Newegg has a time limited offer of the Windows Pro upgrade.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416562&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL121412CO&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL121412CO-_-EMC-121412-Index-_-OperatingSystems-_-32416562-L0I

  That would give you a license, and installation DVD for both 32 bit and 64 bit versions for $25.00 less than the Microsoft upgrade site price of one version with a backup DVD.  

But is it really an upgrade?

It is really an upgrade. Microsoft model # 3UR-00001. This is the boxed version of the upgrade that you can buy at hundreds of retailers for a  higher price, and is the retail version of the same Windows 8  upgrade available from Microsoft by download. You must have a machine licensed to use XP, Vista, or Win 7 to use it. The rebate is available for a single unit purchased between 12/14 and 12/16 at Newegg.

If you want a full version (no prior license required) you need to buy the system builder version. That is the only retail full version of Windows 8, and it incliudes either a 64 bit or 32 bit (but not both) installation DVD. 

Windows 8 Pro does not include Windows Media Player, but that is apparently available as a free download until Jan 31.

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57540793-285/how-to-add-windows-media-center-to-windows-8-pro-for-free/

craigb


But is it really an upgrade?

Sorry Mr. Planet Creator, I should have put my question inside of the proper HTML-like tags.
 
[sarcasm]
But is it really an upgrade?
[/sarcasm]
 
Yes, I'm referring to Windows 8 itself.  For anyone still doing spreadsheet/image/programming/engineering type work, nothing beats a big screen and a desktop-type PC.  Plus friends of mine who had to test it out to see if it worked with their software have found that a lot of useful things have changed or are missing.  Heck, I already spend way too much time trying to get the finger smudges off of my Thrive tablet - I can't imagine having to deal with that on a larger screen!  Why the Entertainment industry instead of the main Business industry gets to drive these changes bugs me.  And, by Entertainment I primarily mean the Movie sector.  Ok, I'm done ranting for now (I could go on for quite a while).

  Ahh yes...sarcasm. I agree, it is an upgrade but not really an improvement.  

Windows 8 probably has some technical advances over Windows 7, but clearly the design was not intended to make a better tool. It represents the next step in the next phase of personal computers.

The first stage of personal computer development was an attempt to make a functioning device, primarily for hobbyists and dreamers, who were happy to tinker with it endlessly to get it to do anything at all. The next phase was built on the hope that it could be a flexible tool to replace typewriters, calculators etc. The next step was to make a smart enough machine to replace the drudgery of filing, collating, etc. and replace the mindless clerical chores that humans had been doing since writing was invented. It could and did replace many clerks and secretaries who were now freed to look for work in the janitorial sector. 

  The future according to Microsoft, and Intel ("sponsoring the future") is not to replace the office machines of the past. The goal is to replace the television, which has for the past half century been the predominant method of distracting the human mind and connecting it via a constant stream of more or less entertaining drivel, to the mind-control/marketing hype machine that is at the heart of modern "civilization." (sarcasm...get it). 

You will, at some point have to find your place in this sweep of human development, if for no other reason than that your computer-tool will stop working as the sponsors of the future make it incompatible with the present. You may have a few more years before that happens, but happen it will. So "upgrade" you must, unless you want to write a zillion lines of code, and fab your own chips. May as well do it for cheap.

Hi,

I'm taking one of my XP-PRO machines and putting this on it.

However, a friend of mine stated that he would not put this on the machine that has the M-Audio card, as he is pretty sure that the new Windows will not allow the hardware to talk to any software on its own ... directly.

That would suggest that we might have some issues with some equipment here and there, and I will check M-Audio more closely on this, as I have not seen a thread or indication that there are no problems with it, but I have not checked to see if they have new drivers for it.

One serious issue, though ... if your motherboard is older, and has poop software/drivers anyway ... I am not sure that W99999 is going to make a difference ... so we should know something when I pop this one ... which is my secondary machine that does not do music, just plays it off the mp3's and such, and then has WoW in it. That machine has nothing to lose as the backup external has a copy of all the files needed to be saved. That machine has XP-PRO in it, and I will remove Open Office and iTunes and F-Secure, and then install the upgrade! Only concern is the 4G of memory ... I'm wanting to bring that up some to 6 or 8 and have not made up my mind on it. Better video card is incoming at any time.
 
That "upgrade" is good for another couple of weeks ... and I will re-check that.