14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has kicked off the Windows Upgrade Offer, which allows owners of a new Windows 7 PC to move to Windows 8 Pro when released on October 26, for a promotional price of $/€14.99.
In order to qualify for the offer, you must have a Windows 7 PC purchased between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013. The Windows edition is irrelevant, as all flavors (Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate) will be updated to Windows 8 Pro for the same amount of money.
Registration is currently open, and the last day to apply for the upgrade is February 28, 2013. This gives more than enough time to try the new Windows and adjust to the new environment that features two switchable interfaces.
All customers that register for the offer will receive a confirmation email after Microsoft validation.
However, the company won’t start distributing the promotion codes before the official launch date for Windows 8, October 26, when customers will also receive purchasing instructions and details about downloading the software.
Although the purchase of a new Windows 7 computer is compulsory to take advantage of the offer, Microsoft does not impose any restrictions regarding the machine you want to upgrade.
In other words, you can use the Windows 8 license on any computer with a valid base license for a qualifying operating system, which also includes Windows XP (SP3) and Vista, as long as the minimum Windows 8 specifications are met.
If you want to upgrade a Windows 7 PC purchased at a date earlier than June 2, 2012, the price more than doubles up, but it is still within reason, at $/€39.99. This upgrade will also be available starting October 26.
Both upgrade offers are available in 140 countries worldwide, with 37 supported languages and payable in 23 currencies. You can check them all on this page.