Windows 8 Upgrade will cost only $40 (Upgrade from XP, Vista, 7)

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Kesha

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If you’re on Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 — and if you’re reading this site and a human, you better be at least — upgrading to Windows 8 is going to be dirt cheap: only 40 bucks for a digital download in 131 countries, including Australia.
The $40 upgrade price for Windows 8 Pro lasts from the Windows 8 launch (sometime later this year) until January 31, 2013. The way the cheapo upgrade works is through Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant, which will give you step-by-step instructions on how to install and check your PC to see if you meet up to the system requirements. If you hate downloading software and/or collect DVDs, you can get a retail copy of Windows 8 for $70 during this promotion period. Either way, it’s going to be very affordable to upgrade to Windows 8
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http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/07/upgrading-to-windows-8-will-only-cost-you-40/

I guess this is a response to the cheap copies of OS X? Though those were never a real competitor to Microsoft, considering you can only install those on Apple machines (and still follow the license agreement anyway)
 
I think Windows is also responding to Google Chrome OS, and Linux based operating systems like Ubuntu along with the cheaper upgrade price of Mac OS X Upgrades which is 20 dollars via the Apple App store since they all are good alternative operating systems to Windows for people seeking an alternative to Windows.

Plus, I feel people are more tech-savvy, and know how much money operating systems is worth since Linux is free, and can do most Basic to Advance Tasks, and OS X can be as good or a better alternative to Windows for video editors, web designers, and the casual user, but only cost 20 dollars via the App store, so MS decided to adjust their prices to price their OS more competitively against free and cheaper alternative OSes.

I see people who own Windows Vista on older and lower end PC possibly upgrading to Windows 8 since Windows Vista users will see the most speed improvements since I heard Windows 8 only uses about 281 MB of RAM when idle compared to 7 SP1 which uses 404 MB of RAM and 8 has 29 processes instead of 32 processes in 7 . 8 also use less CPU when idle according to http://news.softpedi...mparison-2.png/

8 is also cheaper to upgrade then 7 as well, so more people might be willing to "adjust to 8 new design changes", and save hundreds of dollars by upgrading to 8 instead of 7.
 
that should be the one and true cost to upgrade. $100 dollars for a OS, soon the world will be smart enough to work the free ones without ease and Microsoft is going to go broke.
 
You don't really need to be tech savvy to install a GNU/Linux distribution anymore; there's plenty that have an extremely simple install process, such as Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions such as Linux Mint or Trisquel, that it's just burn a disc/run a program to make a flash drive bootable, boot from whichever media you used, and then run through the incredibly simple install GUI. As long as your hardware manufacturers are providing GNU/Linux drivers (or they've been reverse-engineered), there shouldn't be any issues. You can even install it from inside of Windows via Wubi or just simply run it off of the CD and not install anything. It's even easier than installing Windows, especially since you don't have to worry about product keys or Windows Genuine Advantage. The more technical distributions, such as Gentoo or Slackware are still around, of course, but GNU/Linux is easily an extremely user-friendly OS, with the main issues people having with it probably being a result of baby duck syndrome.

I don't know if Microsoft considers GNU/Linux serious competition. No matter how easy to use it gets, it just doesn't have the brand recognition that Windows or Apple's OS X has, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. Plus, Microsoft makes deals with most computer manufacturers to provide Windows on their systems by default, so unless you build your own machine, chances are you're going to get something that comes with Windows when purchasing a computer.

The cheap price of OS X may have caused Microsoft to reconsider their pricing- but I don't see why, as OS X can only be installed on Apple machines (without violating the license agreement anyway).

I think the big things Microsoft has considered with this price are probably that they believe most people are moving to Tablet PC's, which means Desktop computers are generally going to be left behind, and also that 8 might not have as great of an adoption rate as Vista or 7 because so many new versions of Windows have been coming out recently that consumers are probably sick of upgrading with Microsoft's high costs.
 
Kesha said:
You don't really need to be tech savvy to install a GNU/Linux distribution anymore; there's plenty that have an extremely simple install process, such as Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions such as Linux Mint or Trisquel, that it's just burn a disc/run a program to make a flash drive bootable, boot from whichever media you used, and then run through the incredibly simple install GUI. As long as your hardware manufacturers are providing GNU/Linux drivers (or they've been reverse-engineered), there shouldn't be any issues. You can even install it from inside of Windows via Wubi or just simply run it off of the CD and not install anything. It's even easier than installing Windows, especially since you don't have to worry about product keys or Windows Genuine Advantage. The more technical distributions, such as Gentoo or Slackware are still around, of course, but GNU/Linux is easily an extremely user-friendly OS, with the main issues people having with it probably being a result of baby duck syndrome.

I don't know if Microsoft considers GNU/Linux serious competition. No matter how easy to use it gets, it just doesn't have the brand recognition that Windows or Apple's OS X has, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. Plus, Microsoft makes deals with most computer manufacturers to provide Windows on their systems by default, so unless you build your own machine, chances are you're going to get something that comes with Windows when purchasing a computer.

The cheap price of OS X may have caused Microsoft to reconsider their pricing- but I don't see why, as OS X can only be installed on Apple machines (without violating the license agreement anyway).

I think the big things Microsoft has considered with this price are probably that they believe most people are moving to Tablet PC's, which means Desktop computers are generally going to be left behind, and also that 8 might not have as great of an adoption rate as Vista or 7 because so many new versions of Windows have been coming out recently that consumers are probably sick of upgrading with Microsoft's high costs.
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You can also run Ubuntu Linux and most other operating systems in a Virtual Machine software like VirtualBox, VmWare, Parrallels, VirtualPC 2007, etc, and virtual machines are pretty easy and safe to use since they don't make physical changes to your hard drive like dual booting, and partitioning by installing a OS on an actual hard drive, and you don't need a CD-ROM Drive or USB ports, etc to install or try out the OS. All you need is enough space, RAM, CPU speed, and the CD ISO file for ubuntu to install Ubuntu on a Virtual machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFt2_QuYebg

Google Chrome OS can be the next big operating system since it now has offline support for many apps like Google Docs, and a lot of free and popular apps like Google Docs, Gmail, Google Plus, Google Reader, etc. Plus, it is already being used in schools around the world. Chrome OS seems like the best of mobile and desktop combined in one to make a great Laptop operating system for students, teachers, and people like secretaries, accountants, and writers who use their computer for creating text and number based content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTrFGRKkI7k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afnsfuHX5WU
 
I might upgrade my Windows Vista Laptop to Windows 8 because Vista takes longer to start up then XP, 7, 8, and I heard Windows 8 use less RAM and CPU then 7, so it will probably be better for my older and slower laptop then Windows 7.

Plus, for 39.99 it would be a lot cheaper then Windows 7 upgrade which costs hundreds to upgrade.
 
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