11 responses to “Behind the Windows 8 $40 upgrade”

1. 

   rc pprimak July 3rd, 2012 at 22:56

   So what happens to those of us who are dual-booting Windows 8 with Windows 7 and wish to continue to do so? Are we stuck with the higher-priced System Builder or Full Retail Windows 8 Pro versions, with no free Media Center add-on? That doesn’t seem fair to those of us who have helped Microsoft test their Beta versions all this time.

2. 

   woody July 4th, 2012 at 20:47

   @RC -

   Good point. Best you can do is look around for an old XP, Vista or Win7 license.

   Not much of a “thank you,” eh?

3. 

   rc primak July 4th, 2012 at 21:07

   What I am asking is, does the installation of the upgrade to Windows 8 take over the Windows 7 license, or can a dual-boot be created later using a partitioning and backup program, and an existing Windows 7 System Image Backup archive? Would the existing Windows 7 license still be considered valid or genuine? Is there anything in Windows 8 Pro which would prevent this procedure?

4. 

   rc primak July 4th, 2012 at 22:10

   Answered my own question through some online reading.

   This is an upgrade, and the old Win 7 license becomes toast during the install. No going back, no VM.

   You need the System Builder Edition to do any of this, and the only word yet from Redmond about this is that System Builder will be allowed for hobbyists on our own computers, and pricing may be “reduced”.

   No details yet. And probably no Media Center free upgrad. But I use freeware for those features, so that is not an issue for me.

5. 

   woody July 5th, 2012 at 04:44

   @RC -

   In addition, in the past, “upgrades” have had the ability to upgrade over themselves – install the upgrade, then upgrade it again, and you end up with a valid (if not precisely conforming) copy.

6. 

   rc primak July 6th, 2012 at 00:41

   I think that”undocumented feature” is gone now. Best to wait and see about System Builder pricing and terms.

7. 

   Tom R, July 7th, 2012 at 05:17

   It’s not just plunking down forty bucks. It’s also buying brand-new Windows 8 how-to books. And then it’s the hours spent researching workarounds for the inevitable Microsoft bugs. Right now I have Windows 7 SP1, it’s up-to-the-minute patched, and I know how it works. Even if MS were offering a Windows 8 Pro upgrade for forty CENTS, I’d say, “Nah, costs too much.”

   Unless Windows 8 has some ultra-cool, can’t-live-without feature that makes W7 seem like DOS on an Atari, in comparison?

8. 

   rc primak July 10th, 2012 at 01:21

   I agree that unless you really want Windows 8 and can’t live without it for awhile, this upgrade is not necessarily going to be the greatest thing most users will ever experience from Microsoft. But for those of us who have thoroughly tested the Betas, we probably know pretty much what we’re going to be getting, so this might be a very good price deal.

   For myself, I want to keep Windows 7 around for awhile longer, so Windows 8 System Builder is a reasonable option, depending on its pricing.

9. 

   EP July 14th, 2012 at 00:17

   @rc primak: if you want to keep Win7 longer that’s fine, since Microsoft is planning to release a Win7 SP2 sometime in early 2013 after final Win8 is released to the public this coming October.

   I don’t plan to upgrade to Windows 8 anyway since I’m happy with Windows 7 SP1. Better to be happy with what I have.

10. 

    rc primak July 22nd, 2012 at 14:34

    I wonder what wonders will be in SP2 for Win 7?

11. 

    rc primak July 22nd, 2012 at 14:35

    I got an Access Denied error in Firefox under Windows XP when trying to follow that link in EP’s post.