Windows 8 upgrade to cost a bomb from February 1

If you’re still deciding if you want to upgrade to Windows 8 or not, we advice you make your decision as soon as possible because come February 1, Microsoft will increase the prices of Windows 8 Pro upgrade edition and what costs a mere $39.33 (Rs.2,200) right now, would cost $200 (Rs.11,000) after January 31.

At the time of launch of the new OS, Microsoft had announced that the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro was just a promotional offer and would be valid for a limited time only. Even though Microsoft did announce that a price correction would happen, not many people believed that Microsoft would actually increase the price. Currently, Microsoft allows the users of Windows 7, Vista or XP to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro edition for just $39.99.

According to the official Windows blog, the new prices effective from February 1,2013 are as follows-

• The Windows 8 Pro upgrade edition will be available online and at retail for $199.99 MSRP (U.S.).
• The Windows 8 upgrade edition will be available online and at retail for $119.99 MSRP (U.S.).
• The Windows 8 Pro Pack will cost $99.99 MSRP (U.S.).
• The Windows 8 Media Center Pack will cost $9.99 MSRP (U.S.).

Considering the offer price, the new cost for upgrade to Windows 8 Pro seems quite steep. This deadline can also be seen as a final attempt by Microsoft to rake in more and more people to switch to the latest version of it’s OS. Though Microsoft has recently announced that the company has sold nearly 40 million licenses for Windows 8, but still many analysts feel that the new Operating System isn’t performing as well as the company would have liked.

If you plan to upgrade your OS after February 11 but a re reluctant to spend $200, Microsoft has got a cheaper alternative for you. Microsoft will offer a basic Windows 8 edition for $120, which obviously would get lesser features as compared to Windows 8 Pro edition.

Also, the Media Center Pack, which is available for free to Windows 8 Pro users as of now, would cost $10 from February 1. This would mark an end to all the promotional offers, which came along with Windows 8 at it’s launch. It is also to be noted that even the Windows 8 previews expired on January 15 and the users who hadn’t purchased the license, had their systems restarted every one or two hours asking them to upgrade to a paid copy of Windows 8 Pro.