Windows 8 Upgrade Deadlines Approaching in January

By Wolfgang Gruener
published

Microsoft is phasing out discounted and free upgrades, as well as the Windows 8 Preview in January.

If you intend to upgrade to Windows 8 soon, you will need to do so in January, as the $39.99 price for the Windows 8 Pro upgrade will expire on January 31. You can also purchase the upgrade now and install it at a later point in time. The shipped and packaged version is priced at $69.99. The offer includes about $70 in discounts for certain apps.

Microsoft will also phase out the free Media Center upgrade for Windows 8 Pro on January 31. Windows 8 users have to purchase the software for $69.99 (and get an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro).

Users who purchased Windows 7 PCs with a discount offer for Windows 8, will have to upgrade also by January 31. The $14.99 offer will not be available in February.

Those who are still using the preview version of Windows should also slowly migrate to a different version, since the software will expire on January 15.

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Wolfgang Gruener
26 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Why would I want to upgrade my laptop to look like a smartphone. No thanks. Microsoft has jumped the shark.
    Reply
  • snwkill
    No sweat off my back... I never plan on using windows 8
    Reply
  • Parsian
    lol they seriously need to fire Ballmer, Microsoft is brought to sh*t by him.
    Reply
  • JDFan
    They'll probably wind up extending these discounted prices or even lowering them if they want people to adopt the new OS -- Figure if you look at the sales off win 8 at these deeply discounted prices and how low they are if MS actually ends the current pricing and raises them above or level with what people can get win 7 for there is even less incentive for anyone to upgrade !!
    Reply
  • stratplaya
    Part of the problem is that Win 7 is so good. I upgraded to 7 from XP thus skipping a release and I don't have plans to upgrade it to 8. I just purchased a laptop with 8 on it and I'm happy with it. The interface took a little getting used to but it does look very nice. My biggest complaint is that using the laptop's touchpad is a little tricky with 8. I'd recommend a mouse or a touch screen.
    Reply
  • rebel1280
    Am i the only one that read "Windows 8 Upgrade Deadlines Approaching in January" and thought they meant they were going to kill Windows 8 off at end of January. sigh. I'll always have my dreams. My brother-in-law is tech support guy and even he has the that Start8 dock or some thing hehe.
    Reply
  • jojesa
    Several people I know tried to get the $14.99 offer and they were denied...according to the Microsoft offer site they did not qualified even thought they bought a qualifying system. I told them they should be happy they did not get it. They could spend $15 on better things.
    Reply
  • Parsian
    Dont get me wrong, I love it when its on the appropriate form factor. If I had a AIO PC or tablet (considering surface pro) or multi touch monitor I would of gotten it. I find the UI interesting. But my complaint is bad execution from Ballmer's side. There was no reason to not have the goddamn full traditional desktop.

    I understand that MSFT had to standardize stuff so that app developers can design their apps base on a standard UI and the way they did it was to completely remove the start/search. That however was stupid because legit productivity software and toy apps are two separate category. Legacy desktop mode is far efficient to do productivity tasks than metro. So why not just have productivity softwares on traditional mode and toy apps on metro??? was that too hard?
    Reply
  • ravinmachine
    Still not interested. The money that could be spent on this 'upgrade' can be better spent on other things.
    Reply
  • shafe88
    ravinmachineStill not interested. The money that could be spent on this 'upgrade' can be better spent on other things.Don't you mean "downgrade. And I agree Ballmer should be fired, or at least lock him in a room and force him to use Win8 on a non touch, non Modern UI friendly computer for 24 hours straight.
    Reply