A bit of link baiting never hurt anyone :) While I suspect that Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 upgrades flew of the “shelves” in the Microsoft Store over the last 22 hours, it seems that the retail presence is … well …
This morning at PC World, Carrickmines, Dublin, Ireland.
I decided that I’d start of at the PC World branch in south Dublin that opens at 9am. This store is just 5 miles from the Microsoft European Operations Centre, also one of the locations where Windows/Office/Azure/etc are developed, and the office of Microsoft Ireland. Last year, for Windows 8, the two stores (also “ChainB”) in this park had a Microsoft presence here. I thought it would be a good place to start.
I drove in at about 09:15 and I was greeted by the above signage.
Windows 8 is here.
Odds are Microsoft paid for that signage in some way. That’s how these things are done in retail – it seems mad to me that a store will not advertise its own stock without being paid by the manufacturer but that’s how it is. But at the very least, couldn’t they have painted a “.1” on this sign?!?!?!
OK, maybe it was a weather or timing thing. I walked inside. This is one of the better laid out electronics stores in the country so I had high hopes. Lots and lots of … Windows 8 machines, most of which were launched at IFA over a year ago in 2012. There was not a single Windows 8.1 device in the store. OK, let’s have a look at the boxed Windows product … and it was all Windows 8.1.
Note: There are no SKUs for a Windows 8.1 “upgrade”. That means you have two choices to get from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1:
- Pay for the full priced Windows 8.1 media.
- Buy the Windows 8 upgrade, upgrade your machine, and then use your free Windows 8-to-8.1 upgrade rights from the Windows Store to do a second upgrade.
I abandoned plans to visit ChainB because they have a reputation for stocking older stuff.
No lessons learned. Here we go again. Once again manufacturers will bitch about Windows. Once again there will be no supply until February. Sigh!