Windows 8 Pro (Upgrade) - available to download for £24.99 from 26th October 2012

m5rcc

Wait for SP1 before installing this, as with any Windoze OS....

The 90's called, they asked if they could have their outdated advice and tech jokes back.

CyDoNiA

I get it for free through Dreamspark and it's just aweful.

So you were full of awe?

pete_l

You realise that's theft?

Well it's better than them getting nothing from an illegal download.

Nasty OS. Stick with Windows 7.

Well saying that if you have a touch screen then feel free but otherwise steer clear imo.

I get it for free through Dreamspark and it's just aweful.

PS: Not voted either way.
(edited)

For those of you who are confused:

- The £49.99 buys you a hard copy of Windows 8 Pro UPGRADE (you need a previous Windows version, XP or higher).
- It will only do a "true" upgrade from Windows 7 Home Basic or Premium (i.e. it will upgrade and keep your pograms intact). If you are on any other version of Windows, it will essentially do a clean install of Windows 8 Pro and you will have to re-install all your programs.
- On the 26th there will be a downloadable version of the UPGRADE for £24.99
- On the 26th the full version (for brand new installs) will be unveiled along with its price.
(edited)

£14.99 upgrade here, just make up a purchase date after the 2nd of june, enter any PC retailer, tick other for brand and leave the model empty. Worked for me, registration approved.

LRGM

The 90's called, they asked if they could have their outdated advice and … The 90's called, they asked if they could have their outdated advice and tech jokes back.Read lessRead more

The 90's called!? Christ, I hope you told them about 9/11.

Whether you like the OS or not, £24.99 is far less than any of the previous versions of Windows. Heat added for that reason.

Just a quick warning about upgrading:

If your PC is running Windows 7 Home Basic or Home Premium, your files, … If your PC is running Windows 7 Home Basic or Home Premium, your files, programs and settings will easily transfer to Windows 8. If your PC is running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, Windows XP or Windows Vista, you will need to reinstall your programs. Some features such as touch may require a new PC.Read lessRead more

(edited)

mtc1

£14.99 upgrade here, just make up a purchase date after the 2nd of june, … £14.99 upgrade here, just make up a purchase date after the 2nd of june, enter any PC retailer, tick other for brand and leave the model empty. Worked for me, registration approved.Read lessRead more

You realise that's theft?

Download ?? Feck me... by the time I've downloaded it on my line Win9 will be out !

Infidel1990

As someone who has had windows 8 for 2 months. I can tell you that it is … As someone who has had windows 8 for 2 months. I can tell you that it is much better than Windows 7 with zero drawbacks whatsoever. You can completely ignore the new user interface if you want and it will be just like 7 but faster and smoother. Some of the apps that you can install are pretty useful too.Read lessRead more

I'm a developer and i've been running various versions of 8 for the past 4/5 months and to be honest, I love it. It's far from perfect (by any means) but realistically for the desktop user there's a lot to love - performance, mutimonitor support, new hot keys, power menu, ribbon in explorer etc. There's a lot of guff posted about the start screen but to be honest, as an app launcher it does the job just as well - and most of the stuff you use regularly you pin the taskbar just like in 7. Like you i'm pretty much out of metro 99% of my working time and for those terrified of the start screen there's plenty of (free) alternatives popping up all over the place. At the price offered it's a bargain IMHO and it'll make a lot more sense once surface and WP8 are out too.

BTW the reason why startup is so fast is partly down to the fact that 8 hibernates the kernel and drivers (just not your apps) so they don't need to be reloaded the next time you start. Cunning.


(edited)

some people never learn re: windows upgrade path from windows 98 -

98 install
me avoid
xp install
vista avoid
7 install
8 have a guess?

I'll finish building a new PC next week, and I've got a touch screen monitor on the way so I'm definitely going for this offer!

