News - Windows XP to Windows 8 upgrade price is set at £25

[dav532000]

If it's only £15 to upgrade from 7-8 then why not before it goes up.

[BlackDwarf]

I'll tell you what. I'll hand over £15 when you hand back a normal desktop with a start menu. Deal?

[Guppy]

Would I be able to use the 'Windows 8 upgrade edition' to upgrade my Windows 7 which was also an upgrade edition originally upgraded from Vista? Sorry for all the upgrade words! I'm assuming no but I thought its worth asking.

[bill hicks]

Would I be able to use the 'Windows 8 upgrade edition' to upgrade my Windows 7 which was also an upgrade edition originally upgraded from Vista? Sorry for all the upgrade words! I'm assuming no but I thought its worth asking.

I would have thought so, I'm sure I read somewhere that even if you have a pirated copy of win 7 you can still upgrade, bill wants everyone on board.

[MrNeil]

XP upgrade to Windows 8 i will give that ago !! £25 ain't nothing really so i'll let my 8 year old toy with it as he may adapt to it better than me

But i'll keep my Windows 7

[bill hicks]

XP upgrade to Windows 8 i will give that ago !! £25 ain't nothing really so i'll let my 8 year old toy with it as he may adapt to it better than me
But i'll keep my Windows 7

Same here, I've not got used to win 7 yet.

[asderferjerkel]

Do you think this would work,with an OEM laptop license??

You are eligible if your computer was bought after the above date and came with a valid Windows 7 OEM Certificate of Authenticity

Should be fine - at least I'm hoping it will be, since I've just bought an OEM license myself

[Richh]

So they're potentially charging £15 for the OS. That's probably less than Stardock will end up charging for the add-on that disables the horrid UI and gives us the Start button (and proper Start Menu) back. Says a lot about Microsoft's decision-making.

[TooNice]

Looks like a move to aggressively defend their market share. Is their hold on the OS market in the least threatened in recent years?

[Ross1]

Looks like a move to aggressively defend their market share. Is their hold on the OS market in the least threatened in recent years?

I dont think actual macs have really made much more headway into the desktop/latop market share in the last say 3 years or so. Obviously if you lump smartphones and tablets into the equation its all changed a lot, but 90% of real computers have windows on them, and its been that way for a while.

[Andrew McP]

Very clever tactics by MS. Many of us will be tempted to buy the upgrade even if we don't use it on our main machines. This will allow them to avoid a Vista type car crash.

But it's still throwing £15 down the drain really. I've yet to hear about a single feature which makes me think "ah, now that's a great reason to upgrade."

Mmm... I think I may be talking myself out of this already. A bargain is only a bargain if you need what you're buying.

[wasabi]

Might 'upgrade' my old MSI Wind netbook using it. I've got a spare SSD ready to implant, just needing a modern OS to support it. At least on 10 inch screen Metro might not be so annoying.

[simonpreston]

I've got 4 machines. All of them have Windows 7 x64 on them. I've got a free copy courtesy of the MSDN Academic Alliance and I still have no inclination to replace any of my Win7 setups with it.
Although I welcome the pricing, you do have to wonder if it smacks of MS feeling somewhat nervy of it selling at all.

[asderferjerkel]

Should be fine - at least I'm hoping it will be, since I've just bought an OEM license myself

Actually, looking at the upgrade page, I'm not so sure now. You have to give them the brand and model of computer, plus the retailer and purchase date. I wonder if they'll accept "other" and "amazon" for the manufacturer and retailer...

[dangel]

Will stick with Win7. Win8 is not at all appealing to me. Looks more like Win7 SP2

I felt that Win7 was pretty much just Vista SP3.

The problem with every version of Windows is that it's based on the last so it'll always just be "windows" to some degree. 8 is pretty radical though (hence the controversy) and it's interesting you say it looks more like Win7 SP2 since it's the 'looks' that are so divisive

Truth is 8 is a good progression on 7 in many areas and if you live with the marmite nature of metro (or simply avoid it for no cost) then it's a worthy OS and well worth the trivial cost. Then again 7 is a good OS that will see you through the next 2-3 years so you don't have to buy it either - so make your choice and be happy. If you've got XP or Vista I think you'll struggle to justify sticking at all though.

[tickleonthetum]

£25 is a good price, but as AMD have decided to not release the Catalyst Control Center for AMD 4850's I am unable to use Windows 8 due to scaling problems (over/underscan I think it is called). So for me Windows 8 would cost about £150 - £200 to upgrade!

As a result I will be sticking with Windows 7 for the foreseeable future...