We recently revealed that Microsoft still hadn't announced how many flavors Windows 7 would ship in. In a recent briefing with Paul Thurrott, Microsoft Senior Vice President Bill Veghte revealed the SKUs that Windows 7 will ship in. "We feel that this lineup offers a clear onramp for Windows 7, making it easier than ever to find the right version for your needs", Veghte added. So without further ado, here is the official lineup of Windows 7 versions with an outlined overview:Windows 7 Starter
Market: Emerging markets, with new PCs only
Key features: Enhanced taskbar, Jump Lists, Windows Media Player, Backup and Restore, Action Center, Device Stage, Play To, Fax and Scan, basic games
What's missing: Aero Glass, many Aero desktop enhancements, Windows Touch, Media Center, Live thumbnail previews, Home Group creation
Windows 7 Home Premium
Market: Mainstream retail market
Key features: Aero Glass, Aero Background, Windows Touch, Home Group creation, Media Center, DVD playback and authoring, premium games
What's missing: Domain join, Remote Desktop host, advanced backup, EFS, Mobility Center, Offline Folders
Windows 7 Professional (superset of Home)
Market: Mainstream retail market
Key features: Domain join, Remote Desktop host, location aware printing, EFS, Mobility Center, Presentation Mode, Offline Folders, Media Center
What's missing: BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, Direct Access, Branche Cache, MUI language packs, boot from VHD
Windows 7 Enterprise
Market: Volume-license business customers only
Key features: BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, Direct Access, Branche Cache, MUI language packs, boot from VHD
What's missing: Retail licensing
Windows 7 Ultimate
Market: Retail market, limited availability
Key features: BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, Direct Access, Branche Cache, MUI language packs, boot from VHD
What's missing: Volume licensing
There will be a Home Basic edition, but it will only be released to emerging markets. "We know emerging markets have unique needs and we will offer Windows 7 Home Basic, only in emerging markets, for customers looking for an entry-point Windows experience on a full-size value PC", said Windows General Manager Mike Ybarra. Paul Thurrot is reporting that Home Basic will lack "Aero Glass, Live Thumbnail Previews, Internet Connection Sharing, and a few other goodies."
As with Windows Vista, each different SKU offers unique features, with the most advanced in the Ultimate edition. Microsoft has yet to release any retail suggests pricing for these editions. Consumers now have three versions to choose from: Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. Compared to the Windows Vista line up, which offered editions. What are your thoughts? Has Microsoft made it easier for the average PC user to choose which version is right for their PC and day-to-day use with the three versions they will be able to purchase?
Personally I believe the lineup has been made clearer compared to Windows Vista. Each tier offers a specific version for a specific audience. The biggest plus for consumers with these editions is the fact that the hottest feature of Windows Vista, Aero and its extras, are now offered in Starter and Home Premium editions rather than in Ultimate. But what about Ultimate? With the majority of consumers buying Vista Ultimate for Aero effects and it's extras, how will Windows 7 Ultimate be marketed to gain consumer attention? Has it became a redundant SKU?
Article last updated at: 1:53 P.M. (-6 GMT) to make the Author's opinion clearer.
what? windows Aero was included in vista home basic and vista home premium. the only difference for home basic was that it didnt have the transparency option under personalization->appearance
Is somebody going to correct that?
and i'm pretty sure that you're wrong. i mentioned earlier that aero was included in home basic with a level of certainty no? when Brandon mentions it you might want to agree too
there was the windows Aero theme. the difference in home basic was (if i remember it) Windows Aero Basic. which had the same effects, but there was no checkbox for Transparency. also like brandon mentioned, no Flip3D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Aero
great, another incorrect post. everyone should really just have payed attention to Brandon's post as it was most accurate.
Home Basic has the Aero Basic theme. which is exactly the same as the usual Aero theme, but without the transparency option, and no Flip3D available.
Its not officially supported no, but it is in fact included and can be enabled with a registry key.
http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=aero+on+vista+home+basic
owned!