1. Use the £14.99 new PC offer (Microsoft doesn't actually check if you've bought a new PC) - they send you a voucher code

2. On the 26th, go to Topcashback and click through to Miicrosoft Store to get 15.5% Cashback on the £14.99 purchase.

3. Use an 6 year old laptop with Vista on it (The only genuine windows I have in the house!) to verify the files and download to a USB drive

4. Put a random copy of windows on my new SSD. Plug in the USB and start installation.

5. Choose custom install, and then choose reformat drive.

6. Sit back until my full fresh install of genuine Windows 8 completes.

7. Go to windows store and take advantage of the free Media Centre install.

8. Profit - not bad for £12.75!!!

Btw - Quite a bit of useful info here (though it's a few months old) :

computerworld.com/s/a…r=1

(edited)

For those of you struggling to get Windows 8 desktop booted up and running as smoothly as your old version, I thought I would detail the steps that I took on my Toshiba NB250 netbook to get it working well on desktop with thanks to those who included some of the links previously in this thread.
The first was to download “Classic Shell” to get the start menu back and allow you to bypass the Metro front end. classicshell.sourceforge.net/
Next step was to disable the Lock screen that you get when Windows 8 boots up.
blog.laptopmag.com/how…een
Following from that I set up Windows 8 to Logon automatically without having to type in a password. news.cnet.com/830…en/
With me using a netbook, I needed to use the screen resolution hack to be able to use the metro apps. mobileoffice.about.com/od/…htm
The next issue that I needed to sort was a startup problem with the netbook. Every second time that I tried to boot up, the netbook would shut off about 5 seconds into the boot. I found the solution here. askvg.com/fix…re/
Finally, for those who want program shortcuts on their desktop, the easiest way that I’ve found to do this is to find the relevant program on the metro/start screen, right click on the icon then select “open file location”. When the file appears in explorer, right click on it and select “create shortcut”. The shortcut will then be placed on your desktop.

This comes with downgrade rights to win 7 pro, so buy this, use win 7 pro until the bugs are worked out, then install windows 8 (downgrading to windows 7 doesn't use up your windows 8 license)

LRGM

The 90's called, they asked if they could have their outdated advice and … The 90's called, they asked if they could have their outdated advice and tech jokes back.Read lessRead more

* '90s

Remember if you are a student then your uni may be part of the Dreamspark program and you might be able to get this and a lot of other MS stuff for free anyway.

I still can't recommend the OS but yes the price is cheap. Enterprises will skip this version for sure. We have no intention of leaving Windows 7 for it where I work. For home users I think it's gimmicky and really offers little over Windows 7 unless you have a tablet or touchscreen. Even the UI is horrible with a mouse.

Yes you can hack it to look like Windows 7 but then why not just run Windows 7 instead.
(edited)

pete_l

You realise that's theft?

And businesses aren't thieving constantly ? Many businessmen pay less tax than someone on MINIMUM wages, for Chrissakes.
Jeezers wept. Theres a lot of "Arnold Rimmer" hypocrites on these pages, aren't there ?

cubed

windows 7 hasnt been out that long and it works fine. i have the £14.99 … windows 7 hasnt been out that long and it works fine. i have the £14.99 upgrade offer but after reading reviews im not sureRead lessRead more

Use W8 for more than a few days and you'll soon find it's excellent, stable, fast.. compatible. All those who seem to endlessly go on about how they hate the Start screen.. are making a storm in a teacup. I've been using it on a traditional laptop machine (mouse, keyboard, external monitor) and it works very well... sure there are some things that take a bit of time to learn... and there are a few rough edges, but all in all (just like the review stated) it's a solid, high performance operating system - that's also innovative in a way that makes it a great platform for 21st century computing - some people just seem incapable of letting go of what was the standard approach in the 1990's (I'm amazed they ever managed to get used to a mouse - there were the same screams of outrage when DOS was replaced by Windows.. yet now they claim XP (or Ubuntu or OSX or whatever) is the only 'true' way.. total nonsense.

