, which will be offered soon? Will it be just like the other digitalriver downloads that Microsoft sells, where you can download and install via USB, and keep a digital copy?

Which would you choose for $39, a digital download or the physical DVD package? I think the Amazon offer will expire before the digital download is available, so I'm interested in all the details I can collect so I can decide which to get this Saturday, whether to wait for the digital download.

From what I've read, once you download the upgrade package, you can burn the .iso to disc for later upgrade instead of running the upgrade right away. But I'm also tempted by the amazon deal...

lkailburn · Oct 17, 2012

will be preordering this for 2 or possibly 3 of my machines!

-Luke

lazarus000 · Oct 17, 2012

jalaram said:
Do you mean the Windows Media Center? Yes, it's an additional cost.

I use VLC etc anyway

zero loss for me

lkailburn · Oct 17, 2012

lazarus000 said:
I use VLC etc anyway

zero loss for me

the original article from http://www.mydigitallife.info/windows-8-pro-upgrade-available-at-cheap-39-99/ states wmc will be a free addon(download) for win8pro?

-Luke

wand3r3r · Oct 17, 2012

KingFatty said:
Currently, through Saturday, you can preorder Windows 8 on Amazon for $39 after a $30 Amazon credit (pay $69 up front).

So, it seems you can get a hard copy of the DVD etc. if you buy from Amazon and are willing to deal with a $30 amazon credit.

But, for comparison, does anyone know details on how the $39 digital offer works, which will be offered soon? Will it be just like the other digitalriver downloads that Microsoft sells, where you can download and install via USB, and keep a digital copy?

Which would you choose for $39, a digital download or the physical DVD package? I think the Amazon offer will expire before the digital download is available, so I'm interested in all the details I can collect so I can decide which to get this Saturday, whether to wait for the digital download.

The amazon $30 credit appears to be one per person.

KingFatty · Oct 17, 2012

The Amazon credit has been changed. Unlike before, the offer only applies to the full version of Win 8 ($159) so not a good deal at all.

JTsyo · Oct 17, 2012

So is win8 a worth while upgrade from Vista? Currently I have no complaints with Vista. What does 8 offer?

SpeedTester · Oct 17, 2012

JTsyo said:
So is win8 a worth while upgrade from Vista? Currently I have no complaints with Vista and does 8 offer?

Lol Pretty much anything Microsoft puts out after Vista is an upgrade to Vista

Lucifer Lost · Oct 17, 2012

JTsyo said:
So is win8 a worth while upgrade from Vista? Currently I have no complaints with Vista. What does 8 offer?

Speed and security will be the two biggest changes you'll notice coming from Vista.

It's also a lot more intuitive and user friendly.

For $39.99, going from Vista or XP to Win8 will be a no-brainer.

gft · Oct 17, 2012

vshah said:
if there's a linux distro that has easy to set up, non-raid, redundant file storage, i'm all ears. i've tried amahi and it was a mess.

Try FreeNAS. http://www.freenas.org/

Basilisk · Oct 17, 2012

Lucifer Lost said:
For $39.99, going from Vista or XP to Win8 will be a no-brainer.

I'd qualify that for WMC users with cablecard tuners: I'm unsure that WMC functionality has been fully demonstrated in Win8. I keep hearing rumblings about issues from developers who couldn't get access to a release image of WMC, and read an "official statement" explaining MS's backing away from WMC. [If I understood the latter, a major issue sounded like too many of WMC's APIs were out-dated in the W8 universe and MS didn't want to re-engineer the whole product for so few customers... so WMC under W8 may create installation headaches and some extensions may not work.] I'll wait to install Win8 until I've read success stories as my TVs are driven through WMC and a Ceton multi-stream cablecard.

[Edit - further mutterings, below]
PS: WMC -- as of W7 included in the Home product -- may only be installable in the Pro (and higher?) W8 releases (due to required interface-layers being missing in any "W8 Home" release?).

PPS: The semi-official pronouncement I referred to above seemed to indicate MS had tried to market [advertise] WMC heavily on the XP and Vista releases with little customer interest (shown by some metrics). My reply: I didn't encounter a stable/debugged version of WMC until W8, so I can't blame customers for an earlier lack of enthusiasm. [Had to RE-load Vista 3 times to repair creeping failures in WMC.]

HeXen · Oct 17, 2012

Basilisk said:
I'd qualify that for WMC users with cablecard tuners: I'm unsure that WMC functionality has been fully demonstrated in Win8. I keep hearing rumblings about issues from developers who couldn't get access to a release image of WMC, and read an "official statement" explaining MS's backing away from WMC. [If I understood the latter, a major issue sounded like too many of WMC's APIs were out-dated in the W8 universe and MS didn't want to re-engineer the whole product for so few customers... so WMC under W8 may create installation headaches and some extensions may not work.] I'll wait to install Win8 until I've read success stories as my TVs are driven through WMC and a Ceton multi-stream cablecard.

[Edit - further mutterings, below]
PS: WMC -- as of W7 included in the Home product -- may only be installable in the Pro (and higher?) W8 releases (due to required interface-layers being missing in any "W8 Home" release?).

PPS: The semi-official pronouncement I referred to above seemed to indicate MS had tried to market [advertise] WMC heavily on the XP and Vista releases with little customer interest (shown by some metrics). My reply: I didn't encounter a stable/debugged version of WMC until W8, so I can't blame customers for an earlier lack of enthusiasm. [Had to RE-load Vista 3 times to repair creeping failures in WMC.]

yes, no more WMC updates. it is what it is now. However XBMC is better anyways.
Most people never even clicked on WMC, which is telling of how few people use an HTPC or they use an alternative.

vshah · Oct 17, 2012

gft said:
Try FreeNAS. http://www.freenas.org/

just finished a migration to win8 storage spaces - will try this out for a while and then may give freenas a shot.

KingFatty · Oct 17, 2012

HeXen said:
yes, no more WMC updates. it is what it is now. However XBMC is better anyways.
Most people never even clicked on WMC, which is telling of how few people use an HTPC or they use an alternative.

I really like how WMC lets you partially fast-forward with sound. I use that feature a lot to get through a movie in less time, especially for movies where it's mostly character dialog or silly comedies etc. where I don't need the immersion of slower pacing.

I wish wish wish XBMC would implement this feature. But the last time I checked, the devs for XBMC find such a feature offensive and turned up their nose at the thought. Maybe one day a developer will work on XBMC to implement partial fast forward with sound. But until then I'll stick to WMC for DVDs.

killster1 · Oct 17, 2012

OK So this looks cool i wouldnt mind getting legit version of windows for some people.. But can i make it look like windows 7 with some tweaks and have start bar and a desktop or is it going to look like a freaking cellphone when i boot up

going to google a bit later but rather the pro's answer

discerning · Oct 17, 2012

killster1 said:
OK So this looks cool i wouldnt mind getting legit version of windows for some people.. But can i make it look like windows 7 with some tweaks and have start bar and a desktop or is it going to look like a freaking cellphone when i boot up going to google a bit later but rather the pro's answer

If you don't like the look of Metro, you can get third party software to bring back the start menu (free and commercial programs available), Classic Shell is an example.

HeXen · Oct 18, 2012

killster1 said:
OK So this looks cool i wouldnt mind getting legit version of windows for some people.. But can i make it look like windows 7 with some tweaks and have start bar and a desktop or is it going to look like a freaking cellphone when i boot up going to google a bit later but rather the pro's answer

search for apps like these:

Startisback
ClassicShell
Start8
starmenu modifier

IMO start8 is the best, its $4.99 while the others are free

Windows 8 Pro, Ultimate Upgrade $39.99

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