WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2013
- Messages
- 216
If you bought 8.0 you'll be able to download an 8.1 .iso free of charge direct from Microsoft--like the Technet and MSDN .iso's already released (same code.) Running the .iso directly from Win8 you will automatically upgrade to 8.1 while preserving all of your programs and applications, regardless of where they came from. You will activate 8.1 with your original 8.0 key. If you didn't buy 8.0 but you buy 8.1 separately you will be issued a new key, of course.
If you were crazy enough to skip the 8.0 Pro version when you could download the .iso direct from Microsoft for $39.99, and you are running Win7 or <, you'll have to buy an 8.1 .iso (or disk) for full pop and will not be able to upgrade from Win7 (unless Microsoft changes something.) If you have a lot of stuff installed that you don't fancy reinstalling, I'd look for a copy of 8.0 and buy that--because you *can* upgrade from Win7 to 8.0, and once you've done that, then download 8.1 for free and everything will smoothly upgrade to 8.1 with you being forced to reinstall nothing.
Since Microsoft allowed for upgrades from Win7 when it shipped 8.0, it seems bizarre that 8.1 won't also allow for an upgrade from Win7. It could be that is a temporary code stipulation that will change on October 18th, when not just Technet and MSDN developers are running 8.1 but everyone will be able to run 8.1. We'll see.
This is pretty much what I've heard, although due to the issues people have had with Media Center license keys conflicting with 8.1 some people have speculated an updated key for 8.1... though those issues may just disappear when 8.1 goes fully live on the activation servers.
Personally I would never, ever do an "upgrade" or recommend one. They may be much less problematic then they once were, but they still tend to cause random glitches that may not present themselves immediately and be a bitch to track down later...
Which is why it's nice that 8.1 ISOs are doing away with the upgrade vs. full edition distinctions... no more need wipe the drive and then install Win7 only to nuke it once the Win8 setup detects you qualify for an "upgrade."