Today Is The Last Day For $40 Windows 8

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If you are planning on upgrading to Windows 8 eventually, today is the last day to get it for $39.99. Don't want to immediately install it? Choose the option to "install by creating media" and burn it to a DVD.
 
It really seems like a lame to me to sell it for $40 then jack the price up later.
 
Sorry, but Windows 8 provides me with exactly zero incentive to give Microsoft my money.
Jacking the pricing up later is just another in a long string of disincentives.
 
Chas said:
Sorry, but Windows 8 provides me with exactly zero incentive to give Microsoft my money.
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Most people feel this way. They have no need for Hyper-V, SMB multichannel, storage pooling, or any of the other new features. They just see the new (admittedly crappy) interface, and shrug off the whole OS. For us power-users, though, it's nice!
 
Isn't this kinda like selling the Titanic at a higher price after it's sunk ?
 
TeeJayHoward said:
Most people feel this way. They have no need for Hyper-V, SMB multichannel, storage pooling, or any of the other new features. They just see the new (admittedly crappy) interface, and shrug off the whole OS. For us power-users, though, it's nice!
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I love some of the new features, the improved networking performance, etc... but I hate that fucking interface with a passion. If it weren't for Start8 I would be back to Windows 7 and that's the damned truth.

I also don't like how powering up in safe mode has been needlessly complicated. I dread the day I have to try and walk a user through this over the phone.
 
windows 8 is nice but i really hate that they are jacking up the prices.

I bought a couple new pc and upgraded them to windows 8 for the 40 dollars becuase they wont accept the key from the comps to upgrade for less because for some reason they limit it to 1 per ip.


also i hate that most oems are not comming with the pro version and charging like 70 dollars for it to upgrade from standard and prob that price will change even higher.

pro is needed to join domains and stuff for work.
 
I went ahead and did it and like TechLarry, I love some things about it but hate the interface.

The live tiles and apps really aren't that bad...but there's a serious disconnect between the Live area and the Desktop. Neither seems to be aware of anything going on in the other. They look different, work different, and generally might as well be totally different OS's.

Still, it boots faster, many apps seem to launch faster, and I do kinda like the Live screen apps. I think it's pretty clear that MS wants us to move to that interface and purchasing apps via their store completely.
 
They had upgrades for 15$ not too long ago and that's when I hopped aboard. Hell back when it was 15$ people should have just got it anyways just in case. ;) I agree about the price hike complaints though. Seems really stupid to offer it for 15$, then 40$, and then 200$... WTF?

That being said I'm really happy with my Windows 8 and what I've been able to do with it so far.
 
Domingo said:
I went ahead and did it and like TechLarry, I love some things about it but hate the interface.

The live tiles and apps really aren't that bad...but there's a serious disconnect between the Live area and the Desktop. Neither seems to be aware of anything going on in the other. They look different, work different, and generally might as well be totally different OS's.

Still, it boots faster, many apps seem to launch faster, and I do kinda like the Live screen apps. I think it's pretty clear that MS wants us to move to that interface and purchasing apps via their store completely.
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The Start Button mods skips the Metro UI at Start Up.
This alone persuaded me to make the change. I'm with with Win8 now.
 
I have a free copy from my school. And I haven't installed it yet. Yep - shows how excited I am for Windows 8. lol
 
on my htpc, gaming rig, and old crappy laptop, i am sticking with win7 since they dont have touchscreens. once i find a touchscreen convertible laptop i really like i will be getting the OS with it, so no need to buy a copy for that. win8 gets no love from me for now.
 
TechLarry said:
I love some of the new features, the improved networking performance, etc... but I hate that fucking interface with a passion. If it weren't for Start8 I would be back to Windows 7 and that's the damned truth.
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Second this, without Start8 and Fences, I'd have switched back to windows 7 inside a week. I do like some of the features, like the changes to queued file copies, pooled storage (though I hear it has some issues) and even the idea of apps.

Overall, I'm just not a big fan of the look of Windows 8. It has the appearance of some kid's construction paper mock up. But since I spend 99% of my time in desktop mode, it's not that big a deal.

Would I have paid more than $40 for this experience? Not bloody likely.
 
Anyone know if Windows 8 added any improvements in multi-monitor environments?
I have four screens (P-L-P + 1 TV) on my Win-7_Ult. machine (i7 QC OC'd to 4GHz, 12GB RAM, dual 6950's, SSD, etc) and I swear it gets lagging and bogged down sometimes for no apparent reason.


Any benefit moving to Win8 for that reason?
 
MasonD said:
Anyone know if Windows 8 added any improvements in multi-monitor environments?
I have four screens (P-L-P + 1 TV) on my Win-7_Ult. machine (i7 QC OC'd to 4GHz, 12GB RAM, dual 6950's, SSD, etc) and I swear it gets lagging and bogged down sometimes for no apparent reason.


Any benefit moving to Win8 for that reason?
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I don't know about Eyefinity or anything like that since I don't have Eyefinity cards, but multi-monitors work just fine on my Folio 13 laptop with HD 3000 graphics connected to a 21" 16:9 monitor. What I like about Windows 8 on multi-monitor setup is that the start screen can be launched on every screen's corner, and the pinned programs on the task bar shows up on all of your screens.
 