if you add the free program classicshell (as detailed in last weeks computeractive) you get the start menu back, meaning that the desktop looks and works the same as win7, and you never need to use the tile system if you dont wish to. so yes its easy enough to make it look and feel like win7 pro

it also will clean install from dvd or usb to a newly formatted hdd so you dont need any existing os in order to install it

the free win7tousb tool will convert from your downloaded iso to a usb stick for easy install, or use the free imgburn to burn the iso to a single layer dvd disc

if you upgrade a qualifying win7 it just tells you what needs removing and then upgrades from win7 to win8 using your new key (even an "iffy" previous win7 will upgrade)

then use the free WM upgrade email key for adding media centre to it

so a clean install , iffy install , or legitimate upgrade, the choice is yours to make; and a its lot cheaper than buying an equivalent win7 pro pack, even at £25 for the download option instead of the £15 special upgrade offer price

its basically win7 with the win8 as an addon, and if you dont want to use the METRO tiled section then dont, you dont have to use it, you can just use the win7 desktop if you wish to, and then gradually learn the newer metro tiles and options and apps as you proceed. so its not all or nothing, its whatever you make it

Dorsk

Whether you like the OS or not, £24.99 is far less than any of the … Whether you like the OS or not, £24.99 is far less than any of the previous versions of Windows. Heat added for that reason.Just a quick warning about upgrading:Read lessRead more

How stupid is that for Microsoft!!!

I have Windows 7 Pro yet can't upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, but instead have to do a clean install. Yet you can upgrade from the cheaper versions.

Idiots, although just now another reason to stay with Windows 7 and save the money

Heat from me, been using Windows 8 for about 3 months and I really like it, you need to do a bit of work to get it up to scratch like adding a shut off and sleep tile to the Metro UI.

I realise some people may not see the benefit right off the bat but this Windows is much more locked down which is a good thing security wise, now the drivers for anti-malware programmes are booted first to prevent malware doing it's damage before the programme launches, it's also redesigned the way windows uses RAM to make it harder for virus' or malware to attack core programmes.

Basically if you're happy with 7 stick with 7, if you fancy a change and trying something new go for 8.

Sorry if I sounded like a fan-boy or a nerd then, ha ha!

118luke

I second that... Im amazed when people state that W7 is leaps and Bounds … I second that... Im amazed when people state that W7 is leaps and Bounds over Vista - I once dual booted Vista SP2 and W7, and there is virtually no Speed difference between the two. Basically, because vista received such bad press when it was released, people cling onto the idea that - despite 2 service packs and numerous updates - Vista is still a bad OS. W7 is certainly not leaps and bounds over Vista, its basically a rehashed Vista.I installed the beta version of W8, and as soon as i saw the installation it immediately rang bells of Vista's installation screen. I have a very strong feeling that it is still Vista underneath with a new Frontend.Read lessRead more

All software is derivative and OS' are no exception to the rule - especially if you need to support the apps, drivers and hardware that already exist. Any version of Windows can be consider a "rehash" - it just depends how you define the imaginary line I suppose. Vista is NT based, as was XP, as was 2k, as was (duh) NT 4. However, that said I don't hold store that W7 wasn't leaps and bounds ahead because really it was - Vista provided a very good foundation for it (the new driver model, security model and RAM caching spring to mind) but it didn't just suffer from driver issues alone. It was, for example, extremely chatty in terms of hard drive usage and it's memory footprint was appreciably larger - both of these things meant it really did suck on lower end hardware (and more important on laptops where resources are smaller and slower). I rather liked it on the desktop but on the same hardware 7 has less memory requirements and better performance (and benchmarks to back it up). 7 can manage on a netbook, Vista cannot (or at least not unless your a masochist). I've lost count of how many laptops i've liberated with a 7 install because Vista absolutely kills them by comparison.

