Buy Licenses to Upgrade to Win 8 Now?

(To start, I'd like to preface that I don't want to get into the debate over whether or not Windows 8 sucks.)

So, with the cutoff date for getting the cheap ($40) Windows 8 Upgrade fast approaching, I got to wondering whether it was worth going ahead and buying all our Windows 8 licenses now for all of our computers at work, or if I should wait until later (when the price ramps up to $200 per license).

We're a small organization, with roughly 25 computers that will need upgraded. Roughly 75% of them are running Windows 7, and the other 25% are still running XP (ugh!). I've purchased and used Windows 8 on my own personal computer, and I don't mind it at all. It does seem to run faster on my 4 1/2 year old C2Q (Q6600). Our PCs at work are newer, with most running 2nd gen i3/i5 processors. I figured we don't have it in the cards to upgrade them at all in the near future, so if I can extend their lives for another year or two, and get them upgraded to the newest OS (Win 8) for $40, it would be worth it.

I figured that spending $1,000 now on upgrade licenses (at $40 a pop), vs. waiting until we actually do go to upgrade them, I'll be saving a significant amount of money (since at $200 a pop for 25 of them, I'd be spending $5,000 instead!). Obviously by the time the cutoff happens and the price ramps up, I'd probably be better off to just go ahead and buy a new PC that comes preloaded with Windows 8, instead of dumping $200 down for an OS upgrade.

What do you think? Is it worth dropping a grand on Windows 8 upgrades for all of our PCs at work? That way, I can transition them over to Windows 8 at my leisure, since I'll have all the licenses available for use when I decide to do so.

Thoughts?

what technical reason do you have for upgrading?

I see most businesses going the Windows 7 route rather than 8.

What will you gain from upgrading to Windows 8? You'll likely have to take the time to install software to add the start menu back and support all of the changes. The cost of upgrading to Windows 8 will be higher than just the cost of the software if you factor in the added cost of your time. Sure, the discounted cost is appealing, but don't let it trick you into buying an upgrade which doesn't benefit you in any way.

Windows 7 will be supported until January 2015 (at least). Will you have purchased new computers with Windows 8 licenses by then anyways?

Quote from Did Microsoft Just Give Up on Windows 8 for Businesses? [windowsitpro.com] : Despite my recent attempt to categorize what’s coming in Windows 8 for businesses -- and, seriously, it’s not a bad list -- it’s become increasingly clear to me that Microsoft doesn’t actually expect businesses to upgrade to this new system in any meaningful way. I believe that the software giant is taking a pass on businesses for this release, a calculated risk that enables it to more firmly focus on the consumer market that's on the cusp of slipping through its fingers thanks to Apple and, to a much lesser extent, Android. [...] Microsoft hasn’t made such an obviously consumer-centric version of Windows since Millennium Edition (Windows Me), and the question isn’t whether businesses will ignore this release, as they did Windows Vista. Of course they will. The question is whether Microsoft is (understandably) ignoring businesses with this release or if they’re being openly antagonistic to a market that, thus far, has been responsible for most of the software giant’s successes. Let’s hope it’s just the former.

I would work on upgrading all to 7 then , look at just moving to 8 or 9 when you buy new computers

you could have issues with 8 on network or printer drivers, my Dell laptop works on 8 but on reboot I have to choose and enter the key for my wireless network.

Unless you have tested your systems and apps you could just be wasting your money, Office 2013 does offer some nice improvements over 2010 and will only run on 7 and above. Have you looked into the cost of software assurance?

Quote from ElectroWolf : (To start, I'd like to preface that I don't want to get into the debate over whether or not Windows 8 sucks.) So, with the cutoff date for getting the cheap ($40) Windows 8 Upgrade fast approaching, I got to wondering whether it was worth going ahead and buying all our Windows 8 licenses now for all of our computers at work, or if I should wait until later (when the price ramps up to $200 per license). We're a small organization, with roughly 25 computers that will need upgraded. Roughly 75% of them are running Windows 7, and the other 25% are still running XP (ugh!). I've purchased and used Windows 8 on my own personal computer, and I don't mind it at all. It does seem to run faster on my 4 1/2 year old C2Q (Q6600). Our PCs at work are newer, with most running 2nd gen i3/i5 processors. I figured we don't have it in the cards to upgrade them at all in the near future, so if I can extend their lives for another year or two, and get them upgraded to the newest OS (Win 8) for $40, it would be worth it. I figured that spending $1,000 now on upgrade licenses (at $40 a pop), vs. waiting until we actually do go to upgrade them, I'll be saving a significant amount of money (since at $200 a pop for 25 of them, I'd be spending $5,000 instead!). Obviously by the time the cutoff happens and the price ramps up, I'd probably be better off to just go ahead and buy a new PC that comes preloaded with Windows 8, instead of dumping $200 down for an OS upgrade. What do you think? Is it worth dropping a grand on Windows 8 upgrades for all of our PCs at work? That way, I can transition them over to Windows 8 at my leisure, since I'll have all the licenses available for use when I decide to do so. Thoughts?

