I recently upgraded my old Windows XP machines to Windows 8 Pro. I was talking about this with a few teachers in the staff room, and they didn’t know that, right now, Microsoft has a special upgrade price.

• Windows 8 Pro costs $69.99 to buy a DVD.
• You can download the Windows 8 Pro upgrade by January 31, 2013 for only $39.99.
• This upgrade works if you’re already running Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7.
• (If you have Windows 7, you may be able to get the Windows 8 Pro upgrade for $15.)

Why did I upgrade? I really like the idea of Windows 8 storage spaces which lets you pool multiple hard drives into a single space. A hard drive on my home server recently crashed over the winter holidays, and now that Microsoft no longer supports Windows home server, it makes sense to try to switch to Windows 8 while I can. (I’m sure I’ve got a copy of Windows XP lying around somewhere that I can use to upgrade to Windows 8.)

Also, I’m really interested to see where Windows goes in the tablet market. I love my iPad, but the fact that you can’t have multiple user accounts is a serious drag in a school environment. (How many teachers bring their own personal iPad to school, but are reluctant to let a student use it because they don’t want kids to be able to access personal information?)

Four years ago, I bought an MDG flip tablet netbook for the classroom. I wonder if I can get Windows 8 Pro working with the touchscreen on the old device. Maybe that will be my March break project.

Do you use Windows 8 Pro?