Look it up people: Vista Standard... not to be confused with Aero, also known as Aero Glass
"Home Basic has the Aero Basic theme. which is exactly the same as the usual Aero theme, but without the transparency option, and no Flip3D available"
you must be really confused. have you ever used Vista Home Basic?
like i said, and Brandon, an MS employee mentioned earlier, all Vista editions (not sure about starter) have DWM. They all have the Aero theme, but like i said, Home Basic has the Aero Basic theme. Aero Basic is like Aero, but does not have the transparency checkbox option under Window Color and Appearance.
Now ZQA, pay attention: go to that first link you posted. check out one of the first screenshots there, the one of IE. that is the same Aero theme as HomePrem/Bus/Ult , but with no transparency. your own link that you posted shows that YOU ARE INCORRECT!!!
if you still dont believe, i'll even install vista home basic on a spare PC and send you some screenshots
Look it up people: Vista Standard... not to be confused with Aero, also known as Aero Glass
why dont you try it yourself. Home Basic has an aero type theme in which the only difference is you cannot use transparency. the glossy type effects and stuff are all there
i guess you're just as smart as ZQA. making posts regarding an OS you havent even used
Finally an accurate statement from you. ZQA has posted 2 links which clearly indicates that Home Basic does not include Windows Aero. Yet, your closed mind continues to believe that Windows Aero is in fact the Vista theme known in Home Basic as Windows Vista Standard and Windows Vista Basic. I should know, I'm currently posting this from Vista Home Basic.
Anyways, when you figure out how to enable Aero in Home Basic, please let these users know: http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/13/enable-vi...sta-home-basic/
Anyways, when you figure out how to enable Aero in Home Basic, please let these users know: http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/13/enable-vi...sta-home-basic/
close minded? please. check my posts. i said it included aero basic (ok, the name was incorrect, the theme name is vista standard), but the whole point in all my posts were that the theme included is exactly like windows aero without the transparency option
if you are using home basic then you could have at least figured out what i was talking about no? does "vista standard" not look exactly like "windows aero" but without transparency?
maybe we should agree on something. that the whole vista home basic and making a special theme for it called vista standard (which makes it even more confusing) was a real waste of time and a mistake on microsofts part.
Anyways, when you figure out how to enable Aero in Home Basic, please let these users know: http://www.ghacks.net/2007/05/13/enable-vi...sta-home-basic/
close minded? please. check my posts. i said it included aero basic (ok, the name was incorrect, the theme name is vista standard), but the whole point in all my posts were that the theme included is exactly like windows aero without the transparency option
if you are using home basic then you could have at least figured out what i was talking about no? does "vista standard" not look exactly like "windows aero" but without transparency?
maybe we should agree on something. that the whole vista home basic and making a special theme for it called vista standard (which makes it even more confusing) was a real waste of time and a mistake on microsofts part.
Agreed.
Is somebody going to correct that?
Well, that's Paul Thurrott for you
That's got to be an insult!
again - was i not clearly describing an aero type theme that did not include transparency? my mistake was referring to it as 'aero basic' when its really called 'vista standard'. either way, its a theme that looks just like aero but with no transparency option
i'm not trying to find any way out. i've used home basic before. i knew it had a theme that looked like aero but with less functions. it uses DWM like other vista editions. thats all i'm trying to say
No. Go to Control Panel -> Personalization -> Windows Color and Appearance -> Open classic appereance properties for more color options ->
compare Color Schemes Windows Vista Basic and Windows Aero.
Windows Vista Home Basic lacks Windows Aero Color Scheme; hence, no complete Aero Experience and a slightly different look: Taskbar, Start Menu are the same, but window control buttons (minimize/maximize/close) are different.
Vista Basic:
http://img16.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clipboard01cd7.jpg
Aero:
http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=clipboard02ub3.jpg
Last edited by zhiVago on 05 Feb 2009 - 00:13
No. Go to Control Panel -> Personalization -> Windows Color and Appearance -> Open classic appereance properties for more color options ->
compare Color Schemes Windows Vista Basic and Windows Aero.
