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Update:  According to Ed Bott and Jason Combes who commented below, the downloadable upgrade can be burned to a bootable DVD or stored on a USB drive for future use.  Brandon LeBlanc also commented over at the Windows Team Blog that you will also have the option to purchase a backup DVD for $15.

News is breaking this morning that the Windows 8 OS, which will be come publicly available to everyone on 26 October, is now available for pre-orders.

If you are the type that must have a physical DVD with your OS bits on it then a pre-order is right up your alley however, if you do not mind having a download only then a little patience may save you a few bucks.

Beginning 26 October you can head to Windows.com and use the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant to upgrade your current version of Windows, all the way back to XP Sp3 in fact, to Windows 8 Pro. That electronic download and upgrade will only cost you $40 compared to the $70 for the pre-order package and physical DVD.

That $40 offer only lasts until 31 January 2013 so you definitely want to take advantage of it within that 90 day period.  Based on the pricing at Newegg.com and Amazon.com the pre-order is being offered at about a $130 discount off suggested retail so it is unclear how long that deal will last which makes the $40 offer quite attractive as well.

So what is your plan? Upgrade via one of these deals or wait until later to move to Windows 8?

Windows 8 Pro OS and Windows 8 Hardware Pre-Order News: