Windows 9 will be FREE to Windows 8 users...

Read about it here...

http://www.pcworld.com/ar...-windows-8-owners.html

Hey I'm just grateful I don't have to pay another "upgrade fee"...those are getting
VERY OLD (and so am I) LOL

Will windoze 9 be two better'n windoze 7?
 
Seben werks fur me.

Glyn Barnes
There is not a whole lot wrong with 8.1. I will probably sit this out for a while as I have my most stable computer ever.

A hearty +1!!

I had major issues with the 8.1 update (crashed my system due to the graphics driver issues with th 8.1 automatic update), but Win 8 has been very stable for me.
 
I'll (possibly) only upgrade to Win 9 after all the "gotta have it now" peeps test it out and give a positive review. I'm i no hurry to jump on aboard.  

The only other thing besides the Win video driver issue is I didn't care for Win 8 was the gui/app/metro thing......but it was an easy fix with Classic_Shell.
 
Win 8 is basically just an updated Win 7, but had some unintuitive (IMO) extra junk attached to it. Once that stuff was eliminated, it has been very stable with all my hardware having excellent driver support for Win 8.

You who didn't get along well with Win 8 aren't alone ... it hasn't exactly been a rousing success.  This next version will reportedly bring back some Win 7 features like the Start menu, in an effort to make life easier for those of us who'd rather not spend a lot of time re-learning how to do everything on our PCs. 
 
And yes, making the update free is a no-brainer if MS wants to keep its customers happy.  I mean, we had to pay for Win 8, which many regret doing.  This would be an attempt to patch things up, so to speak.  And when's the last time Apple customers had to pay for an OS upgrade? 
 
We shall see if this rescues the Windows platform, or if Win 8 proves to be the point at which MS jumped the shark.
 
Cheers,
Eddie

I bought a new laptop around the time W8 came out. I opted to go with the still available W7 Pro. I did however buy W8 for £15 on the deal they done. The download is still sat on my hard drive. Call me a dinosaur but I'm so happy with W7 and the way it runs with my setup that I'm reluctant to upgrade for the sake of it.
 
I know I'll have to one day but can W8 fans let me know what advantages if any it has over W7. I've only seen it and played with it a couple of times and my first impression was I wasn't impressed.
 
I use a A&H ZED-R16  as my main interface so anyone with experience of W8 drivers for that would be most welcome. Thanks in advance.
 
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FastBikerBoy
I bought a new laptop around the time W8 came out. I opted to go with the still available W7 Pro. I did however buy W8 for £15 on the deal they done. The download is still sat on my hard drive. Call me a dinosaur but I'm so happy with W7 and the way it runs with my setup that I'm reluctant to upgrade for the sake of it.
 
I know I'll have to one day but can W8 fans let me know what advantages if any it has over W7. I've only seen it and played with it a couple of times and my first impression was I wasn't impressed.
 
I use a A&H ZED-R16  as my main interface so anyone with experience of W8 drivers for that would be most welcome. Thanks in advance.
 
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Win8 is has better memory management,  smaller foot print in memory and is overall a bit snappier performance wise.  Since win8.1 I rarely see the, metro side.  I thought I'd miss the start menu but in actuality I don't at all, though it will be nice to have it back with win9.  Driver wise I'm still using the win7 driver for my delta 44. 
 
Dan

Free or not it'll come with an extra free window http://gizmodo.com/window...est-operati-1640805626

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/09/30/microsoft-windows/16474073/
 
Which is why 9 will be free I suppose. :P

that was exactly my first thought when I saw the news, and this was the first place I came to with the same intent as you- and
you beat me to it

An issue peripheral to this.
 
Win 8 starts fast on my PC, have done personalization setups to get to the desktop fast. No problem there. It was just getting used to another way of getting things done.
 
Use Classic Shell to get the XP type organization. Mainly transparent, I think.
 
http://www.classicshell.net/
 
My problem is not getting win 8.1 to recognize anything but the Realtek or whatever internal sound card on the Dell. Can't get a Presonus external box recognized since it won't accept the drivers. All my dinosaur but vital useful Goldwave or Audition editors etc can't record anything. Audition 3 immediately crashes. Ver 1.5 at least opens but won't record.
 
The one software that records rock solid for me is Audacity. The guys explained to me in detail why it works when other programs are doomed to fail in win 8, but forgot most of what the reason was.
 
Audacity has released a recent upgrade, ver 2.0.6. Never had paid much attention to it until was forced to use it with win 8. Has progressed over the years into quite a powerful and full featured program. Open source and free.
 
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
 
John
 
(edit)  The new version of Classic Shell is solid. Just installed ver 4.1.0. Minor aesthetic point as the program hilights recently installed programs by default. Here's the fix if it bothers:
 
http://www.classicshell.n...pic.php?f=7&t=1566
 
 

I bet it wont be free.

The last time I bought a laptop I learned that  I didn't get a license key for Win8. My laptop's motherboard owns a license for Win8. I'm just lucky to get to sit next to it.
 
 I ended up running Win7 on it.