Microsoft confirms Blue free for existing Windows 8 users

As many expected and hoped, Microsoft is going to make the coming Windows Blue update to Windows 8 free for existing Windows 8 and Windows RT users.

Read more at source:
Microsoft confirms Blue to be free for existing Windows 8 users | ZDNet

 

[Dark Star Balla]

I hope they address the legacy/firewire issues for those of us who use our systems for music & video.

 

[Phone Man]

I hope they address the legacy/firewire issues for those of us who use our systems for music & video.

What kind of issues? I have an older Canon video camera that uses firewire but have not tried it on Windows 8. Guess I will need to test it out.

Jim

 

[legacy7955]

I need to give a "kudos" to MS when it is deserved. The fact that they are offering the Blue update for FREE to ALL Windows 8 users is a HUGE step in the right direction. My compliments to them for "doing the right thing" even though it might be a bit less profitable, in the long run they are building more "good will" among Windows 8 users. This is SMART LONG TERM THINKING ON THEIR PART!:thumb::thumb:

 

[Dark Star Balla]

@ phone man
You should test it if your cam uses legacy FireWire drivers you probably will not be able to install them. You'll have to go through hell to use the cam. Windows 8 does not support them.

@legacy
I will happily give them props if they address the issue. If not I just threw away $100+ that my broke @$$ do not have and my pc is fairly useless to me. I am going to have to save $1000+ to buy a Mac. So yeah I'll run up and down the street singing their praises if they fix the problems so many musicians & producers are having.

 

[sygnus21]

@legacy
I will happily give them props if they address the issue. If not I just threw away $100+ that my broke @$$ do not have and my pc is fairly useless to me. I am going to have to save $1000+ to buy a Mac. So yeah I'll run up and down the street singing their praises if they fix the problems so many musicians & producers are having.

Or you could save that $1000+ get Windows 7 and be just as happy... and a thousand richer

Anyway I'm happy to hear Blue is going to be free; although, with all the vitriol over 8, I really didn't Microsoft had a choice. I honestly don't they wanted to go anywhere near the heat from the stink of charging for this first service pack for 8

They would have been lambasted, and they know it.

As for it being offered through the store.... this is another way to get people to sign up for their services. You don't need an account for Windows update, but you need one for the store. I'm sure however the official line will be piracy

Anyway free is good.

 

[Ray8]

If the update doesn't address the major criticisms levelled at Windows 8 by World+Dog, then whether it's free or not is a moot point. If all Microsoft is doing is polishing the spaghetti, it'll still be a spaghetti.

 

[sygnus21]

If the update doesn't address the major criticisms levelled at Windows 8 by World+Dog, then whether it's free or not is a moot point. If all Microsoft is doing is polishing the spaghetti, it'll still be a spaghetti.

Well before playing the guessing game and passing final judgment, let's see what it actually has to offer when finally released before killing it.

But I know that's a tall order so...

 

[jimbo45]

I hope they address the legacy/firewire issues for those of us who use our systems for music & video.

What kind of issues? I have an older Canon video camera that uses firewire but have not tried it on Windows 8. Guess I will need to test it out.

Jim

Hi there
I'm using an XP Virtual machine for that -- works perfectly -- video capture / transfer etc then I share the disk with W8 and use the various video editing programs. Same for Music recording stuff too --including Minidisc --anybody remember those.

One thing though I miss on modern laptops is that they don't have Express card slots so you might find using a firewire port not possible. If your laptop has an Express card slot you can use both Firewire and USB 3. On a desktop though firewire ports shouldn't be an issue.

(OT) One annoyance though on modern mobos -- if you need to add a USB 3 card you only seem to be able to get this in the PCI-E (the small slots) format -- but I've seen full size PCI-X cards on a server so where can you get these -- I want to add some USB3 devices to a desktop computer but the PCI-E slots are used so I need a PCI-X type of card.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[jimbo45]

If the update doesn't address the major criticisms levelled at Windows 8 by World+Dog, then whether it's free or not is a moot point. If all Microsoft is doing is polishing the spaghetti, it'll still be a spaghetti.

Hi there
"..If it Looks like a duck, Quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck .... Then it's A DUCK...".

Cheers
jimbo

 

[DavidY]

As for it being offered through the store.... this is another way to get people to sign up for their services. You don't need an account for Windows update, but you need one for the store.

Hmm that's a good point.

I wonder if there will be ways around it for people without a Microsoft Account, or where (like me) I do have a Microsoft Account but it doesn't have Admin rights on the PC.

Here's another thing though - one of the selling points of Windows Store apps is that they move with you from PC to PC. So I install a Windows Store app when I'm logged in on PC A, and it's there on PC B.

I really don't want that to happen with the operating system itself!

 

[sygnus21]

As for it being offered through the store.... this is another way to get people to sign up for their services. You don't need an account for Windows update, but you need one for the store.

Hmm that's a good point.

I wonder if there will be ways around it for people without a Microsoft Account, or where (like me) I do have a Microsoft Account but it doesn't have Admin rights on the PC.

I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at here, but…

Having a Microsoft Account (Live) and having Administrative Rights on a PC is completely two different things.

