To clear up something here, windows 8 is a valid operating system in its own right but you can… and yes MOST people should go to the free 8.1 upgrade. Now what happens if (for whatever reason) you don’t want to upgrade to 8.1?
Retail support for windows 8 ends at the end of this month… that is to say people that purchase a NEW computer from a retail outlet of some kind after this date can reasonably expect that it will not come prepackaged with windows 8 installed. You will still be able to ask for 8 for some time after this date and there will no doubt be all kind of specials around.
Windows 8 main support goes until January 9, 2018 and at that point you can upgrade to 8.1 within 24 months for an extra 5 years extended support or lose support.
Read about it here; http://support2.microsoft.com/gp/lifecycle-windows81-faq
Retail support for windows 8 ends at the end of this month… that is to say people that purchase a NEW computer from a retail outlet of some kind after this date can reasonably expect that it will not come prepackaged with windows 8 installed. You will still be able to ask for 8 for some time after this date and there will no doubt be all kind of specials around.
Windows 8 main support goes until January 9, 2018 and at that point you can upgrade to 8.1 within 24 months for an extra 5 years extended support or lose support.
Read about it here; http://support2.microsoft.com/gp/lifecycle-windows81-faq