That is incorrect. Vista Home Basic includes the "Vista Standard" visual style, which is an Aero style that simply does not allow transparency. It is otherwise identical to Aero.
Here's a screenshot:
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/showcas...a_ff_std_03.gif
I thought be would be rejoicing that Professional is back and now includes everything in Home Premium... so you don't need to buy Ultimate if you want Remote Desktop and Media Center.
I thought be would be rejoicing that Professional is back and now includes everything in Home Premium... so you don't need to buy Ultimate if you want Remote Desktop and Media Center.
That's really interesting. So Pro has everything except the bitlocker features and VHD boot. Interesting...
did you check the source? or even pay attention to brandon's comments?
pro is a superset of home
Cross-posting from forum:
XP had:
Pro, Pro N, Pro K, Pro KN, Home, Home N, Home K, Home KN, Starter, Media Centre, Tablet PC, 64-bit (IA64) & 64-bit Pro (x86-64).
That's 13 SKUs.
Vista has:
Starter, Home Basic, Home Basic N, Home Basic K, Home Basic KN, Home Premium, Business, Business N, Business K, Business KN, Enterprise and Ultimate.
That's 12 SKUs.
Windows 7 will have:
Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate, and I'm assuming there'll be Home Premium N, Home Premium K, Home Premium NK, Enterprise N, Enterprise K and Enterprise NK.
That's 11 SKUs.
Seems to me the situation is improving - 7 > Vista > XP in this regard.
tl;dr:
There are less SKUs now than ever.
k is the one sold in Korea
i dont see that many.
what if you have a PC at home thats running media center and joined to a domain.. and gets connected to with RDP?
thats what we were expecting from what we heard few weeks back, but its not mentioned here. maybe you confused it with 'mobility center'? i did the first time reading through it quickly.
Pro has everything that Home Premium has, plus the additions listed here. Personally, I think this makes things MUCH simpler. Most people are capable of deciding whether they want Home Premium (average home user with no domain or RDP) or Pro (power users, small businesses, etc).
The only 3rd option that most people will never see is Ultimate, but most people don't need BitLocker or DA...
So basically the SKUs have been dropped to two, one is a superset of the other, and most people who bought Vista Ultimate (because they wanted MCE and domain / RDP) can just buy Win7 Pro, basically getting a price break.
Last edited by Brandon Live on 03 Feb 2009 - 19:28
so really home and pro are like they were with XP. and ultimate really seems like an 'enterprise' for home users if they need everything
Wrong. Ultimate (like Vista, Ultimate is just that, the *Kitchen Sink Edition* of Windows) is for that class of user that needs/desires every possible feature but on a non-VLK basis (unlike Enterprise, Ultimate will not be sold VLK-style). While Ultimate and Enterprise are almost mirror-images of each other, they are intended for far different customer-types (by licensing). You think that there aren't many customers that have an actual USE for Ultimate? Then you obviously aren't a telecommuter or in IT support.
Pro has everything that Home Premium has, plus the additions listed here. Personally, I think this makes things MUCH simpler. Most people are capable of deciding whether they want Home Premium (average home user with no domain or RDP) or Pro (power users, small businesses, etc).
The only 3rd option that most people will never see is Ultimate, but most people don't need BitLocker or DA...
So basically the SKUs have been dropped to two, one is a superset of the other, and most people who bought Vista Ultimate (because they wanted MCE and domain / RDP) can just buy Win7 Pro, basically getting a price break.
They will ONLY get that price break if they can crossgrade from Vista Ultimate to 7 Professional (something Vista didn't permit; you could crossgrade either sideways OR upward, but not down). Going from Vista Ultimate to anything BUT 7 Ultimate would be seen as a downgrade, and something likely to not fly (downgrades required a clean install), thereby wiping out any price break.
I bought Vista Ultimate because of RDP and Media Center (more so RDP than Media Center), and I fully expect to be going with 7 Ultimate (NOT Professional), but largely for reasons of continuity (however, I would largely recommend 7 Professional instead of Home Premium for new builds, but that is because of the increased capabilities present in today's hardware).
