£50? I thought it was £25??

So this was buzzing around the internet that the upgrade was supposed to be $40 which is £25, if this is true then it seems they've really shafted their british customers unless they have just gone typical microsoft and lied about the price or its just the fact its being sold by amazon? I suppose I can understand that amazon would want to sell it for more so that they can make money too but doubling it is a bit steep isn't it..

Any reliable information around? If it was 25 I'd have got it regardless of my opinion of it, now I'm not so sure.

Agreed.. I was surprised to see it's £50. Perhaps they will do a downloadable version for less.

Yet again UK customers get ripped off. Only $39.99 in US yet we have to pay £50.

[Deleted by the author on 8 Aug 2012 22:05:27 BDT]

Yes extremely over priced for the pre order especially for the upgrade version which is more hassle than it's worth if you ever need to reinstall windows.

If Microsoft offered the Retail edition for £50 I would buy it, that is the same price that windows 7 retail was offered for.

i agree, i was sure it was £25... i'm not keen to be ripped off either!

The $40 version is a download version only...Quote from Microsoft's "windowsteamblog" website below.

"We set out to make it as easy as possible for everyone to upgrade to Windows 8. Starting at general availability, if your PC is running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 you will qualify to download an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for just $39.99 in 131 markets"

Aha, thank you for clearing this up. I had suspected as much, I guess its not the easiest thing to sell. Still for an upgrade version I don't know why it has to be sold for so much more on here just because it isn't a download.

If you meet certain requirments you should be able to get an upgrade version of only £14.99

https://windowsupgradeoffer.com/en-US/

use that to try and register

"If you prefer to shop at a local store, a packaged DVD version of the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro will be available for $69.99 during this promotion."
remember VAT is added AFTERWARDS on all american prices.

so 84$ after VAT = £53...
also 40$ +VAT = £30.62, I would say it can go either to £29.99 or more likely to £34,99

seriously people, stop b****ing about american prices if you have no clue what's going on!

You would only be able to purchase the upgrade for £14.99 if you purchased a new laptop or a new copy of Windows 7 five months before the initial release...

Microsoft have stated this is what you need for the £14.99 upgrade:

>Buy a Windows 7 PC between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. *
Register for the offer at windowsupgradeoffer.com before February 28, 2013.

>We'll send you an email with your promotion code and purchase instructions when Windows 8 Pro is available.

>Download and install Windows 8 Pro on a compatible Windows-based PC with Windows Upgrade Assistant.

If Microsoft where smart they would also offer it to the long time users as the temptation just isn't there unlike in the last release of Windows (Windows 7) which i couldn't wait to use...

Hello,

This is £49.99 because its the actual DVD, the digital downloadable copy from Windows.com is cheaper and also confirmed by a Microsoft blogger that you are able to do a CLEAN installation using this upgrade copy of Windows 8. So it will be just the same as ever to reinstall Windows 8.

I am still abit skepticle about buying this version. Over the years upgrade means using a previous installed version and upgrading it causing problems. Retail versions you simply do a clean install.

In the past version of windows 7 during pre order the american price was suggested to be $49.99 where as I got it for £44.97 the full retail version. so the guy talking about tax etc I am basing my knowledge from a past purchase from the same company, for the same type of deal. I don't think it's too much to ask to expect the same.

If I can be provided with a link that the Upgrade version can do a Clean install without voiding my windows 7 retail key, I will happily splash out £50 for this version. Although in it's current form it's a rip off.

*edit*
After further research this does seem to only be the upgrade edtion. A previous version of windows xp, vista or 7 is needed to upgrade. You can do a clean install when upgrading.
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/07/02/upgrade-to-windows-8-pro-for-39-99.aspx

I won't be buying unless the retail version is announce and is a decent price like windows 7. I'll just have to vote with my wallet and hope other people do the same if they feel the same way.

Hi,

I believe this is for the Upgrade DVD.

An article on CNET says the Download price for upgrading should be cheaper - $39.99 vs $69.99. That could make the download upgrade around £25 when available (until January 31st 2013). Fingers crossed.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57465416-75/windows-8-pro-upgrade-set-for-$39.99-media-center-too/

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when Win7 was released, it was sold on pre-order as an upgrade version, however in the EU they didn't sell an upgrade version so they provided the full version instead at the 'upgrade' price (I think I paid £35 or £40 for the Home version).

That sounds about right. It came with 32 and 64 bit versions.

let the powers that be know you are unhappy with this! Its about time we got the right exchange rate, - this happens all the time! email amazon and just let them know we are not happy with this!

Hmm, yes, missed the post by J. Clark, that this is for the DVD version.. Anyway, I see this as an opportunity to convert my old XP pro licence to Windows 8! Can't complain at that I suppose.

Yes this issue has been resolved now, pretty much a misunderstanding on my part. A quick sum up for anyone just browsing:

- This is the DVD version, the £25 upgrade offer is only available via download from microsoft when it comes out. I expect all other DVD options to be a similar price.
- If you buy a new PC/laptop before 31 January 2013 then you can download the upgrade from microsoft for only £14.
- This is not a full retail version yet however you should be able to use it as if it were a regular installation disc (i.e to use system repair) if not, you should be able to create your own repair/recovery discs anyway unless this feature is not included in Win8 which I would think is unlikely.
- £50 for this disc version is actually quite reasonable anyway, I was just confused because of what I read elsewhere.
- If possible I would recommend not putting off buying it as the price might potentially rocket up after all their offers end. If you choose not to buy it you won't be missing out windows 7 runs perfectly if you actually take the time to remove all the bloatware that often appears with it.

On a side note, generally reaction to this is positive thus far, I've played with it myself and it might take some getting used to, I doubt I would put it on my main desktop but the average home user I would imagine will be quite into all the flashiness. I however am more of a traditional PC user unfortunately.

If you've recently bought a windows 7 based PC, between 2 June 2012 and 31 January 2013.you can upgrade to windows 8 for only £14.99

https://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/en-GB

It will be £24.99, Amazon speculated about the price and haven't updated their website yet.

Two points though. £39.99 was a mistake, it's only £24.99 in actuality. Secondly, a disc only ads £8 to the order price on the Microsoft site. So even if this Amazon price is for a disc it is extremely overpriced...

As I said to someone else, that does NOT excuse the £50 price as Microsoft only charge £8 above the download price to post out a disc...

MS, only £8 for disc added to order...

So, does that mean if one clicks "pre order" one will only get charged £25? Be good to hear a positive reply to that.