Windows 8.1 Upgrade Will Cost £75 in the UK

[JMcEntegart]

The price of getting your Windows 8.1 on.

Windows 8.1 Upgrade Will Cost £75 in the UK : Read more

 

[totemomt]

It is no wonder average people do not understand windows 8, the way the title for this article is worded is really misleading. 8.1 is only an update if you already have Win 8 installed! It is not an update for windows 7, it is a different operating system.

The "update" is free. A new operating system is not.
Just like it has been for the last 10 years....

 

[SpadeM]

"Of course, if you already have Windows 8 on your computer, you can upgrade for free, just like in the States. If you're looking to go from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 Pro, you'll have to pay a £62 upgrade cost"

So which one is it? Free or 62 pounds? Also .. has anyone actually seen retail copies of 8? Besides the OEM ones i mean.

 

[Sangeet Khatri]

Just for reference, Apple's Mountain Lion costs only 20 dollars for the full version and Linux which is far more secure and hackable (and which I use) is free.

I think microsoft is going ridiculous for the pricing.

 

[IndignantSkeptic]

SpadeM

I'm assuming they mean you have to pay something to go from regular to pro; not from 8.0 to 8.1

 

[Fredrik Aldhagen]

Windows 7 users have to pay for Windows 8.1, but they also don't need it since they already have a functioning start menu

 

[DjEaZy]

... the words UPDATE and UPGRADE should sue Microsoft for using it in context of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1... good chances for winning, because the word METRO haz already won...

 

[IT-Guru-luke]

I am an IT consultant and have many Corporate Customers who have told me they just cannot afford the huge cost of upgrading their Windows XP which still works just fine to Windows 7 or 8

So I found a perfect solution for them before Windows XP expires. It is a new commercially available Linux operating system that runs all Windows applications and programs sandboxed inside Linux, making XP and also Windows 7 100% immune to all viruses and malware, requiring no future security updates or any anti virus anti malware software. They do this by saving all windows data to drive e which is the Linux partition and they have a one click Windows VM restore so it impossible to get a virus or malware.

It is so economical and bulletproof that I have already successfully deployed hundreds of these installs in the last 3months alone.

This 3D operating system called Robolinux installs an XP 32 or 64 bit VM in just one click Then you load your licensed XP disk into the VM, but that was easy for my Customers to do.

Check out Robolinux if you cannot afford to upgrade to 7 or you hate Windows 8.

 

[Stevemeister]

This is a very poorly written article

 

[back_by_demand]

Sangeet, the pricing is comparative if not less in real terms to every other Windows release ever, what is ridiculous is how a cheaper and a free OS have fared so terribly considering how vocal their tiny number of users are about how supposedly superior it is. Linux can take its 0.86% of the desktop market and whistle, if it was going to be successful as a free product it would have done it by now.

 

[IndignantSkeptic]

back_by_demand

Vendor lock-in is very tough to break. People keep buying Windows software because they have a Windows OS and they keep buying a Windows OS because they have Windows software. It's a vicious cycle.

 

[elcentral]

is this article made only to confuse people?
it seems pointless and miss leading at best.

 

[Sangeet Khatri]

Sangeet, the pricing is comparative if not less in real terms to every other Windows release ever, what is ridiculous is how a cheaper and a free OS have fared so terribly considering how vocal their tiny number of users are about how supposedly superior it is. Linux can take its 0.86% of the desktop market and whistle, if it was going to be successful as a free product it would have done it by now.

What would you do of market share. It has every category of apps you need (not including games), most of them for free.

As for games, there are already 190+ games on steam, I know it lacks the high budget AAA titles, but Metro Last Light is coming to linux. Also crytek is working to bring it's gaming engine to Linux. Also Valve is working hard and already thinks that Linux is the future of gaming.

Also for home users, they do not need more than what Linux offers. For corporate users, maybe.. they need Windows, but for an average computer that just has to browse the Internet and watch Video and listen to music spending so much on a OS is not suited.

There are many other things in Linux which windows lacks, but that is completely another thing.

