With the release of Windows 8, 2 days ago there has been a lot of noise about how good or bad it actually is. To help out all of my faithful readers I decided to upgrade my 7 ultimate to 8 pro to see what the benefits or changes if any.
Cost
Till January 31st of next year you can upgrade an existing Windows installation (Win XP – 7) to Windows Pro for $39.99/ if you are looking to download the software and get the activation code emailed to you. Within that same timeline you can get Windows 8 Media Center for free going to the following. The main point here is you can get into Windows 8 for $40.
Worth it?
Wondering whether $40 is a lot to get into an operating system that produced a flop like Windows Vista within the last few years? Here’s a rundown of changes and you can decided for yourself:
- New start screen that is seen in all the ads that allows you to do almost anything you need to from one screen.
- Still has the traditional desktop usable for many tasks.
- A new more modern facelift and new ways to get into old places, but much of it remaining the same.
- Designed for tablets so you need to swipe into corners with your mouse or pull the screen down to close apps, which has a slight learning curve but is still fairly basic.
- Internet Explorer 10 or really any web browser seem to work a lot faster than Windows 7.
- Current.
Summary
Even with a lot of people bad mouthing it, I really think that Windows 8 is a “service pack” with a facelift tied into it. With the changes and my personally perceived speed increase, I think it’s worth a look. Maybe not buying it right now, but waiting for bugs if any to be flushed out before January 31st deadline.