Windows XP Home
Windows XP Pro
Windows XP Starter
Windows XP Media Center
Windows XP Tablet PC
Windows XP 64-bit
Windows XP Embedded
Windows Vista Starter
Windows Vista Home Basic
Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows Vista Business
Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows Vista Ultimate
Windows Vist 64-bit
Windows Vista Embedded
Windows 7 Starter Edition (for emerging market and netbook users)
Windows 7 Home Premium (the main ?Media Center? equivalent)
Windows 7 Home Basic (for emerging market customers only)
Windows 7 Professional (the business SKU for home users and non-enterprise licensees)
Windows 7 Enterprise (for volume licensees)
Windows 7 Ultimate (for consumers who want/need business features)
Its same as Vista but now its differentiated way better than Vista
^^
There is a Home Basic edition (mentionned after the list), but for some reason the editor chose not to compare it. The article isn't quite coherent actually...
This is totally false for instance... The Aero effects were included in all other versions from Home Premium and up.
Home Basic is not available to retail. Only in "starter"/developing nations. In Win7, Home Basic is Starter but without the 3 program, CPU speed, RAM limits in place.
Again, you fail to see the reasons why a home user or non-enterprise user would actually NEED Ultimate Edition (likely because you don't fall into those categories).
Here are the most likely groups of users that would actually NEED Ultimate Edition (either Vista OR 7) because of unique features:
1. Portable users, especially laptop and notebook users. Bitlocker and EFS are the biggest friends portable users have today, and unless you have VLK licensing, Ultimate is your ONLY choice to get access to both.
2. Presentations (especially video presentations). Hate it all you want; Media Center makes presentations painless. While Home Premium includes it, Home Premium doesn't connect to domains.
3. IT support (either OF telecommuters, or the IT support itself telecommutes, or both). Three words: Remote Desktop Professional. Unless you do VLK, it's unique to Ultimate.
4. Bargain-hunters. If you're building new hardware (or replacing a lot of hardware in an existing PC) then starting entirely from scratch may actually be cheaper than upgrading, especially on the OS side. Upgrade pricing for Vista Home Premium *today* is $99 (retail); however, OEM pricing is typically $10 less. The disparity gets worse as you move further up the SKU chain, and is worst of all when it comes to Ultimate. In fact, Ultimate even has a price disparity between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions (which use the same license keys); for some rather odd reason, Ultimate 64-bit is generally less expensive than Ultimate 32-bit (OEM vs. OEM).
There is one further driving factor that you need to consider: will the user be upgrading to 4 GB of RAM or more? While before last year, the answer may have been a qualified *maybe*, nowadays, the answer is almost certainly *yes*, even with the economy in the crapper, simply because system memory prices are even further in the outhouse (even DDR3 prices). The real question isn't if, but when.
Or save a CRAPLOAD of money and use e.g. TrueCrypt.
If it's just for solitary reasons like these, it's insane to purchase a pricey Ultimate edition.
Pro does these, no need for Ultimate?
RDP is available for Pro already, no need for Ultimate. (and Pro doesn't lack Home Premium features)
Starter and Enterprise won't be around for most of us, but three choices is still one too many. Why bother with Home Premium? I guess I like Apple's take on giving all users the same OS with no particular features taken away. Microsoft wants you to pay for everything, even something so useful as Remote Desktop and advanced backup options. That's just retarded imho.
Though in Microsoft defense not a bad way of milking the gravy train.
if apple wasnt building computers and sold OSX through retail and oem i doubt theyd have just 1 sku as well at $129
Though in Microsoft defense not a bad way of milking the gravy train.
Except it's $400 just for Apple Remote Desktop, and don't forget the price of iLife.
Nevermind the fact that Apple isn't a software company (their SKU differentiation is done with the hardware, i.e. Macbook vs Macbook Pro), and that Apple can make more money by converting Windows users, whereas the only way for Microsoft to grow is to get some Windows users to pay more for premium features.
