Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99

Solarstarshines said:

The Laptop I own by HP is offereing the upgrade for 14.99 and i can make Walmart make good on it cause it is one of there products but........

Win8 ? What is it good for Absolutly Nothing ! lol ( WAR )

Go ahead and get the upgrade and I'll give you $15 for it, that way you can make a profit and I'll save $25 on the upgrade

At first when running Windows 8 in a VM, I wasn't impressed.
When I installed it in a dual boot, after using it for a couple weeks, the start menu and Metro issues faded into the background.
Enjoying the benefits and speed now.

I do use the desktop 99% of the time, and hope they add a boot to desktop option as many are requesting, even though I probably won't use it.

Windows 8 won't do as well as Win7 but, with new computer sales, including slate/tablets, and some upgraders, I think it will do pretty well, won't be a record breaker.

I think the lower prices are the enticement for selling the next version. But once people get into 8 and want to run it on the desktop along with Vista or 7 that's where the problems will come up!

Not only would a direct boot to desktop help but having a standard desktop option for a non touchscreen Metro Start menu would be a smarter move. You would then see two choices of Metro for Tablet or 8 for Desktop rather then asking: "What's this nonsense?"!

It would have far better if you had been seeing prices like this when 7 was first coming out. But then MS knew 7 would be a "working OS" people would want and had to make the do re' me from it first! hhmmm....

Actually the thought about 8 is that this is the test vehicle for touchscreen systems while leaving out any of the familiar items most would expect to be seeing in a desktop OS! I hate to think I would have to reach out and touch the screen for each little item when I only touch the screen with an lcd cleaning solution and special cloth occasionally.

MS Mantra: "Please hold arms out straight for at least 10hrs. a day in order to run your pc!" That simply doesn't work for most and why MS must have realized they would neee to drastically lower the price to get 8 to seel at all!

When Win7 was released they had an upgrade version for $50, I got two of them.

MS's idea is if someone has a desktop, laptop, slate/tablet and smartphone, all with the same OS (Win Phone 8 is rumored to be very similar) they will have some functionality advantages and be very happy with the interactions available.
Not a bad idea unless you only have a non-touch desktop and/or laptop, then this touch interface is bewildering to most users.
For a desktop and laptop with a touch screen, I would guess +95% would not use the touch screen more than 5-15 minutes throughout the day.
It's not ergonomically viable to have your arms extended for very long.

I wouldn't think it would be! I think for the majority using the standard keyboard/mouse combo the Metro will be the largest turnoff for 8 to start with.

The one offer I would have jumped on for 7 was the family value pack for those still running XP with one now running Vista rather then upgrading further to 7. That was priced at 3 machine for $150 which would equal the $50- upgrade.

I jumped on the pre-order price for 7 when Microsoft made that available and it was the full retail version not an upgrade, I paid about £45 for it. Somehow 8 just hasn't excited me like 7 did so I've not tried it. I'm still wondering whether to get the cheap offer so I'll have the latest again or just hang onto my Windows 7 for as long as this machine will last.

I'm not a fan of Metro myself but I will have Win 8 installed on a machine somewhere simply so I can learn about it, and keep up on the latest stuff. I don't really use the desktop or Start menu in Win 7 so I won't miss them in Win 8.

I think the Metro interface works fine with keyboard and mouse but it's pretty ugly and I haven't found a Metro app that I like in the least.

I didn't even bother looking over the Metro apps! They are not only changing the main gui but also stripping away a few things you would have normally expected to see included in the next version.

The Media Center will now be a separate purchase since MS decided to remove that. Window Media Player many see set as the default player will no longer support dvd, video playback! Since WMP 10 for XP you could watch a dvd movie with WMP or a video file which will now no longer see support. The MS idea is that there are too many other players and they no longer need to support it.

Most are waiting to hear on how to disable the Metro from being tossed in their faces each time the system starts up! And then the want for most to download and install a 3rd party app to replace the Start orb and Program manu with some type of suitable alternative.

End result: A great deal of dissatisfied customers! And that's not even getting into some other things found so far with the RP in particular like trashing the second OS in a dual boot with both Windows seeing freeze ups! A full system restart is seen when selecting 7 from the 8 boot options is another annoyance reported.

And then you wouldn't think people would be in any rush for 8 after 7 being a huge success resulting in 8 being a somewhat less exciting new version but hopefully learning from 7 to continue on? MS didn't learn apparently!

Instead while seeing new support for touchscreen systems that would otherwise be: "hey look at this!" the way MS simply trashed the desktop standards and has forced Metro down your throat it's become a huge disappointment for most with the first look only!

Whether you use the Start menu frequently or not finding all the hidden toolbars, right click on screen menu for system functions, and other things in a puzzle to complicate the OS is another frustration to turn people away!