you upgrading to 8 John ?

You can't upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit with that cheap price though. :( But the $200 upgrade price is strange... OEM it's $140 for Pro. Why would an upgrade be cheaper then OEM?

Newegg, Walmart, Target (& others) sell the upgrade disc for $70. Are they going to raise their prices to $200+ on the 1st?

If you have a Windows 7 license, it is good for both the 32bit and 64bit version of Windows 7. If you have the 32 bit Windows 7 disk, just download the image for the 64 bit version and install it with the same license number. Then you can upgrade with the current Windows 8 upgrade package.

I've got XP 32.

I ran the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant and apparently the total cost of upgrading on my system is actually quite a bit more the $39.99!

To start with,

The Intel USB 3.0 extensible Host Controller Driver is not compatible and there is no solution made known for it. So what happens to my USB 3? Is there a driver that will not mess-up my system that will work properly?

I did a Google search and found Mickey Mouse and Goofy workaround solutions but nothing acceptable. So an upgrade to 8 at this time would be a disaster in that I would no longer have reliable USB 3 capabilities.

My FTP software Ipswitch Home is not compatible. It says there is an upgrade but actually it is a whole new and expensive version with a price of $54.95. So I could pay a lot for it or go to something else and try to figure out that.

Nero 9 is not compatible and that is another expense for an upgrade which = $29.99.

Norton Internet Security, the current version I have is not compatible. Update price is $49.99.

Creative Media Toolbox 6 is not compatible and would require a paid update. Paid upgrade price = $39.99.

Total costs for upgrades/updates:

Microsoft Windows 8 = $39.99

FTP = $54.95

Nero = $29.99

Norton = $49.99

Creative = $39.99

Total = $214.91

I realize that there may be a free way to work with Norton and the FPT so the cost could be reduced to as low as $109.97 but as for the others, I did not see a free way to work with them.

And with no REAL solution for the USB 3 drivers at this time, that alone is a deal killer for upgrading.

So for me all I could do for now is pay $39.99 for the win 8 upgrade and then let it sit on the shelf until there are solutions for all of the above problems.

I would highly recommend using the upgrade advisor first and find out what the true costs of upgrading is.

Danny Fye

www.dannyfye.com/ccm

It's been many years since i've used FTP for anything. It's old and clunky and limited and full of holes. I haven't even installed Ipswitch WinFTP on any of my current hardware, and some of it is over 6 years old.

Take a look at WinSCP. It's free and open source. SCP is a far better solution for file transfer on any hosts that offer it (all *nix servers provide it by default). It also handles SFTP and FTP if you're communicating with a host that doesn't offer SCP.

Any upgrade costs $$. I've got 4gb RAM & my GPU stopped getting driver updates several months ago. Some software says it won't work via upgrade assistant.

You know what? Same thing happened when I went from DOS to win95 (then I went to OS/2 for a while, I actually didn't have the DOS compatibility issues, go figure). Same thing when I went to Win2k. Then to XP. XP actually killed more stuff then any other upgrade did, that's why I waited until 2007.

Microsoft Windows 8 = $39.99

On the surface - I cannot see why you would be holding onto any of the this stuff - outside of the Win 8 upgrade itself...

Biggest question first - what OS are you running right now (prior to upgrade?)
If you are already on Windows 7 and everything is working - I can't see any reason why you would even consider an upgrade.

But if you decide to continue - some thoughts...

FTP = Filezilla = $0.00 (Best free FTP client I have ever used)

Nero? Seriously - in 2013? What exactly is the need for this?

Norton? The built in MS Security Essentials in WIn 8 will not only beat Norton into the ground at every turn - it will not grind your machine to a halt. Sending money to Norton in 2013 is well - a waste.

Creative Media Toolkit: Like Nero - I would need to ask why? I did not even realize Creative still existed (or why). I checked out this "toolkit" and there are numerous options that are cheaper (free) and infinitely better than anything Creative could ever put out.


VP

Newegg, Walmart, Target (& others) sell the upgrade disc for $70. Are they going to raise their prices to $200+ on the 1st?

See here..

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-upgrade-to-cost-119-starting-february-1st-pro-upgrade-will-cost-199

Win 8 was a tough sell at 39 bucks....but at 200 - it's game over.

VP

Doesn't answer if brick and mortar stores will jump the price that much. They bought the current stock @ a price of Y, and that's definitely lower then the current $70 sell price, them jumping the price by $130 would be silly.

I wouldn't upgrade w/o nero either. It's got more options then other burning apps I've used and makes discs that haven't had any comparability issues.