Also Linux runs like a beast on older hardware wheras Windows does not.

Also Linux never catches viruses.

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And a hell lot more things, but let it be, most guys are very blind to understand that.

 

[Fredrik Aldhagen]

Sangeet, the pricing is comparative if not less in real terms to every other Windows release ever, what is ridiculous is how a cheaper and a free OS have fared so terribly considering how vocal their tiny number of users are about how supposedly superior it is. Linux can take its 0.86% of the desktop market and whistle, if it was going to be successful as a free product it would have done it by now.

You're not taking into account that:

1. Linux has a reputation of being difficult to use.
2. Windows come pre-installed on the majority of PCs.
3. People will take the path of least resistance.

That said, I do use Windows 7, mainly because I'm a gamer but also because of points 2 and 3 (lets face it, like most people I am lazy)

 

[Sangeet Khatri]

@Fredrik Aldhagen

I don't care what others think, but being a software and hardware geek myself. I love to run Linux and nowadays.

1. It is not at all difficult to use. Use Linux Mint, the easiest OS on the planet, really. It is very easy. Also no one knew Windows from birth, they eventually learnt to use it.

2. Yeah, my laptop that I am typing in also came with Windows, but I chose Linux instead. Ubuntu 12.04 to be specific.

3. Well, what kind of resistance btw?

 

[InvalidError]

Linux can take its 0.86% of the desktop market and whistle, if it was going to be successful as a free product it would have done it by now.

Until recently, the concept of non-Windows OS on the desktop was still alien to most people but with smartphones, tablets and hybrids running non-Windows OSes all over the place for the last couple of years, the concept does not sound as foreign anymore.

Things should get more interesting in 3-5 years from now when mobile OSes catch up on desktop features and mobile hardware gets closer to desktop performance.

 

[back_by_demand]

Indignant skeptic, as far as vendor lock-in goes, how does Windows compare against OSX, or iOS? With Windows I can buy and install software from anyone I want, hell I can even play all the content I have bought through iTunes, even run Android apps with various emulators and umpteen other formats like old Amiga games. They have enabled the most inclusive software environment. Right from the get-go Apple has been a walled garden and people do nothing but sing their praises, but when MS decides to have its own App store - not instead of, but as well as - they get universal hatred. You are perpetuating the double standard. So what about Linux, people have harped on for years about how it can totally replace Windows, but seriously it can't, people have moved away from Windows in DTP companies because Apple don't just give an OS, but a complete software environment. When Linux stops harping on about the OS and gives software to go with it then people might take note, until then Linux on desktop is never going to amount to more than a garage hobby.

 

[Fredrik Aldhagen]

@Fredrik Aldhagen

I don't care what others think, but being a software and hardware geek myself. I love to run Linux and nowadays.

1. It is not at all difficult to use. Use Linux Mint, the easiest OS on the planet, really. It is very easy. Also no one knew Windows from birth, they eventually learnt to use it.

2. Yeah, my laptop that I am typing in also came with Windows, but I chose Linux instead. Ubuntu 12.04 to be specific.

3. Well, what kind of resistance btw?

My comment was in response to Linux having a low adoption rate on desktop.

I wasn't saying Linux was hard to use, I was saying it has a reputation of being hard to use. It's like saying Windows BSOD all the time, may have been true once upon a time, but it's not the case anymore

I've installed Linux Mint with Xfce on an old laptop. I find it a great operating system and it runs much smoother than Windows did on it. In fact, I installed it for a person who is new to computers. I don't think Linux as opposed to Windows would make a difference for him, except for him being much less likely to get malware on Linux. My main PC runs Windows 7 because that's what my games run on. I say again though, I find Linux Mint to be a great operating system.

As to point 3, we still have people using Internet Explorer, and installing a new web browser is way simpler than installing and configuring a new OS.

 

[Sangeet Khatri]

@Fredrik Aldhagen

I don't care what others think, but being a software and hardware geek myself. I love to run Linux and nowadays.