All the Live account does is allow you to use Microsoft’s on-line services. Once you establish a Live account, you can use it to sign in for various services such as x-box, E-mail, the Apps Store, SkyDrive, etc.

Under Windows 8, it allows you to use your Live account as your main Profile, which also provides uninterrupted service and connection to your other Live services you may be using. It has nothing to do whether you have Admin rights or not.

BTW bear in mind that you don’t have to have a Live account to use Windows 8 (http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4842-local-account-switch-windows-8-a.html), it just make it (Win 8) easier to use if you do. The whole thing about Win 8 is it’s a "live" experience.

That said, if the PC belongs to you, you should have full rights. If not, you shouldn’t be installing anything on it without permission from the owner anyway.

Here's another thing though - one of the selling points of Windows Store apps is that they move with you from PC to PC. So I install a Windows Store app when I'm logged in on PC A, and it's there on PC B.

I really don't want that to happen with the operating system itself!

I'm pretty sure that's not the way that works, for a host of reasons. Also, apps will need to be individually installed on each device - Thus on PC A and PC B, you'll have to install on both yourself. Same with Blue.

 

[Phone Man]

I hope they address the legacy/firewire issues for those of us who use our systems for music & video.

What kind of issues? I have an older Canon video camera that uses firewire but have not tried it on Windows 8. Guess I will need to test it out.

Jim

I just tested my video camera and it works great. Its an older Canon ZR10 tape camera and I use Windows Photo Gallery 2012 and my port is a Via 1394ohci using Windows 8 default driver.

Jim

 

[DavidY]

I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at here, but…

My apologies - I probably didn't explain myself well enough.

On the PC I'm thinking of, I have two accounts:

Account 1: Local account, with full admin rights, and no link to Windows Store
Account 2: Microsoft Account, with no admin rights (and linked to Windows Store via the account).

I'm suspecting that Account 1 probably won't let me install 8.1 because it's got no Windows Store account.
And Account 2 probably won't let me install it because it's not an Admin-level account, and changing Operating System is presumably something you'd need to be Admin for.

And yes it's my PC. My theory is that, even with anti-malware software active, it's safer to use a non-Admin account for day-to-day use, so I prefer to run it this way. Also by having a local account as admin, if something went wrong in the cloud with my Microsoft Account, I could still get into the PC.

I'm pretty sure that's not the way that works, for a host of reasons. Also, apps will need to be individually installed on each device - Thus on PC A and PC B, you'll have to install on both yourself. Same with Blue.

Ah fair enough.

I read this

Your personal settings are synchronised to any Windows 8 and Windows RT PCs, including your themes, language preferences, browser favourites and most apps.

here and read it to mean that there'd be an automatic synch of apps as soon as I logged in to PC B:
Which user account is right for me? - Microsoft Windows Help

 

[sygnus21]

I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at here, but…

My apologies - I probably didn't explain myself well enough.

On the PC I'm thinking of, I have two accounts:

Account 1: Local account, with full admin rights, and no link to Windows Store
Account 2: Microsoft Account, with no admin rights (and linked to Windows Store via the account).

I'm suspecting that Account 1 probably won't let me install 8.1 because it's got no Windows Store account.
And Account 2 probably won't let me install it because it's not an Admin-level account, and changing Operating System is presumably something you'd need to be Admin for.

And yes it's my PC. My theory is that, even with anti-malware software active, it's safer to use a non-Admin account for day-to-day use, so I prefer to run it this way. Also by having a local account as admin, if something went wrong in the cloud with my Microsoft Account, I could still get into the PC.

Still lost me, but you can give the "Live" account Admin rights should you choose...

Control Panel, User Accounts, click "Change your account type". There you can change the account from standard to Administrator. This will give the Live account admin rights.

Than, if you want to sign in with the Live account, it now has full admin rights.

Also, if you have a Live account, and are logged in with it, you don’t need to set it to use with the Apps Store, or any of the other services using the Live account other than the initial setup. By virtual of being logged into 8 with it, the store is already open to you. You may however need to do some setup to make purchases though – credit card & billing info. Other than that, the store is already open to you.

You might want to read up on the live account & win 8 here - Microsoft account - Microsoft Windows

And here - HTG Explains: Microsoft Accounts vs. Local Accounts in Windows 8

Other than that, if you have security concerns using the live account, that's different, but now you know what the account is about, and how it basically works. If you still don't want to give it admin rights, that's cool too.

I'm pretty sure that's not the way that works, for a host of reasons. Also, apps will need to be individually installed on each device - Thus on PC A and PC B, you'll have to install on both yourself. Same with Blue.

Ah fair enough.

I read this

Your personal settings are synchronised to any Windows 8 and Windows RT PCs, including your themes, language preferences, browser favourites and most apps.

here and read it to mean that there'd be an automatic synch of apps as soon as I logged in to PC B:
Which user account is right for me? - Microsoft Windows Help

I didn't even read that link, but the above should give you a clearer understanding.

Good luck.

 

[Lee]

If you do not want to sync between two computers, laptops, tablets, etc., then go into settings and turn off sync between devices. . .it really is that simple.

Just go into "Setting" then "Sync Your Settings," and "Turn Off Sync; Settings On This PC."