TeeJayHoward said:
Most people feel this way. They have no need for Hyper-V, SMB multichannel, storage pooling, or any of the other new features. They just see the new (admittedly crappy) interface, and shrug off the whole OS. For us power-users, though, it's nice!
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Yea my thoughts exactly. Plus this discount at the beginning and then normal pricing after has been in place since Vista as far as I can remember. LOL @ people acting brand new to this concept. I have to hurry up and install my $15 copy so I can get Media Center for free. I'll also prolly buy another $40 copy for my other desktop.
 
I was going to buy this but I'm gonna pass. I'm still building new machines with Windows 7 and will do so until a touchscreen OS is necessary. I tested windows 8 and sure it works fine but 99.9% of my customers just like the way windows 7 is. The only way I have provided windows 8 is on new laptops and I have had several people ask to be downgraded after using it for a month or so.

I was so gun-ho for it but the fun of a new OS just wore off really fast.
 
TeeJayHoward said:
Most people feel this way. They have no need for Hyper-V, SMB multichannel, storage pooling, or any of the other new features. They just see the new (admittedly crappy) interface, and shrug off the whole OS. For us power-users, though, it's nice!
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Storage pooling isn't new. It is just dynamic disks with a new name.

Hyper-V? Just use Xen or KVM.

SMB2/3 is a non-standard proprietary protocol of which I have no interest in.
 
Beowulf said:
It really seems like a lame to me to sell it for $40 then jack the price up later.
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Seems smart to me, as early adopters are the ones that deal with the growing pains of any new operating system, and yet are crucial for a successful launch.

Early adopters are thus rewarded with really cheap licenses, and then when its the defacto mainstream standard then they charge something closer to their traditional license pricing.
 
I think this will be the first Windows upgrade I will skip since the 90's (I can't remember back to before Win '95 but I have definitely owned '95', '98, ME, XP, Vista, and now 7) ... since I have the Ultimate Edition (yes I know it was kind of a rip off ;) ) I don't really want to mess with the downgrade to Professional edition until I need to ... I am happy waiting for Windows 9 for right now :cool:
 
damicatz said:
Storage pooling isn't new. It is just dynamic disks with a new name.

Hyper-V? Just use Xen or KVM.

SMB2/3 is a non-standard proprietary protocol of which I have no interest in.
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Storage pooling is an evolution of the dynamic disks concept. With the old dynamic disks, you couldn't, for example, make a 30TB array on 6TB worth of disks, and add drives when it got full. You also couldn't take 1x2TB drive, 2x1TB drives, and a 320GB drive, add them all together, and split them into 3x1.4TB drives. Storage spaces takes most of what's nice about ZFS, and gives it a friendly and simple GUI and Windows compatibility.

Sure, you can use third-party software for virtualization. You can probably get most of the new Windows features working on an old Windows 98 system through third party applications. Why would you want to, though? It's integrated, it works well, and it's supported.

When it comes to SMB, it's the industry standard for network shares and file sharing. Apple's AFP isn't very cross-platform friendly, and NFS has had wonky Windows support for years, requiring very specific OS versions to work. It's not open source, true, but it works, and works well for the environment it was designed for. The latest iteration works even better, finally bring speeds on par with NFS, and thanks to the new multichannel function, well above and beyond. There's nothing like doubling your network file transfer speed just by adding another NIC.

In addition, parts of the new GUI are damned nice. Take this for example:
Untitled-2_zpse1fa05e5.png


Or this:
110MB_Copy_zps92c79551.png


Too many people have hopped on the Windows 8 hate bandwagon. It's like the anti-Apple guys. I really don't get it.
 
TeeJayHoward said:
Too many people have hopped on the Windows 8 hate bandwagon. It's like the anti-Apple guys. I really don't get it.
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It's a bad combination of a solution in want of a problem, due to 7, and pressure to release a new OS every three years, like it's Madden or CoD but with every third year.

ME -> XP, huge
XP -> Vista, so many problems but it was more modern than XP. Forced on too many machines with insufficient memory
Vista -> 7, very important and smooth. Vista is abandoned. Baby boomers accept 7.
 
I have only tried window 8 at costco. Metro menu is a mess. Other than that, everything else is alright. I like the new task manager.
 
With the lower adoption rate with Windows 8 and it not getting a lot of love, I'd probably leave the price low. That seems to be a good incentive for a lot of people to upgrade. At $200, they may just pass and wait. But, at $40 (or $15), they don't have much to lose if they don't like it.
 
I had it with startisback on my desktop. I really did like it. In fact i only went back to win7 recently because i had a few programs that were having issues in win8, mainly due to the companies not updating for it.

I'll switch back at some point. I'm still waiting on my copy from the "new Era of Work" thing else i'd bite on the 40 dollar one.
 
Give me a win7 service/function pack with the new win8 features (-metro/ui) and I will pay MS $40 for that. Metro can die in a fire.
 
jpm100 said:
When do they annouce Windows 9 pricing?
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I read somewhere (can't remember if it was here or elsewhere) that Windows "Blue" will be out this summer. Not sure if that's 9 or 8.1 or what, but it's apparently coming.
 
I had planned to pick up 2 copies before the upgrade price deal ended. Though, I'm going to pass on it. I have virtually no reason at all to upgrade right now. And, Metro would probably get more in my way than not. I'd be okay with it, having tested the eval for about 3 weeks, but I just don't need it. I'd be trying to justify my purchase rather than justifying my upgrade to it.
 
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