1. It is not at all difficult to use. Use Linux Mint, the easiest OS on the planet, really. It is very easy. Also no one knew Windows from birth, they eventually learnt to use it.

2. Yeah, my laptop that I am typing in also came with Windows, but I chose Linux instead. Ubuntu 12.04 to be specific.

3. Well, what kind of resistance btw?

My comment was in response to Linux having a low adoption rate on desktop.

I wasn't saying Linux was hard to use, I was saying it has a reputation of being hard to use. It's like saying Windows BSOD all the time, may have been true once upon a time, but it's not the case anymore

I've installed Linux Mint with Xfce on an old laptop. I find it a great operating system and it runs much smoother than Windows did on it. In fact, I installed it for a person who is new to computers. I don't think Linux as opposed to Windows would make a difference for him, except for him being much less likely to get malware on Linux. My main PC runs Windows 7 because that's what my games run on. I say again though, I find Linux Mint to be a great operating system.

As to point 3, we still have people using Internet Explorer, and installing a new web browser is way simpler than installing and configuring a new OS.

Add this also to point 3 : And pay 100 dollars for a new OS. Now that looks like a good deal. Ubuntu is as easy to install as Windows is, infact it is easier to install Ubuntu. -_-

 

[Fredrik Aldhagen]

Add this also to point 3 : And pay 100 dollars for a new OS. Now that looks like a good deal. Ubuntu is as easy to install as Windows is, infact it is easier to install Ubuntu. -_-

Problem is the price of the OS is hidden to the consumer when buying a computer (unless they assemble it themselves)

 

[Sangeet Khatri]

^^ Well.. yeah you are right! I build computers on my own hence I know how much it is to add another hundred dollars to the build. For those hundred extra dollars you can do a lot of stuff on the hardware front.

And yeah! Gaming on Linux is not clearly evolving, with big companies now looking at it, like Steam, Valve, Metro, Crytek, etc.

 

[flacoman3]

Wow this article is aimed to purposefully misinform people? I know the windows 8 hate is overly rampant (it's the popular opinion to have on the internet), but the title is clearly written to make people think EVERYONE will pay money for 8.1 which is simply not true.

It's like making an article that is titled: Windows 7 service pack 2 update is $150! Then you go in and it says "The price of getting your Windows 7 SP2 on." Then later on, when they know most have stopped actually reading, they say "the price is for anyone with windows vista and earlier" like the small print on a sketchy commercial.

The fact that this could even get published with just this misleading title blows my mind and shows that toms is just pandering to the public opinion.

 

[Chaoss]

Linux never gets viruses because virus writers and hackers want to target the platforms with the most users, which in this case is Windows, followed by Macs.

If everyone started to use Linux believe me people would soon start writing viruses for it. And in it's current incarnation viruses could be very destructive. I am a big supporter of Linux, and would be one of the first to switch if the software I use moved to the system.

 

[Fredrik Aldhagen]

Linux never gets viruses because virus writers and hackers want to target the platforms with the most users, which in this case is Windows, followed by Macs.

If everyone started to use Linux believe me people would soon start writing viruses for it. And in it's current incarnation viruses could be very destructive. I am a big supporter of Linux, and would be one of the first to switch if the software I use moved to the system.

I mostly agree with your first statement, although I think Linux computers would make some valuable targets (consider most servers are running Linux)

However, I don't see how Linux would be more vulnerable to viruses than Windows?

 

[IndignantSkeptic]

back_by_demand

I'm assuming that people don't criticise Apple so much for the vendor lock-in they are committing because Apple is perceived to be much smaller and weaker with lower market share and they are perceived to be higher quality than Microsoft. At some point people probably will start attacking Apple but at the moment they are treating or using Apple as a sort of friend because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Once Microsoft is closed down then Apple will start getting attacked.

It's like in Syria and the other Arab Spring countries. People don't like Al Qaida but they hate the dictator more so they are kind of happy Al Qaida is helping to fight him, but once he is gone they will fight Al Qaida although unfortunately it may be too late and they will install Religiots in the new government.