I have no need, whatsoever, for BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, Direct Access, Branche Cache, etc, so I'd rather not pay over £100 more than I need to.
I'm sure when Windows Vista came out, Windows Vista Home Premium was £150 and Windows Vista Ultimate was between £250 and £300, or something like that (although I could be wrong, I know Ultimate was much more money).
I don't see what is wrong with separating the operating system up into different options, essentially making it much cheaper for the average user.
Last edited by cJr. on 04 Feb 2009 - 04:28
You get every feature from the lower tier when you move up.
So Ultimate has everything yes, but Pro has everything home has--it's not a tradeoff between home and pro.
Starter too (read the changes to the starter edition that may make it pop up in more typical markets and netbooks this time around), so that makes four already! Is that not much?
with the way Home premium and Professional/business are setup, i think its pretty clear what the Ultimate sku is for.
the big mess which i think its good they cleaned up is dropping Home Basic
I'm sorry Tom, but that's a load of rubbish. Anyone who bought Ultimate just for the extras is a fool. They should immediately repackage their PC and return it to where they bought it from, because they are too stupid to own one.
Personally I didn't buy Ultimate because Bill Gates gave me a copy for free for helping him out with beta testing (thanks Bill!), however if I had to buy Windows I would have purchased Ultimate. Not because of the extras like you claim, but because no other SKU contained all the features I need. I run a domain at home and I want to use Media Centre. Only Ultimate gives me those features in one package.
Having an Ultimate edition (at least in Vista) makes perfect sense. In Windows 7 it's not really necessary unless you need encryption and enterprise level features as well as your home stuff.
Last edited by TCLN Ryster on 03 Feb 2009 - 19:14
Ultimate is still offered because without it, you wouldn't be able to buy Enterprise without a Software Assurance agreement. Ultimate and Enterprise are identical, they're just licensed through different channels.
Ultimate is still offered because without it, you wouldn't be able to buy Enterprise without a Software Assurance agreement. Ultimate and Enterprise are identical, they're just licensed through different channels.
For those of us that are tech savvy, yes we didn't buy Ultimate for the extras. But for a average consumers point of view, they see these extra features like Aero, that will make their desktop "pretty", they pay for it. It's normal for a consumer to pay more for something that has more features.
IMHO there is one version of Windows 7 but MS is selling it and shipping two artificially gimped versions which will, as usual, only confuse the hell out of end users and tech support personnel.
Ultimate is still offered because without it, you wouldn't be able to buy Enterprise without a Software Assurance agreement. Ultimate and Enterprise are identical, they're just licensed through different channels.
However, they added one feature to 7 Ultimate that Vista Ultimate lacked (and 7 Professional still lacks): VHD bootup (being able to boot from virtual hard drives). The ONLY versions of 7 that support that feature are 7 Ultimate and 7 Enterprise. There is actually one subset of current Vista users (most of this group use Home Premium and Ultimate today) that will actually USE that particular feature - gamers. In fact, once the specs of this feature are properly defined, it likely will be gamers, more than any other class of user (even enterprise users) that will really stretch the limits of what is possible with VHDs in an operating system that supports VHD booting.
That sounds like pretty much what is happening. It sounds like Ultimate probably won't be available at retail, just via special OEM offers or through Anytime Upgrade.
It isn't redundant, either. It has Bitlocker, Direct Access, VHD boot, and other corporate features. Sure, the audience is small, but is there a reason to not make it available? None that I can see.
PGHammer -
I don't really think VHD support is targetted at gamers... I don't even see how you think that benefits them.
Starter and Home Basic are for "emerging markets" and such. And maybe Basic will show up on netbooks or whatever, not sure.
I hope not :no:
I'm hoping all netbooks can handle Home Premium as I originally heard.
"Yes, they really are. Microsoft and its partners will focus most of their efforts selling Home Premium and Pro to the retail and consumer markets, and Enterprise to volume licensing business customers. That means that most consumers will simply have two choices when it comes to Windows 7: Home Premium and Pro. Just like with XP, when that OS first shipped."
Read. The. Bloody. Article.
