Buy new PC in June, get Windows 8 Pro for $15?

4 hrs.

Suzanne Choney

A new report from Windows blogger?Paul Thurrott?says that people who buy a Windows 7 system starting in June may?be able to get Windows 8 Pro, a notch above the consumer version, for just $15, when the OS ships in the fall. But whether people who don't want to pay $15 will be able to get a free version of the more basic Windows 8?is unknown.

As we wrote?recently, Microsoft is expected to offer a reduced Windows 8 upgrade price for people who buy PCs immediately before launch time, and June 2 is likely to be that starting date.?

Windows, due for full release in October,? will come in three flavors: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and Windows RT, the latter?mainly for people who will?only?use?Windows on a tablet.

Microsoft Tuesday declined to comment on the pricing or the report by Paul Thurrott of SuperSite for Windows, who wrote:

A coming Microsoft promotion will provide Windows 8 Pro to buyers of Windows 7-based PCs for just $14.99, according to my sources.

But the Windows 8 promotion is different. This time around, Microsoft is only offering two mainstream versions of the product to consumers: Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. And instead of offering a free upgrade to the version of Windows 8 that most closely matches the version of Windows 7 a user buys with a new PC, Microsoft will this time offering only the higher-end Windows 8 Pro.

"Unfortunately, we have nothing further to share," a spokesman for Microsoft told msnbc.com.

The offer is likely to coincide, at least somewhat, with the unveiling of the?"release preview," one of the final beta versions of Windows 8 before it is fully baked and ready for shipment. Microsoft generally offers the betas for free to registered users, though these versions expire when the final?software is released.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)?

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