$39.99 buys you a key that will work on either 32bit or 64bit versions. However, the upgrade adviser will only download the same "bit version" as what you are currently using.

Example: If you are using 32bit Vista , the upgrade adviser will download 32bit Win8, 64bit Win7 will download 64bit Win8, and so on.

I believe the tricks for installing a clean version of Windows 7 will also work for Windows 8.

Microcenter has the upgrade CD for $58.88, but that is in-store only.

John

I have been using FireFTP, a free Firefox plug-in, for some years and it has done all I have ever needed...

Just my $0.02's worth.

Tom

Here is a link that tells you how to get Windows 8 Professional for $14.99 thru microsoft.com, Expires 1/31/13

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2296574


There seems to be some possible restrictions, but the discussion puts forth some work-arounds

Vocalpoint said, "Nero? Seriously - in 2013? What exactly is the need for this?"

I burn 2 or more DVD's at a time. I do not know of any other solution/software that does this. Do you?



"Biggest question first - what OS are you running right now (prior to upgrade?) "

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit



"FTP = Filezilla = $0.00 (Best free FTP client I have ever used)"

Thanks.



"Norton? The built in MS Security Essentials in Windows 8 will not only beat Norton into the ground at every turn - it will not grind your machine to a halt. Sending money to Norton in 2013 is well - a waste."

That used to be the case of grinding a machine. As for MS security essentials being equal or better, I am not sure but maybe so. I will need to do more research on that.



"Creative Media Toolkit: Like Nero - I would need to ask why?"

I use the Sound Blaster Titanium HD for my 'MUST HAVE' sound fonts that I use for my music. A cello sounds like a 'REAL' cello, my trumpet sound font sounds like a 'REAL' trumpet not some goofy noises that too many sources of MIDI's have.

Danny Fye
www.dannyfye.com/ccm

P.S.

I will go ahead and purchase Windows 8 and install it on a couple of drives that Windows 7 is cloned to. I will continue to use Windows 7 until I solve the above issues. This way I will avoid the price increase (assuming it is real and not just a big push to get people to hurry up and buy Windows 8) and I will have a fully functioning system while the above issues are being solved.

I can update my data on the Windows 8 boot(s) when the process is finished.

Thanks goodness for cloned backups!!!

What advantage is there to changing from my Win 7 ultimate 64 bit which works fine to this Win 8 you are talking about?

What advantage is there to changing from my Win 7 ultimate 64 bit which works fine to this Win 8 you are talking about?

There is none. If one has a solid working Win 7 x64 as of right now - there is nary a single logical reason or benefit to trashing a WIn 7 install for Win 8.

VP

> "...the introductory online upgrade price is currently $40 but will jump to $200 on February 1st."

I guess Microsoft doesn't plan to sell any more copies of Windows 8 to existing customers after Feb 1st because you would have to be crazy to pay that much for no apparent improvement over Windows 7. I though they permanently lowered the price because they had learned from Apple (who only charges $19 for OS X upgrades) but I guess not.

> "What advantage is there to changing from my Win 7 ultimate 64 bit which works fine to this Win 8 you are talking about?"

Absolutely None. You actually loose desktop functionality. IMHO, it's a downgrade for anyone who doesn't have a touch screen because it's very awkward to use with a mouse and keyboard. Some people say it runs faster than Windows 7 but that's probably because they took Aero away so if you configure Windows 7 to not use Aero it's probably just as fast.

As others have pointed out, it may cost you even more if you have other software or hardware that is not compatible. I would only recommend it for new PC's with touch screens; there just isn't anything there for Windows 7 64-bit users.

~jr

@ VidMus

"I burn 2 or more DVD's at a time. I do not know of any other solution/software that does this. Do you?"

That's your only reason for spending 40 bucks on Nero? Your call I guess.

Norton: I cannot imagine why anyone would pay these guys for anything. Exactly where are you surfing on the Net to even need this overblown suite? A good virus scanner is all you really need and again - if you do not surf to "questionable" areas of the net - you may need none at all.

I have not yet encountered a single virus since really starting mainstream computing in 1994...and have never figured out how anyone would be naive enough (especially in 2013) to ever have a chance of getting one. MS Security Essentials will take care of 99.9% of anything you would ever encounter in day to day activities. And it's free.

Creative Media Toolkit: Fair enough. Did not realize anyone would actually bother with Soundfonts when something like Kontact is available and uses actual real sampled cellos etc...

Bottom line here - I cannot find a single reason for you to take your known good Windows 7 install (that appears to allow everything on your list to work perfectly) just to plunge yourself into a world of hurt with Windows 8.

Makes no sense to me - but hey - it's your money and your patience I suppose.

VP