Windows 7 to ship in six flavors

Posted on Wednesday, February 04 2009 @ 20:37 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck

Microsoft has announced there will be six versions of the upcoming Windows 7 operating system; Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate.

That sounds like a lot but most consumers will only be confronted by the Home Premium and Professional SKUs. The Starter edition is only for OEMs, Home Basic is only available in emerging markets, Enterprise is for enterprises only and the Ultimate edition will have limited availability.

Engadget published a list with the differences of the six Windows 7 SKUs:

Windows 7 Starter

Available worldwide to OEMs on new PCs

Missing Aero UI tweaks

Limited to 3 simultaneous applications

Windows 7 Home Basic (Vista equivalent: $200)

Only available in emerging markets

Missing Aero UI tweaks

Windows 7 Home Premium (Vista equivalent: $260)

Available worldwide, to OEMs and in retail
Includes Aero UI tweaks
Features multi-touch capabilities
Adds "premium" games
Adds media capabilities (Media Center, DVD playback, DVD creation, etc.)
Can create home network groups

Windows 7 Professional (Vista equivalent: $300)

Available worldwide, to OEMs and in retail
Includes all features of Premium
Adds enhanced networking capabilities (Remote Desktop host, domain support, offline folders, etc.)
Adds Mobility Center
Adds Presentation Mode

Windows 7 Enterprise

Available only in volume licenses
Includes all features of Professional
Adds Branch Cache
Adds Direct Access
Adds BitLocker

Windows 7 Ultimate (Vista equivalent: $320)

Limited OEM and retail availability
Includes all features of Enterprise

About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.

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Re: Windows 7 to ship in six flavors
by Anonymous on Thursday, February 05 2009 @ 1:06 CET

MS will never learn will they? There should be 4 flavors:
Basic
Home
Home w Media
Business

Both home and business should have Media player (but not Media Center) because even business folks have to listen in on web conferences and webinars. It's absurd to think only home users need that. Business users can get encrypting and remote access and nice business tools. Home can concentrate on Media player and simple movie and picture editing. Home Media Center is for the Home Theater types.

This pricing system, along with "ultimate" and it's horrific cost are nothing more than pre-recession largesse, Microsoft overcharging everyone high and low to keep the fat cats fat.

This is going to once again, drive people to XP, harm Win 7 sales and all because Microsoft is being insultingly greedy.

Pathetic.

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