Intel Corp (INTC)

[mmoy]

> That's because a Mountain Lion upgrade is $19.99, while
> Microsoft charges $69.99 for a Windows 8 Pro upgrade.

Microsoft has a special deal to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99 until the end of January. This should be a really attractive deal as Windows Pro upgrades are usually around $160.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy?ocid=GA8_O_WOL_Hero_Home_FPP_Null

> while Microsoft is not intuitive to most laymen end-users.

A friend bought a laptop yesterday and went to set it up today. She claimed it was the worst experience that she's had with Windows. It was a non-touchscreen laptop for her father. She said that she's going with a Mac on her next upgrade.

I've heard some say that setup is easy and some say that it's hard. I really won't know until I try it myself.

The big reason to get Windows 8, for people on older Windows systems, is the back-end stuff. I've read that the improvements there are huge. Just a shame on what they did on the UI though.