• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Windows 8 Pro, Ultimate Upgrade $39.99

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
I think this is to drag people off XP, but maybe its also a sign that serious money for a new OS days are over.

Whats missing for me is a good reason to switch to Win8. I've seen various stories, but mostly about pricing, not why to do it in the first place. What's it do, what does it break.

Offer is I believe only for XP and Vista, nothing older and no idea on WHS. I'm sure validation of the old OS will be an issue for many, as I can remember the mess with other updates when you need to reinstall a fubar system and have to first put the old system on.

On the plus side I believe Win8 for $40 includes free media center.
 
angry hampster said:
If you have a touchscreen device (all-in-one or tab) then W8 will be a huge benefit. The layout is very slick and simple.

For traditional desktop or laptop users though, I am not sure what the benefits would be. I'll stick with 7 on my business rig for a while as I haven't had a single issue since I built it over a year ago.
Click to expand...

I'm buying it for drive extender aka storage spaces
 
vshah said:
I'm buying it for drive extender aka storage spaces
Click to expand...

Perhaps but I think many, including me have very little reason to upgrade at this point. If you pick through Mickey Soft's offerings through the years, most of their intermediate products following successful products have not done well.

Win95 - Revolutionary for it's time.

Win98 - Improved 95 but not spectacularly.

Win2000 - Not so good for home users but good product overall.

ME - What?

WinXP - Good product but had some issues.

XP64 - Good product but little to no support.

Vista - Resource hog, buggy, eventually made stable.

Win7 - Stable from get-go.

If you think about it, 95, XP and Win7 are really the only stand out products, with Win7 no where near EOL.
 
gorcorps said:
I don't believe they ever have, but things change with every new version of windows. In Win 7 upgrade versions it just checked if you had some proper files in the /windows folder of your hard drive. Actually it wouldn't even do this before it started installing stuff. IIRC, on a bare drive it'll install either the whole OS or part of it then check to see if you had a previous install, and then won't finish because there wasn't an install already present. Then if you restarted the OS install again it'll detect the version it just installed as a previous installation and finish what it had to and activate fine.
Click to expand...

I'm curious if they'll close the double install loop hole from Vista and 7 that allowed you to install an upgrade version on a bare drive. It was a pretty useful trick. You would install Windows on the bare drive but not enter a key during installation, then when it was done installing, you'd just upgrade the clean install, put in the key and everything would activate just fine. I've done it several times and had no issues.
 
We may not "really" know what install will require until the first service pack is out, no point in even guessing until product release.
 
batmanuel said:
I'm curious if they'll close the double install loop hole from Vista and 7 that allowed you to install an upgrade version on a bare drive. It was a pretty useful trick. You would install Windows on the bare drive but not enter a key during installation, then when it was done installing, you'd just upgrade the clean install, put in the key and everything would activate just fine. I've done it several times and had no issues.
Click to expand...

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. 🙂
 
goobee said:
Perhaps but I think many, including me have very little reason to upgrade at this point. If you pick through Mickey Soft's offerings through the years, most of their intermediate products following successful products have not done well.

Win95 - Revolutionary for it's time.

Win98 - Improved 95 but not spectacularly.

Win2000 - Not so good for home users but good product overall.

ME - What?

WinXP - Good product but had some issues.

XP64 - Good product but little to no support.

Vista - Resource hog, buggy, eventually made stable.

Win7 - Stable from get-go.

If you think about it, 95, XP and Win7 are really the only stand out products, with Win7 no where near EOL.
Click to expand...

Until Service Pack 2 arrived, WinXP was really just a warmed-over Win2000, and some versions (Home) were crippled, whereas 2000 only came in a full-featured version (Pro). Domain capabilities, file encryption, and support for multiple-socket processing are a few examples.

I wouldn't underestimate the refinements to security with Win8 over Win7. Yeah I know, boring under-the-hood stuff that will never be noticed. But I'd factor that into my decision to upgrade the fleet at work, especially at just $40 a seat.
 
From the ARS TECH article, it seems like WIN8 should be a good step up from WINDOWS HOME SERVER v1..... Decisions, Decisions.
 
Been reading up a bit, it appears a lot of people are concerned about the "Pay to Play" aspect with Win8 (ie: yearly fees to use software) Will need to look further into this.
 
tomatom said:
.
< I was planning on a new TechNet Sub because I have several systems , but

I really like Win-7 , so I will prolly just try this upgrade on one of my extra

XP-boxes to see if I really think Win-8 is the way to go . >
Click to expand...

Just a heads up on technet.

They have changed the rules on the technet sub again. If you request any new keys, those keys will expire at the end of your current technet sub unless your renew. Thus in effect you are now renting keys instead of buying them.

http://www.ghacks.net/2012/07/03/mi...ys-will-expire-at-end-of-subscription-period/

It appears that keys prior to the change (thus keys form June 2012 or prior) are not affected by this change.
 
I tried the Win 8 dev preview and didn't care for it. I have no reason to upgrade from 7 at the moment. I like the storage options for 8, but I run an OpenSolaris server that does everything I need.
 
Pray To Jesus said:
Why upgrade from Win 7 to Crap win 8
Click to expand...

because eventually they will fix crap win 8 and start to migrate everything over to Win 8. Then you will have to pay twice the price for Win 8.

for this cheap, you buy it and throw in a drawer for 6 months and use it after it's fixed and save money.
 
lazarus000 said:
because eventually they will fix crap win 8 and start to migrate everything over to Win 8. Then you will have to pay twice the price for Win 8.

for this cheap, you buy it and throw in a drawer for 6 months and use it after it's fixed and save money.
Click to expand...
Good man, I was thinking the same thing. That and I don't actually see Win 8 as crap.

AMDZen said:
wmpc > vlc > wmp
Click to expand...

Hell yea. I love the WMPC:Home Theatre edition. Best media player out there. I typically use VNC when I'm on a WinXP machine that I don't feel like installing codecs on.
 
lazarus000 said:
because eventually they will fix crap win 8 and start to migrate everything over to Win 8. Then you will have to pay twice the price for Win 8.

for this cheap, you buy it and throw in a drawer for 6 months and use it after it's fixed and save money.
Click to expand...

i doubt that will happen within the next 10 years given that win 7 is so strong
 
texasfury said:
Why not just use real streamlined version of Linux then? Seems a shame just to pay money for a mere storage server.
Click to expand...

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.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top