Any word on if oem versions also would work with this? Preinstalled on laptops. I read the windows blog and it seemed they jumped over every question about this. If oem preinstalled versions are eligible i would buy win 8 for laptops that came with xp, vista and win 7. Guess ill have to write down the serial code while its readable on the sticker, problem is getting those versions activated without original cd\dvd.
OMG! This is the best news! Even WMC is free! Great! However, anyone know what a Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro System Builder product is?
Since they don't particularly mention, I would expect any installed version of Windows XP, Vista, and 7 to work with this, since that's all they say as a requirement. My impression is that they're only offering an upgrade to Pro, and with free Media Center afterwards. No reason they would mention Core if the $40 upgrade is to get Pro.
It's $14.99 here, too, for new PC purchases. The $40 upgrade is for those who already had XP, Vista or 7 from before that.
No harm in trying, but i have already made my decision, to stay with Windows 7 SP1, and now waiting patiently for SP2.
Considering a very large amount of people think that this new OS release is the worst ever made (because of the Metro UI, missing START globe, etc - even though the underneath build is the best/fast/reliable OS), probably MS is thinking that by giving it away in a historical cheap price as introductory amount more people will be willing to chill out just $40.00 US to get it/try it instead of spending 100.00+ for something already predicted to be on a "fail" state (like Vista was) even before its out that they may not like it, feel like the putting the cash in the trash can... MS reads the blogs and they are aware that people think this OS is not meant to be on Desktops (tablets and Phones are ok) and consumers may be resistant to the new OS... they are taking a risk here and want people to buy it and see if its accepted (sort of) after a period of time, this can lead to conclusions so they fix their mistakes for the next OS 9...
Agreed. Also I'm sure they see it as a good way to get more people on an even basis. More people running a newer version of Windows (along with the masses which have adopted Windows 7) which is hopefully more secure and stable, and may make XP disappear a little faster not because it's a bad OS, but because it's very outdated.
Sure, they care about money and that it's a major driving influence; show me any profitable company that doesn't. But a newer version of Windows is more secure and with better support for newer hardware, also. End of support alone isn't enough incentive for some to upgrade, and this incentive isn't solely about one single thing. I think they are taking many aspects into account. I don't think they're fooling enough not to.
For my company, we still have a lot of users on XP and until this announcement, upgrading the OS would be more than the machine is worth. Might have to rethink that now.
It is not only the ability to update your system in terms of e.g. XP. We all know, that this OS is old, very old indeed but still works for someone around. OK, but the hardware, which it is mounted on, also gets into the years and simple updates of the software itself or stuff like browsers and other applications slow down the machine dramatically. Many users cannot get more RAM into the machine as it doesn't allow to but it were necessary due to any new app. MS knows that problem and leads you smoothly to newer environment. Same with your outdated cellphones. Nobody tells me that a three years old phone is unusable. The looks get'n old fashioned, nothing else. So, either the looks or the hardware makes the world go round. Don't let you fool too much ...
My HTC Droid Eris only officially supported up to Android OS v2.1, but I'm running 4.0 right now. And this phone is, as I like to say, the retarded little brother of the Droid Incredible (no offense to any of the retarded people on here). Almost any PC which is still running XP will support at least 1GB or 2GB of RAM. Both are plenty for most people's purposes for Windows 7 and Windows 8. A few years ago I sold the first XP machine I built, which had an Athlon XP 1700+, Radeon 9600, 1GB of RAM (not even dual channel, wasn't supported yet), and some old IDE hard drive. Before I sold it I upgraded it to Windows 7 and it ran beautifully. Most recently I upgraded someone's Dell Dimension 8400 that had come with XP. I did go ahead and upgrade it from 1GB dual-channel DDR2-400 to 2GB DDR2-533, with the lowest latency out there, and put Windows 7 on it and his PC is better than brand new; it runs so smoothly with the same SATA-150 hard drive even I was surprised.