bill - 4:26 am on Jan 30, 2013 (gmt 0)

Unlike previous versions of Windows there is not a Windows 8 version available like the OEM versions intended for a clean install. All available versions of Windows 8 now are upgrade versions. They intend that you upgrade from a previous version of Windows.

When I had trouble activating a Windows 8 install due to my corporate firewall Microsoft had me wipe the drives, install an earlier version of Windows and then upgrade to Windows 8.

Unless you buy new hardware with Windows 8 the recommended path from Microsoft is an upgrade.