News - Pre-order a boxed copy of Windows 8 now for £49.99

[HEXUS]

From the UK Microsoft Store. Windows 8 downloads for £24.99 follow on 26th October.

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[AGTDenton]

Don't be fooled by the price, check out the Windows 8 Pro Pack to get a complete OS.

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...ctID.257642500

EDIT: my bad appears it is a Pack to upgrade to Pro, rather than to add features to Pro.

[wasabi]

“It’s all about the apps” Meh. They're programs. Stop jumping on every firking bandwagon MS.

[Dutchjonsey]

Waiting to see what the pricing is for students, I know i got my copy of Win 7 Pro for £40, hopefully a similar discount

[OilSheikh]

It's so bad I won't even pay £20 for it! I doubt pirate community will even want to pirate it!

[Tpyo]

Confirmed with their live support thingummy. All available versions are upgrade versions. For information/availability of an OEM/systembuilder version I was advised to wait until the 26th (although Scan has them for preorder now).

[zarnywoop]

Yes, all the packaged versions of windows 8 are "upgrade" versions, ie you need an existing version of windows (a serial key for xp, vista or 7 etc). All come with both 32 and 64 bit versions. You can buy the download for the cheap price of £25 or the boxed copy for the £50.
There is no traditional "retail" version of Windows 8. If you want to buy it for a new machine, want to run it as a "full" version (or have no previous version of windows) then you have to buy the system maker/OEM version. But this is for use on only one machine.

When updating, you have the option to keep all your settings, or to format your HDD, but you have to run it as an upgrade from the installer) What you get to keep will depend on the version of your existing install, so Win 7 will be the easiest, win XP you might have to loose some things. The download version can be run from a web installer, or you can download it as an image and burn it to a disc.

I think thats about right anyway, give or take.

[RobTi]

Can i ask if i upgrade and pick clean install then say a year later need to do a clean install again what happens if i have lost the original key of the old os

[Terbinator]

So what does the Pr- Pack offer that the normal Pro doesn't?

[snootyjim]

So what does the Pr- Pack offer that the normal Pro doesn't?

Judging by the blurb, it seems that you use it to go from standard Windows 8 to 8 Pro.

[zarnywoop]

The Pro Pack is to upgrade from the base Win 8 to the Pro version.

The base version is what you would class as "home". The base version doesnt come with media centre, and doesnt have all the business bells and whistles (eg encryption, domain support, hyper-v etc). In order to get media centre you would need be using the pro version, and then you can acquire media centre as a download.

I think initially all the discount offers are for the pro version anyway.

[Animus404]

Balls to that! If the proper OEM version was £50 then I'd be tempted. I don't want any silly upgrade edition.

[davesom555]

That is pretty damn confusing - perhaps trading standards should get involved!

[Loxick]

Who is actually going to buy Window 8. Even if it was free, I wouldn't take it.

[zarnywoop]

My view is this:
Windows 8 *is* windows 7 with lots of updates. Conversely, windows 8 is a new mobile OS, which lets you down load apps from the MS store (ie metro apps). It also has the bonus of letting you run all your legacy programs and games that would run on win 7/xp.

I think the main problem a lot of people have is the lack of start button. From XP that would be quite a jolt, but if you have been running win7, the pinned taskbar with jump lists, the integrated search pretty much makes the start menu redundant, and is more productive. I mean think about it. You click it to open it. Click "all programs", click another folder, then click an icon to run it. A lot of clicks. When simply click start screen and then launch icons. Anything that was pinned to the start menu can still be pinned to the task bar in desktop for quick launch with the bonus of the jump lists showing recent opened documents, or program specific links like, play music etc from media player.

Windows 8 is 'version one' of this. They will constantly update it, but they need to get it out of the door to compete with the tablet space.

Apple will send the Mac to a mobile operating system eventually, they have already integreted some of the iOS functions into it.

[mikeo]

Don't think I shall be bothering. Looks rubbish and Windows 7 is fine for everything I want to do (and "yes" I've tried the Beta). Why does everything these days have to look like it's an application that's been developed for a phone!?