Windows 8 Pro upgrade pricing will jump from $40 to $200 on Feb. 1

Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system is about to become a lot more expensive. An upgrade of Windows 8 Pro will go from costing $40 in a promotional offer to a much more expensive $200 at the beginning of February.

Microsoft offered up an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $40 to try to get consumers more interested in the OS. It claims 60 million licenses of Windows 8 have been sold to date, but we don’t know how many of those copies have actually been activated.

While the price of Pro jumps up considerably, Microsoft will offer an upgrade to a more basic version of Windows 8 for $120. That’s still quite a bit more money than the $40 offer — and you get less features.

The company outlined the new pricing in a blog post today:

Windows 8 upgrade editions will be priced as follows starting in February:

• The Windows 8 Pro upgrade edition will be available online and at retail for $199.99 MSRP (U.S.).
• The Windows 8 upgrade edition will be available online and at retail for $119.99 MSRP (U.S.).
• The Windows 8 Pro Pack will cost $99.99 MSRP (U.S.).
• The Windows 8 Media Center Pack will cost $9.99 MSRP (U.S.).

If you have any interest in Windows 8 at all, we’d strongly consider the upgrade offer for $40. But that will end at the end of January, so you better make up your mind soon. You can upgrade over at Windows.com.

Microsoft also used today’s announcement to remind folks that bought a Windows 7 PC between June 2 and Jan. 31 that if they want to upgrade to Windows 8 for $15, they need to register before the end of the month.