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I finally got off Windows XP after 9 years on it. I am just getting to play with Windows 7 and am considering purchasing the Professional edition very soon.

Will I be eligible for an upgrade to Windows 8 once it comes out?

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Eligible for an upgrade... as in for a free upgrade? They haven't released any info on this yet. As far as hardware: if you can run 7 you can probably run 8 – Kyle Nov 4 '11 at 20:41
Something similar to what they did when Vista was released: providing free upgrades to Vista for people who are purchasing XP machines. – Nanda Nov 4 '11 at 20:48
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closed as not constructive by Kyle, ChrisF, Daniel Beck, SysAdmin1138, Simon Sheehan Nov 4 '11 at 21:18

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2 Answers

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They could possibly some time after the release provide free upgrades to people that buy Windows 7; however, in general buying Windows 7 does not make you eligibile for a free upgrade to Windows 8. You can however buy Windows 8 later and easily upgrade through it, at least when they don't ridiculously change their upgrade path. But as they share the same underlying structure, upgrading is possible.

I would suggest you to wait till the release of Windows 8 before upgrading if you are on a budget...

Please note that there are upgrade versions which cost cheaper than the full version.
But they only allow you to upgrade and not do a (re)installation.

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Thank you for the suggestion, Tom. Even if I had to buy Windows 7 now and later want to upgrade when Windows 8 comes out, would the upgrade cost somewhat lesser than a new Windows 8 purchase? I don't remember how it was done for XP/Vista transition. – Nanda Nov 4 '11 at 20:50
@Kishor: They do, compare the upgrade to the full version. – Tom Wijsman Nov 4 '11 at 21:01
Oh, that sounds a lot good to me. Thanks. – Nanda Nov 4 '11 at 21:15
ie: you probably will be eligible to buy an upgrade edition, which will likely be cheaper then the full version, but will probably not get the upgrade for free. But at this point anything you hear is little better than pure conjecture. As your stock broker might tell you, past performance is a poor indicator of future results. Microsoft may decide to go a whole new direction on pricing for Windows 8, perhaps to counter Apple's $29 upgrade strategy. We just don't know. – Joel Coehoorn Nov 4 '11 at 23:13
The only thing certain is death and taxes. . . – surfasb Nov 4 '11 at 23:43
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up vote 1 down vote

Last time, when Windows 7 pricing was announced four months before release:

  • Buying a new PC with Vista, it would be upgraded to 7 for free.
  • You could pre-order Windows 7 starting then, and at an extra discount (upgrade or full) for a few weeks after the announcement.
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I am most certainly interested in this approach, but the official Windows 8 release date is too far for my consideration. – Nanda Nov 4 '11 at 21:20
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