AfterDawn: News

Windows 9 to be free for older edition Windows users?

Microsoft insider Mary Jo Foley says Windows 9 (aka Threshold) is on the way to a spring 2015 release, and some older Windows users could even be getting it for free.

Because of how soon Windows 9 is to release, Windows 8.1 users will likely only get smaller update packs in the future, and that some may not even be mandatory like Windows 8.1 was.



There was even talk that Windows 8.1 update 3 could be scrapped altogether, especially if Windows 9 stays in its anticipated time frame for launch.

Most interestingly from Foley's report was the rumor that older edition Windows users (namely XP, Vista and 7) could be given Windows 9 for free if their PCs can run it, as a way to quickly boost adoption of the updated OS.

Windows 8 adoption has slowed of late, and the boost in the PC industry experienced in the last year could already be on its last legs.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 4 Aug 2014 18:24

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• 16 comments

• ivymike

  If Windows 9 isn't such a piece of shit like Windows 8, then it should be free to all users NOT just "old" MS users.
  

  4.8.2014 19:32 #1

• hearme0

  Puffy cheeks chill............. :)
  
  There's no real way to regulate so it'll be a free-for-all essentially to those that are rather "tapped in". Many will just remain honest or won't know about the deal as will be the opposite case with most tech-heads.
  
  As for Windows 8, not really sure why people give it such a bad rap. I've been using for a while and like the START PAGE AND trad. menu. Otherwise, what's to complain about? Boots lightning fast, stable as hell, responsive, rather highly customizable and still very much like Windows 7 with the DESKTOP part. All programs I've put on work equally as well as Win7 and I am a tech and have yet to really hear of people not being able to install any particular program.

  4.8.2014 22:10 #2

• ronhondo

  Originally posted by hearme0: Puffy cheeks chill............. :)
  
  There's no real way to regulate so it'll be a free-for-all essentially to those that are rather "tapped in". Many will just remain honest or won't know about the deal as will be the opposite case with most tech-heads.
  
  As for Windows 8, not really sure why people give it such a bad rap. I've been using for a while and like the START PAGE AND trad. menu. Otherwise, what's to complain about? Boots lightning fast, stable as hell, responsive, rather highly customizable and still very much like Windows 7 with the DESKTOP part. All programs I've put on work equally as well as Win7 and I am a tech and have yet to really hear of people not being able to install any particular program. When I originally updated my computer to Windows 8 one of my most important programs called Mediaface would not work. I used it for about a week and got to hate it so much I used a previous backup I had of Windows 7 and returned the Win 8 disc back to Microcenter. Navigation was so awkward, slow, and tedious I just could not tolerate it. So before I go to Windows 9 I will make another backup of Win 7 just in case it stinks like 8 did.
  

  4.8.2014 22:53 #3

• Ryoohki

  The main people continuing to say Win 8 is crap are those who only used it for a few days. While I will agree that the Metro UI is crap for a non-touch device, the OS is perfectly fine in desktop mode for daily use. There are tons of other CD labeling programs out there besides Mediaface. Did you try getting a newer version of it before you downgraded? It's supposed to be compatible with 8.1. I haven't had any problems with program compatibility and 8.1 is very stable. It has been 41 days since I last had to restart and I think that was because I installed something that required it.
  

  5.8.2014 13:32 #4

• A5J4DX

  First make the OS brilliant only then it would be intriguing to see if they give it for free...
  

  5.8.2014 13:42 #5

• ronhondo

  Originally posted by Ryoohki: The main people continuing to say Win 8 is crap are those who only used it for a few days. While I will agree that the Metro UI is crap for a non-touch device, the OS is perfectly fine in desktop mode for daily use. There are tons of other CD labeling programs out there besides Mediaface. Did you try getting a newer version of it before you downgraded? It's supposed to be compatible with 8.1. I haven't had any problems with program compatibility and 8.1 is very stable. It has been 41 days since I last had to restart and I think that was because I installed something that required it. I was told there is a newer version but I can't find it. I have hundreds of templates and I am not going to start over and recreate them. Either way I totally hated it. They made it hard to find things that I do to make changes in the operating system. The worst thing about it is I build and sell computers and I have a customer that is a little slow .. Not retarded but very slow .. Let's say handicapped. She asked me to get her a laptop and I got her one that was top of the line and of course uses Win 8. As this girl knows how to navigate Win 7 perfectly Win 8 drives her crazy. She only uses the Desktop I built for her. The laptop sits and rots. So you see if you are such a smart person Win 8 is perfect for you ... But if you are handicapped it is useless to you !
  