There is a Home Basic. You very likely won't see it.
Though the word "premium" is a really fancy word to throw around for customers. "Choose our product! We offer you a premium user experience second to none!"
EDIT: Is it, or isn't it??
"Windows 7 Home Premium
Market: Mainstream retail market
Key features: Aero Glass, Aero Background, Windows Touch, Home Group creation, Media Center, DVD playback and authoring, premium games
What's missing: Domain join, Remote Desktop host, advanced backup, EFS, Mobility Center, Offline Folders
The volume Windows 7 offering for consumers builds on Starter and includes Mobility Center, Aero Glass, advanced windows navigation features like Aero Snap and Aero Peek, and multi-touch, as well as the ability to both create and participate in Home Groups. Home Premium will be sold at retail and be included with new computers."
BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, Direct Access, Branche Cache
though bitlocker to go would be great feature to have in home/pro
though bitlocker to go would be great feature to have in home/pro
I totally agree!
http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/01/11/w...ements-overview
Exactly, their idea with Bitlocker was always an oddity to me. It's of most use to either home or corporate users with laptops or netbooks.
Home users will be chosing from home premium and ultimate.
PS The actual article states that each version includes what the previous version does with some additions.
Home premium includes everything from starter and professional includes everything from home premium plus domain join and things like that.
Ultimate this time around is the same as enterprise .
The above neowin article should be edited to include the things its missing from the source article.
Last edited by majortom1981 on 03 Feb 2009 - 18:52
Also why is it still the only two worded name why does it have to be Home Premium why not just home what's so difficult about that.
AND removing mobility center from Home mayaswell just toss mobile computing and netbooks etc out the window if plan on running Windows 7 Home premium edition...
I think they should be fair and rename Professional to Professional Premium edition. It's just as stupid.
Last edited by Digix on 03 Feb 2009 - 19:03
If you want RDP in Home Premium (or any SKU, in actuality), install Live Mesh.
If you want RDP in Home Premium (or any SKU, in actuality), install Live Mesh.
Well that's just silly, Basic essentially doesn't exist in standard consumer market so they should drop 'premium' because it's unnecessary.
keep it simple stupid simple?
The cost of developing software isn't the boxes...
Yet, the development costs still exist. The more features, the more you pay.
What? It isn't magically in the code, it's in the code because we write that code. If Home Premium were the only version, we wouldn't write the RDP or BitLocker code. Then we wouldn't need as many engineers and designers and to spend all the money and resources it takes to build those features.
Do you complain when Toyota sells a car that looks more bland than a Lexus, at a cheaper price? They've already done all the work to design the Lexus, so by your logic all their cars should look like their best ones, instead of "artificially limiting" the attractiveness of the cheaper ones...
Diversification in business = win.
Anyways i rather have 3 version
Consumer
Corporate
And Ultimate (fusion of both)
Home Premium
Professional
Enterprise/Ultimate (really they're almost the same product)
And I'm unsure why separate licensing models should make two differently named products.
You can still provide remote support just like you can now with Remote Assistance on Vista Home Premium or XP Home.
I will consider purchasing it when they release a consumer and a corporate client. Until than I will stick to a mixture of XP and Vista (already made the tier mistake once). I really don't have time for this anymore. Kind of sad given that I have four installs of the Windows 7 beta. Oh, well... time to reformat and install from a saved image.
So, its Home Premium, Professional & Ultimate
(No for Enterprise because we cant BUY the retail....)
I will go for Ultimate or Professional...
Does Professional has Mediacenter?
*laughs in an evil manner*
Edit:
Ohhh... i just saw something... wait a min. whats "premium games" ? Is it something like Ultimate Extras which they promised for Vista Ultimate Edition?
Last edited by rakeshishere on 03 Feb 2009 - 19:27
Your local branch of computer shop wont see Starter or Enterprise so that leaves...
> Home Premium (Normal everyday home users)
> Professional (Advanced home and small business users)
> Ultimate (Geeks / Us)
Seems like a fair deal to me although i think MS should drop the 'Premium' from the name of the home premium edition, just confuses matters.
