"Windows 9 will be free to Windows 8 owners"

[Muadib]

If it's free, it's for me.:awe:

 

[denis280]

Something tells me that Microsoft wants to kill off Windows 8 and 8.1 as quickly as they can

Got that right.

 

[Muadib]

I should have known, it's only free for some...
http://bgr.com/2014/09/30/windows-9-upgrade-price-2/

 

[Skaendo]

Windows users will never learn.
Only if you bought Windows 8 will the upgrade to Windows 9 be free.
My next point is why waste your time with Windows 9 which is basically just a Windows 8 update, when they are releasing Windows 10.
But then why waste the time with Windows 10 when Windows 11 will be coming out a year after 10?
And so on and so on. Stop wasting your money on this bloated, runaway train wreck that is fueled by greed and money.
Rumors are that Microsoft will begin releasing new versions on a yearly basis, and not supporting older versions faster.
That means you will have to buy a new version every few years, padding the pockets of Microsoft.

 

[Maximilian]

Interesting what a little competition will do.

I look forward to Windows 9, since Windows 8 was such a screwup.

Indeed. Based on that semi-accurate pattern of every other OS being an utter failure windows 9 (or 10 now) should be decent!

 

[poohbear]

So for those of us that purchased systems with 8 installed and an embedded key that then upgraded to 8.1 and that will be eligible for 9 as a free upgrade, what will we have to do if we should need to do a fresh install of 9? It's already a nightmare to do a fresh install of 8.1. Here's to hoping there will be a streamlined process.

Huh? Hows it a nightmare? I just did 2 fresh installs the past 2 months, no problen whatsoever. Just copied the iso to usb & that was that. Super easy. Look for the option create restoration backup.

 

[mikeymikec]

IMO it only makes sense to rent an OS when it is still rapidly evolving (ie. almost everyone will notice a benefit of the newer version).

Furthermore, I've seen Windows 8 -> 8.1 updates take several hours on some machines, and I've also seen it fail to install (usually due to an incompatible third party bit of software). When one has say a Windows 7 installation which has worked perfectly well for >4 years, and the user in question isn't technically inclined, why would that person want to update?

"How shall I spend my day today? I know, I'll watch my computer say 'updating windows' for several hours! That would be incredibly exciting and productive!"

 

[Mem]

IMO it only makes sense to rent an OS when it is still rapidly evolving (ie. almost everyone will notice a benefit of the newer version).

Furthermore, I've seen Windows 8 -> 8.1 updates take several hours on some machines, and I've also seen it fail to install (usually due to an incompatible third party bit of software). When one has say a Windows 7 installation which has worked perfectly well for >4 years, and the user in question isn't technically inclined, why would that person want to update?

"How shall I spend my day today? I know, I'll watch my computer say 'updating windows' for several hours! That would be incredibly exciting and productive!"

Home users don't want a sub based OS,they just want something that they are comfortable with and will last a while,I've no issues with buying a new OS every 3 years or so but would hate a sub based OS,that would probably be enough for me to quit PC gaming and look at alternatives if that ever happened.


Business sector on sub based OS maybe,but then you would really have to ask them.

 

[Fritzo]

Indeed. Based on that semi-accurate pattern of every other OS being an utter failure windows 9 (or 10 now) should be decent!

 

[Mem]

Something tells me that Microsoft wants to kill off Windows 8 and 8.1 as quickly as they can, rather than have to offer over a decade of tech support for them like they did with Windows XP.

"Hey, it's free" is a good excuse to force people to upgrade quickly.

Far from it,Win8.1 is supported for quite a while ie 2018 mainstream,extended 2023.

New OS was due next year anyway,remember XP was not the norm having to wait six years for next OS ie Vista.

Sales are always higher when it's free or lower priced for a time ,we like bargains.
You can argue Win8 is not want some users wanted ie desktop PC users and that is a fair valid point,does not make it a bad OS ie stability/usage point of view.

You can argue Microsoft are trying to listen to feedback from users out there,end of the day they are here to make money/profits so it's in their best interest to try and please the customers and get sales up.

Win10 and 11 should be interesting.

 

[lifeblood]

To make Win10 free to all just doesn't make sense. It should be a tired system. Free for Win8 users, a little for Win8 OEM users, more still for Win7 users, And an arm and a leg for WinXP users. Win2k users should be barred from buying it, and anyone still using WinME should just be shot on sight.

If I paid money to upgrade from 7 to 8, then you made Win10 free both Win7 and Win8 users, that would piss me off. Why did I bother giving money to MS if I could have just stuck with 7 and gotten the same thing? Note that I don't think Win7 users should pay a lot, but they should pay something.

 

[ksheets]

Since Windows is free on 8" and smaller devices, I wonder if my windows tablet will be upgraded?

 

[kmmatney]

I guess they didn't want to give away Windows 9, so they backed out of that deal by going to Windows 10!