  5.8.2014 16:49 #6

• ivymike

  Call it what you will.....Vista, W7, W8, W8.1.......Still not as stable and easy to use as XP. The one thing Vista & W7 had going for it were the gadgets until goddamn Microsoft discontinued support for them.....
  

  5.8.2014 20:37 #7

• Ryoohki

  Originally posted by ivymike: Call it what you will.....Vista, W7, W8, W8.1.......Still not as stable and easy to use as XP. The one thing Vista & W7 had going for it were the gadgets until goddamn Microsoft discontinued support for them..... XP will always have a special place in my heart. When they came out with Vista and later editions, they started dumbing the OS down for casual users. They made advanced settings harder to manipulate. I hate when that starts to happen. It took me a good while to give up XP and when I did, I switched to puppy linux and didn't go back to windows for a few years for my personal equipment. The laptop I am typing with now came with Windows 8 and I decided to give it a chance instead of installing a different OS and have no real complaints.
  

  7.8.2014 11:17 #8

• ChappyTTV

  Originally posted by Ryoohki: It has been 41 days since I last had to restart and I think that was because I installed something that required it. Why do you do this still?
  That's an old fashioned habit that has been made un-necessary since hardware life-cycles have increased beyond the point of ever reaching them.
  
  Running longer does not equate to running better, in fact the opposite is true. Refreshing the memory (among many other reasons) with constant reboots makes sure your machine is constantly in an optimal state whereas leaving it on for months pretty much ensures that any system errors your system has acquired will hang on until you finally do reboot.
  It's also a tremendous waste of power.
  

  8.8.2014 18:14 #9

• hablet

  Windows 8 may be small and fast, but it is an awful mess, both visibly and behind the scenes. I don't object to having the Metro interface, but I DO object to the way Microsoft has abandoned 98 per cent of its users by wrecking the conventional desktop. No Start menu, much harder to navigate without 3D effects, cannot set object sizes properly, cannot set colours as desired (they screwed up the mappings). Behind the scenes, it won't let me administer my machine without bleating every five seconds (cannot run Explorer in administrator mode). With Windows 7 *everything* I have tried has run (exception - two 15 year old programs which run only in 32 bit editions); with Windows 8 I have a list of more than 20 programs which do not work correctly. For me, Windows 9 cannot come soon enough - I just pray that someone in Redmond has pressed the common sense button.

  9.8.2014 00:56 #10

• Ryoohki

  Originally posted by ChappyTTV: Originally posted by Ryoohki: It has been 41 days since I last had to restart and I think that was because I installed something that required it. Why do you do this still?
  That's an old fashioned habit that has been made un-necessary since hardware life-cycles have increased beyond the point of ever reaching them.
  
  Running longer does not equate to running better, in fact the opposite is true. Refreshing the memory (among many other reasons) with constant reboots makes sure your machine is constantly in an optimal state whereas leaving it on for months pretty much ensures that any system errors your system has acquired will hang on until you finally do reboot.
  It's also a tremendous waste of power. Why would I need to restart my computers often for the hell of it? I have 3 systems that are usually on 24/7. One is my media center and another is my share monkey. My win 8 laptop is what I use for production purposes at home and at work and it is also always on and near me. At best, I put the laptop asleep for the drive to and from work. I have numerous programs that continually run on all 3, whether I'm at the keyboard or not, without issues. That's what I mean about stability. I don't just keep my machines turned on and do nothing with them but have them suck power.
  
  I understand for all intents and purposes these are personal computers I am talking about but you do realize that there is really no detriment to having a computer on 24/7 right? There is little difference (in terms of use) between something a company would use as a web or media server than one someone is using at home for personal consumption right? You only turn it off or reboot if there is a problem.
  
  
  

  9.8.2014 12:32 #11

• ChappyTTV

  Originally posted by Ryoohki: Originally posted by ChappyTTV: Originally posted by Ryoohki: It has been 41 days since I last had to restart and I think that was because I installed something that required it. Why do you do this still?
  That's an old fashioned habit that has been made un-necessary since hardware life-cycles have increased beyond the point of ever reaching them.
  
