Windows 8: How to Reduce Costs and Problems When Upgrading (Guest Post)

Computer, operating systems, and application manufacturers know they are selling you something that is not complete, and they will improve on very fast, so you can buy another product from them. This article shows small business owners and individuals how to reduce the costs of this cycle.



The biggest fear that arises for most users when a new operating system comes onto the market, is normally the cost. In actual fact, the biggest issue, the huge number of bugs associated with it. A perfect example of this is with the new Lion OSX. It is loaded with strange bugs that are still not fixed. Plug in your headphones, and when you take them out, the speakers of your laptop won’t work. There are pages and pages of discussion on the Apple forum, with so many solutions to fix the problem.

As someone who has been through this experience, it took a long time for me to fix the issue, and I am very experienced with Apple. The new Windows 8 operating system will be coming out sometime next year. The release of a new Windows operating system is much more of an issue than Apple releasing an operating system because over 85% of the world’s PC users are using Windows. Here is a look at how to deal with the situation when the system becomes available.

• Head On. If you really want to know what the operating system is going to be like, even before the market gets their hands on it, you can register to become a beta-tester. You can find your way to register to do this in the recently released Building Windows 8 blog. This is a blog by Microsoft developers, for developers, but is already loaded with conversations from individual personal computer users.
  
  If you do want to be a beta-tester, I would advise you use a separate laptop or desktop, so you do not mess up what you already have going. There will be a lot of problems at this stage, and that is why they will recruit beta-testers. Beta-testers will be reporting back all the problems they meet, and they will probably be given a free copy of the final version released to the public.

• Wait a Little. I have been running a network of computers for more than 15 years in my office, and I have one simple rule to deal with all hardware and software improvements and releases. That rule is very simple and has helped my small business immensely. The rule is: wait for the second or third version. That applies to new machines, new applications and new operating systems. While we do need to update, it is rare we need to update immediately.
  
  You will soon hear of all the problems associated from others. A perfect example with this was when the first Titanium Apple Mac’s were released the processors were plagued with problems. By the third generation, they were running smooth (and they were no longer Titanium). Another excellent example is when Apple switched to using Intel processors. The first generation was plagued with problems By the third generation, they ran as smooth and slick. The same is with operating systems, and all applications. By waiting, even only a short time, you will avoid all the problems those who have the ‘latest and greatest’ face.

• Second Hand. When most people think about buying computers, they rarely think buying one second-hand is a good idea. What you must understand is there is little that can go wrong with a modern personal computer, except for the hard drive. Replacing that single moving part is very cheap. There will be a new generation of personal computers that will come out to match the new Windows upgrade
  
  They will have much more power than the operating system needs. You will know the minimum system requirements by this stage, and there will be a huge number of very good, and very fast laptops on the market, just because some people bought the latest model of personal computer (because the marketing by manufacturers will be very convincing).

The cycle of buying the latest, and replacing to have the latest, is exactly what the hardware, software and operating system builders want you to do. Use these strategies to reduce costs and problems with your IT needs.