Cheap upgrade to windows 8

[Finners]

Microsoft announces super-cheap Windows 8 upgrade promotion

Windows 7, Vista and XP users can get Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 (£25)

http://www.techradar.com/news/comput...motion-1087746

Now, i was going to avoid windows 8 completely as i have 7, but my old man is stuck on 32-bit vista atm and this seems like it will be the cheapest option for him.

Now my question, has anyone used windows 8 in the none metro style? is that even possible? ive seen a few screen shots that look fairly "normal" as in the more classical style windows

How is it?

[Lacoot]

Been using it as a main operating system for about a week now, rarely go into metro.... I simply use the desktop for icons/shortcuts.

I got used to it pretty quickly and enjoy the new way of it, but i don't think its possible to disable and go back to the normal "classic windows".

[dhicks001]

I hope it's an option. Good upgrade deal though.

[Naphta]

Inb4 JPCC

[michaelkenward]

Here is the horse's mouth account:

Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99 -

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b...for-39-99.aspx

I love the comment from the guy who would rather have XP. That's the sort of religious zeal I expect in the Mac world.

As to the bit:

At the time of writing we're not sure whether that mightily reasonable $39.99 upgrade price will convert nicely into £25 in proper money.

Unlikely. More likely to be £40. But still not too painful.

[Turbo Porridge]

Inb4 JPCC

.

Well done for dropping the maturity level of the thread !

Anyway back to the op.

I would recommend you try it out in a VM first before you commit to buying anything. you DO get the desktop view, and it works like windows 7 in this. but you do also have metro lurking in the background. try it, test it, use it then you will know for yourself whether its worth it

[Snakedoc]

£25 to ruin my PC? No thanks, my son does that for me for free.

[Nifty]

Got the windows 8 preview beta thingy on the girlfriends machine.

I've had a bit of a play with it and it's not unusable but it feels clunky with various windows opening up depending on which edge of the screen the mouse is on.

Start menu is effectively replaced by metro. At the moment it feels like Windows 7 with metro bolted on top, I find it quite jarring going from one to the other. The rules for one area are different to the rules in another so you are almost having to use two UI's instead of one.

In my opinion they should have made everything metro or nothing. Not this half and half deal.

[Finners]

anybody installed windows 8?

getting it from this links but seems i have to install it over my windows 7, even the download file is called something like windows 8 upgrader,

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download

Important: If you decide to go back to your previous operating system, you'll need to reinstall it from the recovery or installation media that came with your PC, which is typically DVD media. If you don’t have recovery media, you might be able to create it from a recovery partition on your PC using software provided by your PC manufacturer.

[ChrisGlobe]

You want this

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/iso

[theste]

ooo i might do this, i dont mine paying £25 for an OS (just like OSX) it is just handy to have.

[Burn-IT]

£25 to ruin my PC? No thanks, my son does that for me for free.

Mine do that and they are IT Professionals as well

[Traldera]

I think ill get this and then try it out on my desktop, if i dont like it ill go back to W7 then use it on my laptop. Although its not touch i think the 13 inch ultrabooks go very well with metro, just suites small screens very nicely.

[Col]

Seeing as we have until January next year, I think I'll try to convince my brother to get it so I can see it getting abused before I make my decision.

He has no antivirus, you know.

[Clockwise]

Obviously it will be some windows 8 retard edition that has some of the needed features disabled.