  Running longer does not equate to running better, in fact the opposite is true. Refreshing the memory (among many other reasons) with constant reboots makes sure your machine is constantly in an optimal state whereas leaving it on for months pretty much ensures that any system errors your system has acquired will hang on until you finally do reboot.
  It's also a tremendous waste of power. Why would I need to restart my computers often for the hell of it? I have 3 systems that are usually on 24/7. One is my media center and another is my share monkey. My win 8 laptop is what I use for production purposes at home and at work and it is also always on and near me. At best, I put the laptop asleep for the drive to and from work. I have numerous programs that continually run on all 3, whether I'm at the keyboard or not, without issues. That's what I mean about stability. I don't just keep my machines turned on and do nothing with them but have them suck power.
  
  I understand for all intents and purposes these are personal computers I am talking about but you do realize that there is really no detriment to having a computer on 24/7 right? There is little difference (in terms of use) between something a company would use as a web or media server than one someone is using at home for personal consumption right? You only turn it off or reboot if there is a problem.
  
  Yes there is a detriment, it's not just "for the hell of it". Even the best written programs build up crud over time in temp files, lost pointers, page files, caches, open file descriptors, memory leaks...etc. OS's & programs are not perfect and small errors will build up over time until they can start to cause slowdowns and other issues, a fresh start every day eliminates that.
  Also as long as your fans are running they're accumulating dust and introducing more dust into the system which over time increases the internal temps and stresses your components. Many graphics cards share system memory and sometimes they're not so great at keeping things tidy in there.
  OS's also do diagnostic & system checks on startup that do not happen otherwise, rebooting can pre-emptively fix some problems before they occur.
  
  Just sayin that if there's no need to run 24/7 such as running a server, needing continual network access in a business environment, or running Seti@Home, there's no benefit to staying powered up if you're not going to be using the machine for a few hours at least.
  

  9.8.2014 20:03 #12

• Ryoohki

  Originally posted by ChappyTTV:
  Just sayin that if there's no need to run 24/7 such as running a server, needing continual network access in a business environment, or running Seti@Home, there's no benefit to staying powered up if you're not going to be using the machine for a few hours at least. I agree with that. If you aren't using your machine and you won't be for hours, there is no reason to keep it powered on. I just don't happen to fit that category. I have been sharing certain stuff for years and I use various methods, not just torrents. There are other things that I have running in the background continuously. I don't restart my machines without a reason.
  
  

  10.8.2014 10:32 #13

• ChappyTTV

  Originally posted by Ryoohki: Originally posted by ChappyTTV:
  Just sayin that if there's no need to run 24/7 such as running a server, needing continual network access in a business environment, or running Seti@Home, there's no benefit to staying powered up if you're not going to be using the machine for a few hours at least. I agree with that. If you aren't using your machine and you won't be for hours, there is no reason to keep it powered on. I just don't happen to fit that category. I have been sharing certain stuff for years and I use various methods, not just torrents. There are other things that I have running in the background continuously. I don't restart my machines without a reason.
  Hey, that's cool, don't want to come off like I'm preaching either my friend. This "argument" has been raging since the W95 days and while back then there was real reason to not power down often (reachable h'ware MTTF cycles), I've been in this long enough to realize that there's far more quantifiable reasons to do regular shut-downs than for staying running.
  
  Cheers Ryoohki!
  BTW, there's usually a good story behind a username like that ;)
  

  10.8.2014 13:08 #14

• Ryoohki

  Originally posted by ChappyTTV:
  Cheers Ryoohki!
  BTW, there's usually a good story behind a username like that ;) Nothing to it really. I've been around the fansub circles since we passed them around on VHS tapes. I've had more names than Ryo-ohki but I've used it on various anime/manga related places the longest. Ryo-ohki is a character from a series called Tenchi Muyo! She is a cabbit (cross between cat and rabbit) who turns into a spaceship.
  
  

  10.8.2014 13:15 #15

• ChappyTTV

  Originally posted by Ryoohki: Originally posted by ChappyTTV:
  Cheers Ryoohki!
  BTW, there's usually a good story behind a username like that ;) Nothing to it really. I've been around the fansub circles since we passed them around on VHS tapes. I've had more names than Ryo-ohki but I've used it on various anime/manga related places the longest. Ryo-ohki is a character from a series called Tenchi Muyo! She is a cabbit (cross between cat and rabbit) who turns into a spaceship.
  Never been into that but I could tell the name was of Japanese origin. A cat/rabbit that turns into a spaceship....o..k...lol! Told ya there was a story behind it ;)
  
  C'ya around!
  

  10.8.2014 14:04 #16