I agree (wholeheartedly) that Vista got a lot of bad press due to driver issues (nvidia took 1.5 years to sort theirs out and caused the vast majority of crashes according to MS' own stats) but it had it's own issues too. MS refined it and fixed the problems in 7 (and avoided the driver issues in the main as there was only a point revision to the WDDM drivers versus Vista) whilst again adding features and rewriting parts of the software stack. Evolution. We see much of the same thing again in 8 - faster again, lots of nice new features (along with MUI which has issues for sure).

I have to say I really scratch my noggin when someone promotes XP as being the best OS MS have done though - for me until recently that was 7 (by a long, long way) and now 8. Anyone on XP or Vista should jump all over the offers for 8 - it's miles better - for 7 users it's a harder call but approach it with an open mind and have a go yourself - you may be surprised.

Windows 8 is like what you end up with when you take a random hipster graphic designer whose one trick is making boxes with plain text in, and allow that designer to do the whole operating system.

Can someone explain to me why plain text (often as simple sentences with a full stop at the end), and everything being in perfectly aligned rectangles, is now considered cutting-edge graphic design amongst these people? My theory is Apple did it and so everybody assumed it was a good idea and ripped them off. The problem is it only worked for Apple because of them doing it in a careful "Look at the picture! Not the text!" kind of way and it fitted their marketing goals (simple adverts for simple phone for simple people).

We've been sent back in design by about 20 years. Our art has become sterile and blameless. We are the Ford Escort. We are the middle of the road indie band playing a three chord dirge which sounds like it may break into a ii chord but never does. We are The One Show. We are Wetherspoons. We are Windows 8 users.
(edited)

[image missing]

loot68

@Spark, @Spacehduk, the discount is only valid if you've actually bought … @Spark, @Spacehduk, the discount is only valid if you've actually bought a Win7 PC in the right time period. It doesn't matter that they don't check on that form - the point is that it's not a legitimate license. If you don't care about that, why are you paying anything? Just pirate it. The money you're spending is buying you nothing.Read lessRead more

It's buying you a legitimate license, albeit at a discounted price, which will license your copy genuinely against Microsoft's servers and entitles you to updates and support.

Pirating it would involve using someone else's license key and/or a crack. It's a completely different thing.

ether707

I don't see any of my programs like steam

Evaporated maybe!

Mines installed and working about 20mins (what im using to type this)

i used this link

windowsupgradeoffer.com/en-GB entered in some phony laptop details only asks for the make and model, date i bought it and the retailer.. i entered dell q15r from pc world lol

got my discount code in email with link to download helper.. downloaded the windows helper.. choose to download rather than retail cd, filled my details
i then entered the discount code i got in the email before at the end just in the promo line this bought it down to 14.99. i then got given my CDKEY
win8 downloaded then get to choose where i want the mean i choose usb stick (you can choose iso if you want to burn)

then rebooted and booted off usb it asks then asks for the CDKEY

then you get the choice of how to install (keeping content or not)
I selected i wanted a clean install selected my sdd delete partitions (so now my drive is CLEAN)

created a new partition clicked to install
it installed

windows boots

then i downloaded and installed Pokki
then installed chrome

then came on HDUK to explain.

hope that helps! its pretty damn simple!


(edited)

According to this article, the upgrade can also be purchased for £14.99 if you got a Windows 7 PC between June 2012 and end of Jan 2013.

"If you recently bought a Windows 7 PC and don’t want to stump up the fee for the upgrade, Microsoft offers a discount. Any Windows 7 computer bought between 2 June 2012 and 31 January 2013 can be upgraded to Windows 8 for just £14.99. Worth remembering."

pocket-lint.com/new…ws8

I believe this is the normal price for the download version, so how is this a deal?

Wait for SP1 before installing this, as with any Windoze OS....

As someone who has had windows 8 for 2 months. I can tell you that it is much better than Windows 7 with zero drawbacks whatsoever. You can completely ignore the new user interface if you want and it will be just like 7 but faster and smoother. Some of the apps that you can install are pretty useful too.

wjoeww

Which is the better, Vista or windows 8?