I will say a home environment and a work environment can be two completely different babies. A lot more things to test that are mission critical, such as drivers, performance, things that are measured by efficiency and you definitely do not want to be trying to figure it all out in a work environment with Win8. Not to say you can't figure it out, but you would want maximize your time in crossing over.

My feeling is if you upgrade the remaining for Win7, you probably won't have to worry about upgrading to another version of Windows for your office for a few years. Look how long WinXP has been in the office environment even after Windows Vista, 7, and 8 have deployed. My suggestion is get all of those upgraded to Win7 and ride it out for a nice long while and perhaps skip Win8 altogether.

Most businesses don't upgrade the OS's on their computers. They have a replacement cycle that they cycle new machines in and out and the OS gets upgraded that way. Windows 8 primary focus was not the business. Several people have mentioned that here. It's so new that alot of programs are not supporting windows 8 right now either, especially legacy stuff.

Are businesses even able to take advantage of the $40 upgrade? It seems like a consumer site to me. No mention of Open Manage accounts or anything like that. While Microsoft says the price will go up, I don't see it staying up. Adoption has been slow and raising the price so much of an OS that doesnt really give you anything new other than a new interface I don't see a lot of average people updating. Microsoft will have to extend support for W7 beyond 2015 because businesses will demand it like they did with XP.

It's also generally not the best idea to update old hardware to the newest OS within reason. This is also changing some but. Over time you will have driver problems as most manufactures are no longer supporting 4-5 year old hardware for the brand new OS. I would place a bet that why W8 runs feels faster is some of the UI stuff they have done and it's a clean install vs a win7 install that has been around for a while.

So if I was you I would look at the business case of upgrading. I can't see it for the windows 7 machines. The XP machines make more sense, but they are old probably so I would look at replacing instead. Then the question becomes do you want to support and train on 2 different OS. If it was me I wouldn't so I would stick with W7 as most businesses are.

Thanks all for your input! Point definitely taken.

I think I'll end up holding off then and staying on Windows 7. You're right that there's really not much of an incentive to move to Windows 8, outside of the possible slight bump in performance. I might end up buying a few licenses anyway, just for myself and my personal computer.

Ya' know, gotta stay on top of technology and all.

Thanks! Reps all around.

Oooh! I just discovered (must've completely missed it) that Windows 8 Pro comes with BitLocker functionality!

Shoot, that alone may be enough reason for me to at least upgrade our laptops with Windows 8...

Quote from ElectroWolf : Oooh! I just discovered (must've completely missed it) that Windows 8 Pro comes with BitLocker functionality! Shoot, that alone may be enough reason for me to at least upgrade our laptops with Windows 8...

Also comes with Client Hyper-V... I think 8 Pro is a great laptop OS... much better battery life... also can set File History (similar to Apples time machine), Reset and refresh your PC (instead of total re-install), ISO / VHD native mount, PDF reader, Enhanced Task Manager, Windows Defender (True AV), Trusted boot, Windows Store, SmartScreen,Storage Spaces (New Drive Extender replacement from WHS), new ribbon fro File management and many more little improvements... its fast!


Right now you can add MCE for free until end of month

If ANY of these features along wit bitlocker make you excited,,,GET IT !

Quote from boltman2007 : Also comes with Hyper-V... I think 8 Pro is a great laptop OS... much better battery life... also can set File History backups (similar to time machine) Right now you can add MCE for free until end of month

Looks like I might have to bite the bullet after all and buy me some licenses. Out of the 25 or so computers we have, at least 10 of them alone are laptops (I'm too lazy to count at the moment!). That alone might make it worth it for me to do so; especially because we have the laptops out in the field a ton, and I'm always leery that someone may end up losing theirs, or that it grows legs and walks away, since other non-company people are always using our equipment...

Quote from ElectroWolf : Oooh! I just discovered (must've completely missed it) that Windows 8 Pro comes with BitLocker functionality! Shoot, that alone may be enough reason for me to at least upgrade our laptops with Windows 8...

Ya not a bad point for the laptops. Win 7 ult and enterprise also has that feature.

Quote from LiquidRetro : Ya not a bad point for the laptops. Win 7 ult and enterprise also has that feature.

Yeah, we just had Win 7 Pro on all of our laptops.

Quote from ElectroWolf : Looks like I might have to bite the bullet after all and buy me some licenses. Out of the 25 or so computers we have, at least 10 of them alone are laptops (I'm too lazy to count at the moment!). That alone might make it worth it for me to do so; especially because we have the laptops out in the field a ton, and I'm always leery that someone may end up losing theirs, or that it grows legs and walks away, since other non-company people are always using our equipment...

keep in mind the $15 upgrade to Win8Pro still works...until end of the month.

http://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/en-US

Eligible PCs (Purchased June 2, 2012 to January 31, 2013) are new PCs purchased during the promotion period with a valid Windows 7 OEM Certificate of Authenticity and product key for, and preinstalled with:

Windows 7 Home Basic;
Windows 7 Home Premium;
Windows 7 Professional; or
Windows 7 Ultimate
Note: Windows 7 Starter Edition is not eligible for this offer.

They don't verify a receipt of actual purchase date... you may need to input a W7 key. So this will work on virtually any existing W7 if you put in a date in that time frame.