Upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for only $39.99!

[som99]

I have tested W8 in VM and I did not like it at all, I see no need for me to change on my Windows machine from W7.
Can't upgrade since I have not owned a genuine Windows copy since Windows 95. Since me like most build our computers ourself to get what parts we want we don't get any OEM licence and I can't justify the price tag of buying Windows when I dual boot Linux and use Linux more then Windows.

[som99]

Just some quick facts for anyone who want to buy W8 cheep and do not have Windows 7.

If you install a pirated version of Windows 7 that uses SLIC injection to pass WGA checks you can download and run the "Windows 8 Pro Upgrade Assistant" and buy the upgrade license for 39.99$, then burn the ISO and bam you got a full version of W8 without owning Windows 7.

I do not use Windows 8 but if anyone want Windows 8 cheep this is the way to go.

You can even get Windows 8 for 15$, just go to the upgrade site for people who bough a W7 computer the past 2 months https://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/ enter bogus purchase dates within 2 months and you get the 15$ code.

So W8 for 15$ from pirated Windows 7 is cheep, I have done this just to test if it works and it does.

First time ever I payed for any M$ software, but had to to see if this worked.

[som99]

Works like a charm by faking recent W7 computer purchase and pirated w7.

W8 for 139 SEK = 20.58$ so fair price, even if I won't use it.
I will install it on a virtual machine just to try the full version out.

[som99]

"We love windows, but not enough to pay for it" ;0

I payed 20$ without need for it

[som99]

Will this method allow you to do a clean install?

Yepp, you get a product key and a ISO, burn the ISO (or use a flash-drive) and you can do a clean install, I tried on a unused PC and worked without problems on blank drive.

[som99]

So what did you enter as your pc model etc. on the form?
Was it just made up, or did you find some actual make and model that comes with windows 7?

I did pick "Other" and wrote a real online PC hardware store wrote my real name/address/mail etc. I did pick other to avoid OS branding (don't know if W8 does that but I did not want to risk it).

At model I just wrote 2600K as that is my main PC Workstations CPU, I think you can write anything tho

[som99]

So I just bought it from my vista machine and got the discount with no issue.
I'm not really looking forward to wrestling with the new interface, but for ~$17CDN, I won't complain.
I figure I may as well dive in and learn what I can before my relatives start calling me for Windows 8 support, which they inevitably will.

In my opinion W8 is not usable without "classic shell"
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/


So if you decide you want to use W8 I suggest you install classic shell, for me it was utter crap without it.

[som99]

Cool.  I was hoping something like that would be ready by the time I bought it anyway.
One sad thing about the way I did it is that the upgrade assistant checks the 'bits' of the host OS rather than the capabilities of the CPU when determining which installer to download, so I just spent the last hour downloading the 32 bit version.
I'm going to have to get a copy of the x64 install disk through other means and hope my product key works with it.

Ow that is a bummer, are you sure the iso do not contain both 32 and 64bit installation?

[som99]

I'm assuming that they're two separate images since the retail package contains two separate DVDs, and I've read a few articles that claim that to be the case.

Ok to bad, write here and tell us if the key you got works for the 64 bit version when you got it

[som99]

No offence this is an Amiga site?The last time I looked.:rant: Who cares about windows? and making Microsoft richer.

Well this is the non-Amiga-related OS section of the forums.
Last time i checked there is plenty of Amiga related topics so no worries we are still talking Amiga related stuff and plenty of it.

[som99]

I had to put off my install until I got done work this evening because it took all night to torrent the 64bit install ISO, but I'm pleased to say that it worked without a hitch.
Even though it's an upgrade, I'm pretty sure the product key is from the same pool as the rest of the retail keys.  I did a clean install on my second hard drive so that I can dual boot with my old Vista install.

I agree, I think they keys come from the same pool to, my key worked to fresh install on any system I tried it on.

Why? I  have a copy of Vista I've retired.
Tired of it crashing.

Agree

One of the things that I notice with Windows 8 is that while the Windows 8 interface works fine with a mouse, a lot of the Windows 8 style apps feel clunky with a mouse.  They are better with a touchpad and a huge portion of Windows users still use mice.

I think it's even better with touchscreen, tho when I tried W8 I do not use the modern GUI (Metro) at all and classic shell restores a start menu, without that I could not use it productive enough.
Also a tip is right clicking/properties on video/image files etc and set them to not open in Modern GUI/Metro.

[som99]

Actually, Metro was the official name of the UI until MS got sued.

Yepp it was. So ill keep calling it Metro UI.

[som99]

Microsoft always uses code names, the last four versions of Windows were Whistler, Longhorn, Vienna and Metro, none of them ever were official names of anything.  None of them were used after the commercial release of the OS.

Actually Commodore did the same thing, the A500 was referred to as Rock Lobster....

In August of 2012, rumors began circulating that one of Microsoft's retail partners, German company Metro AG, had threatened legal action against the software giant for infringing on the "Metro" trademark. A memo was sent out to developers and Microsoft employees to stop using the term "Metro" until a replacement term is established or the legal case is settled.[21] Microsoft is temporarily referring to the design language as Modern UI.[22] On August 9, 2012, it emerged that Microsoft was planning to use the term "Windows 8" to replace Metro in consumer marketing materials. The "Modern UI" term appears to be intended for developers who plan to build software based on Redmond's new design principles

Metro is the style, now due to above reasons it's called Modern UI for devs.
So Modern UI or Metro who cares? Let people say metro for the UI if they want.

So metro was NOT the codename of the entire OS as longhorn etc where for others, it was indeed what the new UI was called until quite recently.

[som99]

And there you have it the UI and OS are Windows 8, that's what they are called, plain and simple.  Microsoft probably could have worked out a deal with Metro AG had they wanted, but it simply wasn't worth it for a codename, so they dropped it.

First off, no one said that the entire os was called metro.
The new UI was called Metro but changed name to modern UI.
So if people say they disslike Metro they are ofc talking about Modern UI as it was called Metro UI.

So let people say they disslike Metro UI since it's semi right and everyone know what they are talking about when saying it.

Of cource the new UI is a part of Windows 8 but the UI alone is NOT Windows 8 since the entire OS and it's components are Windows 8.

I do not understand why you argue about this?

Tell me then what should people call the new UI part that is not the desktop?