Whilst I'm not completely sold on Windows 8, I think most people will agree: Almost anything is better than Vista, with the definite exception of win ME.

monty77

Finally a sensibly priced OS from MS!!..and you can all thank Apple for … Finally a sensibly priced OS from MS!!..and you can all thank Apple for that, whatever you think of them.Read lessRead more

Except that since 2001, how many osx releases have there been? MS don't charge for service packs... Apple do.

dryspuri

am i missing something, i did not seem to see this upgrade option, anyone … am i missing something, i did not seem to see this upgrade option, anyone already buyed please help!! also where is this price 24.99Read lessRead more

You should try THIS LINK<<<

Goose74

Should I uprade from Vista (came with my Dell XPS)?cheers

Yes. A good upgrade from Windows Vista would be Windows 3.1.
(edited)

Shrugg

Massive corporations don't reduce the price of upgrades by 70% for no … Massive corporations don't reduce the price of upgrades by 70% for no reason.If you're running Windows 7 you'd be absolutely mad to trade the key for Windows 8, that's the bottom line. Read lessRead more

Have you actually used Windows 8? It's basically a much faster version of windows 7, with a fancy homescreen and integrated appstore. Other than that it's almost identical.

When I start my Win7 PC it's set to automatically open Google on my igoogle page (google is stopping this service soon) which shows me various info like news and weather - it's basically a crappy version of the Metro home screen - so I would much rather have this integrated into the OS - which is what Win8 does!

And you want to know why Microsoft is giving this away cheap?

Because of iTunes.
Because of Steam.
Because of Kindle.

These eco systems get a 30% cut of every sale which makes their owners massive amounts of money. Once Microsoft get's Win8 on everyones PC, they will start to get a nice slice of this market and make mountains of cash.

Also who do you think will be using this offer? Existing PC/Laptop owners who have already paid a load of cash for Windows. Without this offer, most would stick with Win7 until their next upgrade which is usually within 4 years. With this offer, Microsoft get some cash now plus a much bigger market for their app store - and then when people upgrade their hardware, 99% of the time Win8 will be pre installed, so they get the money again!

Microsoft know exactly what they are doing by giving this away cheap.

Great deal if you're in the market for an O/S refresh.

To just firm up some facts though, Windows 8 is based very heavily on Windows 7 code and obviously added bells and whistles including better touch-screen support.

...that doesn't mean for the majority of us that it's better than Windows 7. If we turn the clock to when W7 came out there was a very good promo offering it for a steal (£50 for premium and roughly £80 for Pro - full retail versions). It was a no-brainer then because, let's be honest, Vista hadn't quite impressed as much as it should have (not quite the Windows ME fail but not great).

Windows 7 is a decent O/S. I went for the W7 deal those few years back and have not regretted the spend. I have tried Windows 8 (consumer preview) and I'm not a fan. For me it's like a fit bird with too much make-up. She was fit before and now she just looks like a tart...and for that reason I'm (personally) out

kyllerbuzcut

Of course it's going to be faster. There's nothing to it lol.The speed … Of course it's going to be faster. There's nothing to it lol.The speed will likely drop as soon as drivers and other bumfph are all installed too, leaving you with a mobile phone OS that's still about the same speed on your fancy desktop, as other versions of windows. If you want quick loading and ease of use then why not just get one of the completely free linux versions. Some have been designed to be just 'load and go' for those that just want it to work straight away and don't want to fiddle around with anythng.Read lessRead more

Your post is at best misinformed - and linux has a (yet again) way to go yet to be a mainstream accepted OS. Spent the last decade reading how "this is the year of linux" ain't seen much proof that it was or will be. Shame really because I enjoy good competition as a consumer.

Beorg

Yes, it says so in the third line... Reading comprehension problems or … Yes, it says so in the third line... Reading comprehension problems or just lazy?Read lessRead more

douche