Consumers who purchase afresh personal computer between now and Jan. 31 can pay US$14.99 for an upgrade to Windows 8, the future edition of Microsoft’s personal computer operating system, Microsoft declared Wednesday.

head of Microsoft’s OEM division,Steve Guggenheimer, brought out the cost in his keynote speech at the Computex trade show Wednesday, but he did not provide a release date for Windows eight, as a few had asked.

Psychoanalysts and personal computer makers have told they expect Windows eight to ship before the close of the year. The reality that the promote offer ends Jan thirty-one advises Microsoft expects it to be out by that date at least, possibly earlier.

This latest upgrade cost is for consumers only, according to a slide that seemed shortly during Guggenheimer’s demonstration. It’s bounded to one upgrade per personal computer and 5 upgrades per person.

Such cracks are intended partially to stop people from holding back on purchasing a new personal computer because they acknowledge afresh operating system release is on the horizon, something that could be dreadful financially for Microsoft and its mates.

Personal computers sold in the passage period to old versions of Windows went with an array of coupons from Microsoft and personal computer vendors tendering free, subsidized or half-price advances. For many users, promotes on a new personal computer from Windows Vista to Windows seven were free or nearly free.

Much of Guggenheimer’s keynote was given over to a demo of Windows eight, the biggest update to Microsoft’s personal computer OS since the move from 16-bit to 32-bit computing with Windows 95.

The OS is optimised for touch computing and admits a completely fresh interface, known as Metro, that sports large tile icons a bit like Windows Phone seven. The older Windows desktop is still available underneath as an choice.

It is also the 1st release of Microsoft’s PC OS that will keep going ARM-type processors as well as the x86 chips from Advanced Micro Devices and Intel.