And that's without knowing the price - which is always the biggest single reason not to upgrade a Microsoft product without a proven substantial benefit from doing so!


Personally, I'm very happy with Windows 7 which works very well on both my machines (one work-based, the other gaming-based), and the various features mentioned here go way over my head and are of no interest to me. In any event, for undemanding people like me it's always a good rule to leave other people to beta a new OS for at least 6 months after it's launched by which time the updates should have sorted any initial teething troubles.

That is what you are concerned about?


Microsoft O/S prices at release over the past 14 years:


Windows 98/Me

Upgrade - $89

Full ver - $189


Windows 2000 (Professional)

Upgrade - $189

Full ver - $280


Windows XP

Upgrade - $99 (Home

Full ver - $199 (Home)

Full ver - $299 (Professional)


Windows Vista

Home Basic

Upgrade - $99

Full ver - $199

Home Premium

Upgrade - $159

Full ver - $239

Ultimate

Upgrade - $259

Full ver - $399


Windows 7

Home Basic

Upgrade - $119

Full ver - $199

Home Premium

Upgrade - $199

Full ver - $299

Ultimate

Upgrade - $219

Full ver - $319


Taking into account inflation, Windows has gotten progressively cheaper each itteration since Win2k really.

 

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As those figures show, it's still a significant chunk of money - not least for those of us with more than one computer. I'm not throwing a couple of hundred pounds at upgrading my machines simply because there's a new OS. There has to be a clear reason to do so.

That, and also thing is I have Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit installed) and it does everything I want...
For my move from XP to 7, there were major improvements that I really wanted.
But for 8, I'm really puzzled at what it will improve for me... definitely not the UI. Of course, I count on Micro$oft to pull some ace out of their sleeves and e.g. make DX12 Windows 8 only or some other asshat move like that.

 

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That is exactly what I fear. I know win8 comes with xbox live. If they do not put it into win7, I can see new games coming out require xbox live to play or to activate whole bunch of features that you would want like multiplayer.

 

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I would QQ quite hard.

 

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Well if DX12 is Win8 only, it's not like it will matter much.
So far the DX10 and DX11 games are very few and look almost like the DX9 version anyway.
Not sure what DX12 will bring, but it would have to become widespread and usher a new age in video game graphics for me to even consider spending a few hundred bucks on upgrading my OS because of it.

Everything else I have read about Win 8 is leaves my home user gaming soul equally indifferent.

 

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The part of the equation that seems to elude you is that the cost of the hardware has plummeted over that time period. In the past, it cost me $1500+ to build an "average" pc. It was normal to spend $2500-3000 for computers back in the 90's. Now it cost about $500. Computers can be built for as low as $200. The windows OS now raises the cost of the pc by 25-100%. My htpc runs very smoothly with a windows 7 install and xbmc...and that computer cost under $250 without windows.

Not to sound argumentative...I would just like to see M$ release 3 or 5 packs or windows at a more reasonable package price. It is becoming extremely common for average households to be running 2,3,4+ computers.

 

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Uhm - you do know they have "family" packs that include 3 licenses? At that I got mine it was under $100 - looks like the Win7 version is $160 atm on Amazon.

 

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shenanigans, harddrives alone put my HTPC over 250

I would love to see a 3 pack of pro version for way less then what they are doing now. But they will never do it.

 

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