Windows 7: Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99

I'm still waiting to see if 7 sees an SP2 and am in no rush for 8 despite any ARM hardware detection or security improvements. Instead of learning from the success story 7 has brought about MS decided to go off on some wild tangent touchscreen adventure without maintaining any of the working desktop concepts that 7 is enjoying overall.

The initial remarks by some still seem to fit the bill about 8 being a mobile OS abandoning the desktop user for the most part with how the PD, CP, and now rather buggy RP have been revealed. Their main focus being on the mobile market shares unfortunately could well extend into the following Windows 9, 10, and later which make 7 the last actual desktop version! unless MS smartens up a bit on how they introcuce new things.

Another thing sadly lacking with 8 so far is backward compatibility on several things especially for those running laptops it seems. The drivers for the previous Vista and 7 updates for integrated graphics are troublesome for those running the Mobility Radeon Express 200 as one example.



The warning is never to allow the beta or whatever comes after to replace the existing OEM preinstall on any machine to start with f you are unable to restore the original later! Some rushing at 8 simply because it is new find themselves in a hard place real fast!

Hi there
Lesson is simple -- ALWAYS TAKE BACKUPS before installing any software -- these days it only takes 10 - 15 mins at the most to backup your os


cheers
jimbo

You got that right! I've run into some who found out the hard way! not able to restore factory preinstalls of Vista and 7 when simply rushing at trying 8 out.

Here I have had a second drive available on the last several builds for trying out the next OS whatever it is going back to the 98SE/XP, XP/Linux dual boots in years past. Note these have always been stand alone installs for each on separate drives until the 7 beta builds arrived with an existing XP/Vista dual boot present for a quad boot!

No problems to report when adding Vista or XP into the 7 BCD or when actually seeing 7 added into Vista's back in 2009. But booting into 7 from 8 or 8 replacing the 7 mbr entries isn't so good there. Both ended up with problems!

Speaking for myself I'm going to buy the upgrade. Only the upgrade will be from the beta RP to Windows8. I would never upgrade from Windows 7 to 8. When I first use windows 8, I hated it. I used blue poison ,classic shell, and the stardock to change it to something I would like. Funny thing however, the Metro tiles have started to grow on me. I prefer Metro to these options. Their is a new option out there that I will try I think it's call Power8. I doubt take I'll keep it.
I expect Windows 8 to be a bomb as far as sales goes. However I think this is a one of kind OS. The next one will be much more traditional. This OS is so customizable and Microsoft has thrown in HyperV! I find myself using Windows7 less and less.
A decade from now there will be articles about this OS. How unique it was and how the masses were not ready for it.
As I said I'll keep Windows7 but I'll put Windows8 in a dual boot for $40.00. I won't regret it.

Hi there
My W8 desktop looks and behaves just like I want it to (indistinguishable from Windows 7).

I have absolutely NO NEED for metro type apps --that's what I have a Smart phone for !!.
Some may well love Metro -- good luck but don't even think about trying to do office apps by touch screens !!

For me W8 brings --ability to mount virtual isos without 3rd party software --- important as 99% of the time I don't have access to a physical DVD device in my machine anymore, very much enhanced performance, better hardware detection -- Ist time since XP days I can get the DUAL integrated card reader on a Sony VAIO laptop to work --not just the SD slot but the sony Duo slot too !!! -- On Windows 7 only the SD slot worked, decent Backup that WORKS and can restore / recover from Networked drives.

System protection is also greatly enhanced in W8 -- without getting involved into mega "Geekism" Ms has re-implemented the "Memory Heap" where getting this to "Overflow" is where traditional Hackers went about their business.

It's much much more difficult now -- even some pro magazines are praising Windows 8 security -- now that's one for the books --praising Windows security --whatever next.

With the built in mechanism (called Windows defender again) you don't really need any of those fairly rubbishy resource consuming free AV products either.