Ignore starter as it seems to only be geared towards stuff like netbooks or special use devices...
Home Premium for normal people >>> Ultimate for power users
Professional for normal businesses >>> Enterprise for large network VLK deployments
With that said, I'll be getting Windows 7 Enterprise through Virginia Tech's VLK agreement for free (Well, actually for the cost of tuition). =P
Last edited by ataris_kid on 03 Feb 2009 - 19:35
RDP=/=Mobility Center.
I think free is to much to ask for although it's a price I would absolutely love to pay.
Yeah, I wouldn't mind paying a small fee to upgrade to W7 Pro from Vista Ultimate but anything greater than, say, $50 will require some commanding reason to even go for it. All the stuff I've played with the beta is nice, but for my purposes there isn't a real need to get it immediately (:cry
Starter? Yeah, that **** is for Europe and their laws as other developing nations. Question: Is this what is going to be on upcoming Netbooks? Don't think many people would like that.
You'll never see Enterprise. It's just volume licensed. Ultimate is going to come on high-end machines or as a simple, "upgrade to this for $50 (name your price) more" on various manufacturers sites.
Two. Easy. To all the people complaing about one version..when your product runs on 90 percent + of the worlds PC's, you have to accomodate them.
Yes, that is what "new PCs" means ... "new PCs".
So MS/Oems will, by default, ship versions with new computers that are less secure than any modern OS should be...just because they want to artificially "tier" the users.
you gotta be ******** to buy ultimate for extras
it is just that an extras , few goodies
I agree. It's an improvement to the XP and Vista SKUs.
Win 7 with opera edtion
win 7 with firefox edtion
win 7 no browser edtion
win 7 with-all-browsers edtion
etc....
imagine that ! :X
They should just release this one.
I still wished they did only Home and Pro (and then the Starter and K and N versions that they need to). Oh well
I still wished they did only Home and Pro (and then the Starter and K and N versions that they need to). Oh well
Existing Vista Ultimate owners should be able to do a straight upgrade to W7 Ultimate and retain the bit-locker stuff.
good step forward and a sign that Microsoft is listening, the home basic was a silly edition in Vista.
good step forward and a sign that Microsoft is listening, the home basic was a silly edition in Vista.
I agree. Home Basic was unnecessary.
I remember when there was NO tiering. And it made sense to end users and professionals alike...
NO upgrade from XP to Windows 7 (you'd need to upgrade XP to Vista, then Vista to 7).
NO way to upgrade a computer shipped with a 32 bit OS version (say an OEM laptop/desktop) to a 64 bit version (since it turns out that laptop/desktop chip is actually 64 bit).
But they managed to pull out the full featured backup solution and encryption security software from the home and laptop versions, respectively. Smooth move, MS... /sarcasm
NO upgrade from XP to Windows 7 (you'd need to upgrade XP to Vista, then Vista to 7).
Why is this a surprise?
Why is this a surprise?
Update: looks like that was wrong anyway
Enterprise is for, well, enterprises and is available as multiple licenses. Ultimate is Enterprise but in a single license.
Home Basic is for emerging markets.
So you will only see Home Premium and Professional on store shelves.
When will Microsoft listen to the consumer?
Two versions, Business and Home.
Really, what is the point? Its not as if theres much price difference between starter/home/home premium.
Have a word with yourself microsoft...
Windows 7 Home Premium = Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows 7 Professional = Windows Vista Business
Windows 7 Enterprise = Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows 7 Ultimate = Windows Vista Ultimate
******************************************************
So why did people b!tch and moan about the Vista versions? Its the same thing!
Last edited by esanchez1990 on 03 Feb 2009 - 21:13
Windows 7 Home Premium = Windows Vista Home Premium
Windows 7 Professional = Windows Vista Business
Windows 7 Enterprise = Windows Vista Enterprise
Windows 7 Ultimate = Windows Vista Ultimate
******************************************************
So why did people b!tch and moan about the Vista versions? Its the same thing!
