Oh, wow, a big jump in price.
Thanks for the heads up.

For $40 I made the jump on my laptop in the interest of staying current but not my desktop. For $200 though, no way.

Since more and more new notebooks are delivered with Windows 8, the much more important question is:

What is the price for an upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 7?

Nobody I know is in a hurry to install Windows 8. Raising the price? Yea, that'll work.

I would not have been in a hurry either if I had not received it for free. I have always preferred to stay 1 O/S behind the pack. But having it now, I will not go to Windows 7. It does take getting used to, even yet I'm discovering new features most days. Maybe they were there in #7 already but because I bypassed 7 and went straight to 8 from XP I'm probably learning many things others have been used to in 7. Ha, does anyone see the irony in that? I skipped #7.

I would think that OEM versions of it will be available for less than $200? I know that was the case for most previus versions. I guess primarily because with an OEM version we are not entitled to tech support from MSFT? We would have to get it from the vendor, and they would probably give us a blank stare in many cases. It's a good option if you are technically inclined and do your own troubleshooting.

In any case I wouldn't adopt it early because there are still minor issues. Most particularly with apps in the app store not installing properly or not working properly after install. I've had to uninstall and reinstall a few of them a couple times before they worked as should be. If I'm going to pay $200 for software I would expect it to run smoothly, error free. But also I guess in the case of apps, most are provided by third-parties so the issue is primarily with them. I've never seen the Apple App Store but I guess it's the same principle?

Overall I am satisfied with Windows 8. I would recommend it for general users but not business users yet.

Dumb. And why do they keep with the multiple levels of OS? Why not just keep it simple like Apple?

Reason #9748 why I have not used Windows since 2001.

yea, we got ten free licenses because of our OEM status. But I mostly only use Windows for business anyway, and I can't afford the learning curve. I can't imagine many businesses can.

What is the price for an upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 7?

Actually it's free. First get rid of all Apps, than install one of the free Classic Start Menus. Then disable the "Metro Screen" on Startup. My Windows 8 looks just like Windows 7 now.

Until now I do not have any complaints - Windows 8 is faster than Windows 7 and I have not yet experienced any compatibility problems.

Cool. I thought I saved $40 but now it looks like I saved $200. I love finding money!