Install and recovery is an absolute doddle and of course I Love the "Windows to Go feature" -- You can make a RUNNING BOOTABLE windows system complete with GUI on an external USB stick or disk which boots on almost any hardware and can install and run applications on it.

I did a bit of messing about with W8 so for me it's identical to a Windows 7 system. I could have stayed with 7 (not at all a bad system either) but some of the improvements in W8 were just too good to miss - and it's relatively easy to avoid having to have anything to do with Metro if you don't want to.

You do LOSE WMP which I never used anyway, and "Classic games" like spider solitaire --you can copy one or two of these if you really need them from believe it or not - an XP install Disk -- I like playing Spider Solitaire while waiting for a long download to finish. Aero glass is also gone but I never liked that anyway -- stick with VISTA if you want that.

However for me the upgrade is worthwhile -- I hated it at first but with a little customisation its fine and the performance is well worth it -- especially on older hardware with an SSD. On incredibly fast modern hardware you probably won't see a lot of difference since the hardware you are using will be so good -- but an SSD always makes a HUGE difference whatever the machine.

Enc my "Windows 7'ized" version of W8 with start button and menu. (Download Classic shell to enable this).

For a workplace I don't see W8 ever making it unless tablet devices are used but for the consumer it might actually sell quite well. Users who have never used windows won't have a problem -- maybe some old die hards will but if I can run it anyone can.

Cheers
jimbo

I'm staying with Windows 7. I don't want some hybrid mutant tablet OS in my rig.

No thanks-the family will stick with XP and Windows 7. I tried 8 and it frustrated me to no end. I can't even begin to imagine what it would do to the the wife.

Also going to dump my hotmail/livemail/outlook.com account. Now it has ads and will not work with Opera-you have to use IE to get it to work. I can't, for the life of me, understand why they are going to end up in court over that....

Another reason why I love VMware Player... Right now I'm using W8 RP without loosing my beloved Windows 7... and yeah, I use W8 and I still hate the way you need to go through things in it... metro is OK for tablets, no PC or Notebooks...

I showed my wife, who just loves XP but HATES window7, windows 8 today...she told me lets do it, upgrade the family computer to windows 8. I was surprised to say the least. You get use to what you know and having to find things that were second nature but now seem like a pain make you dislike the software. My first OS is windows7 and I'll be keeping it , however I will use windows8 and now that I know how to navigate it It's really not that bad. It only takes one click to go to desktop and you can make that very close to windows7.

I couldn't get the RP to install on VM Player while the CP did. I managed to get the RP on the latest version of VBox only where it now sits. The PC Refresh option which added 7 in automatically resulted in both OSs freezing up solid when dual booting ruling 8 out as dual friendly to start with!

That's why 8 is now only on a VM for the present time with a VM install of 8 on the Linux version of VBox not working out either. The RP seems too buggy and wants exclusiveness over it all unlike previous version.

Hey jimnbo45 I meant to add it's great you can customize things the way you want them including mounting iso images. But how would you recommend 8 to a novice user wanting to move up from XP or Vista? An interesting dilemna to solve for many!

When someone said years from articles will be written about the one time W8 it brings to mind the old saying that Linux is the "Geek's OS" where it appears MS is trying to take away that rep from Linux and apply it to what comes after 7!

Boy if you don't just happen to fall into the OS geek catagory however you are going to be stuck in a hard place! I got a few out of XP as far as Vista and another XP devout forced now to use a 7 laptop since he is too lazy to replace a worn crt and look into other things. How do you convince people like that how so much better 8 will be when they are slow to move up from XP or Vista?

For the experienced and advanced users they will always find a way around things while the rest unfortunately would suffer. Here a great deal works well on 7 while many things refuse to on the RP. I think the CP was more flexible at getting things to work there however.

Rather then simply jumping on the new version since it is new I have to be able to recommend an OS to the less pc savy for their own everday tasks. I suspect they would be the first to throw the pc through the window when getting into the initial frustrations!