Today is the last day you can buy Windows 8 for a reasonable price: $40. After today, you’ll have to fork out $200 for the new O/S.

According to The Register, Microsoft is accusing PC and handheld device manufacturers of not building enough Windows 8 devices. Despite publicly claiming that Windows 8 sales are similar to Windows 7’s at this point, the numbers being flouted are deceptive, in that they include sales to manufacturers. Internally, it seems clear that Microsoft is actually disappointed with Windows 8 sales and is looking for someone to blame.

Traditionally, with each successive version of Windows, startup times have grown longer. Even the steady performance improvements in PC hardware were no match for the bloat of Windows.

With Windows 8, Microsoft decided to ‘improve’ startup performance by fooling users into thinking their computer is completely shut down when in fact it is not. It turns out that shutting down Windows 8 actually puts Windows into a suspended state, in which the current state of Windows is stored on a hard drive, ready to be loaded when the computer is restarted.

This kind of sleep/suspended state has been around for a while, and is most commonly used in portable devices such as laptops. However, there are drawbacks to this in Windows 8. Anyone attempting to boot to a different operating system, from another device (besides the default hard drive), or enter the BIOS setup program, will be unable to do so without resorting to special (hidden) methods. Worse, the classic Windows troubleshooting step of rebooting a computer will no longer accomplish much: any problems in Windows that would previously have been cleared by way of a reboot will persist in Windows 8.

I have no problem with Microsoft improving Windows’ startup performance, and I have no problem with them using sleep states to do that, but hiding what’s really going on is just going to cause a lot of confusion and frustration.

If you’re going to buy Windows 8, you should do it soon. The promotional price of $40 for Windows 8 Pro Upgrade will end on January 31, 2012. After that, the price will be $200. I had hoped Microsoft would keep the price for Windows 8 low; $200 is excessive, especially if Microsoft really wants people to upgrade. Most people hesitate before spending $200 on anything, but $40 is a no-brainer, and even if you end up going back to Windows 7, at that price you won’t feel like you’ve been cheated. The accountants at Microsoft clearly haven’t yet learned that lowering software prices solves a lot of problems, including piracy.

Over at The Verge, Tom Warren has an interesting post about Pokki, a Windows Start menu replacement for Windows XP, 7 and 8.

Apparently, the Windows 8 version of Pokki has been downloaded over 1.5 million times since its introduction in October 2012. That would seem to imply that there is a strong demand for a Start menu in Windows 8, which Microsoft consistently denies. Similar surges in downloads of Windows 8 Start menu software like Stardock’s Start8 and Classic Shell reinforce the notion that a significant portion of Windows 8 users are not happy with the lack of a Start menu.

Lifehacker has an interesting post that points to information from Microsoft on downgrading Windows 8 to Windows 7.

The downgrade option is not available for all new PCs and license types. The Microsoft page linked above goes over the details.

There are a lot of legitimate reasons one might want to downgrade.

It’s no longer possible to purchase a PC with Windows 7, so anyone buying a new PC will get Windows 8 by default. Being forced to switch operating systems by a big corporation is annoying for many people. You know, people who prefer to have a choice.

If you’re not interested in learning the new O/S, or setting the computer up for someone who is comfortable in Windows 7 (say your grandmother) and doesn’t want to change, this is a useful option.

I’ve personally downgraded a set of Windows computers like this, when software required for a business just didn’t run with the delivered O/S. Sure, it’s the developers’ fault, but waiting for a fix wasn’t an option.

You may use hardware and/or drivers that don’t work on the new O/S, in which case, again, you don’t have much choice until you buy new hardware or (if you’re very lucky), the hardware maker produces new drivers.

Corporate IT providers use the downgrade option more than anyone. There’s a constant need to replace aging PC hardware, but upgrading operating systems involves an enormous amount of re-training that most companies would prefer to do on their own schedule, instead of Microsoft’s.

And so on.

Suprisingly, a lot of the comments on the Lifehacker story are negative. “just learn the new O/S” is a common refrain. Unpaid (or possibly paid) marketing drones, all of them.