No its not in 7 professional will include everything that home premium does and the domain services. In vista business did not include media center and things like that.
It will be modular eventually, though, meaning everyone will get a "Starter" edition, then just purchase features as module packs. For example, for those who need domain features can purchase an advanced network pack or you can get Media Center pack for your HTPC. Unfortunately--believe it or not--most users aren't able to make educated decisions about they really need yet, so we'll still have to wait.
Features cost money to develop, whether you want to believe it or not.
^ you forgoted windows vista starter edtion
I have seem in this thread so many pple disrespecting others by calling them fools, stupids and so on. Could you guys take it easy? after all its just a OS release, not a big deal!
Last edited by smooth3006 on 03 Feb 2009 - 21:41
This will just force all the OEMs to go with the Pro version, ignoring the stupid kiddy home version.
This will just force all the OEMs to go with the Pro version, ignoring the stupid kiddy home version.
That works out fine if you're buying a new laptop, but not so much if you're upgrading a laptop.
It seems, however, that Paul Thurrott must have updated the page... or Neowin got it wrong. Paul's page lists Mobility Center as one of the key features, not one of the missing features.
Please point us to these people.
Users who are confused by different versions of the same OS...all the end users who are suing regarding "Vista Capable" is where I'd start...ahem.
Windows 7 Home Premium
Market: Mainstream retail market
Key features: Aero Glass, Aero Background, Windows Touch, Home Group creation, Media Center, DVD playback and authoring, premium games, Mobility Center
What's missing: Domain join, Remote Desktop host, advanced backup, EFS, Offline Folders
The volume Windows 7 offering for consumers builds on Starter and includes Mobility Center, Aero Glass, advanced windows navigation features like Aero Snap and Aero Peek, and multi-touch, as well as the ability to both create and participate in Home Groups. Home Premium will be sold at retail and be included with new computers.
Windows 7 Starter: up to 3 concurrent applications, ability to join a Home Group, improved taskbar and JumpLists;
Windows 7 Home Basic: unlimited applications, live thumbnail previews & enhanced visual experience, advanced networking support (ad-hoc wireless networks and internet connection sharing), and Mobility Center;
Windows 7 Home Premium: Aero Glass & advanced windows navigation, improved media format support, enhancements to Windows Media Center and media streaming, including Play To, and multi-touch and improved handwriting recognition;
Windows 7 Professional: ability to join a managed network with Domain Join, data protection with advanced network backup and Encrypting File System, and print to the right printer at home or work with Location Aware Printing;
Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate: bitLocker data protection on internal and external drives, DirectAccess for seamless connectivity to corporate networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2, BranchCache support when on networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2, and lock unauthorized software from running with AppLocker.
@Hidr0 One of the frequent support issues with the SKU selection dialog was the selection of the wrong SKU. Expect that dialog to disappear and be key driven. You can still modify the disc image to meet your needs though...
@smooth3006 Windows 7 Starter is for developing markets in countries like India. You shouldn't concern yourself about it.
Looks good, all in all. No need for Ultimate. (speaking for myself, not the market)
Ultimate is now less of a necessity, moreso since Ultimate Extras isn't coming back. I won't have much need for the additional 6 features provided by Ultimate. And just as importantly, the confusion of Home Basic with regular customers in first/second world markets is gone now.
Not trying to argue, but this is the part I *don't* understand - including Media Center in Pro (and Enterprise). What would be it's use in the business world?
IIRC, XP Pro (not Home) allowed playback of DVDs in Media Player without additional software. Why not have this (and Blu-Ray) only in Pro? I guess I'm saying that I think Media Center is entertainment-overkill for business-oriented versions of an OS.
There's only two SKUs of Windows 7 that will hit USA store shelves, Home and Professional.
Windows 7 Starter is only for emerging markets in different countries. Enterprise is only through volume licensing for large business. Ultimate is only a non-VL version of Enterprise, which will likely be an online download.
Europe will get a couple N versions, because the EU isn't afraid of extortion to leech some money from Microsoft. Korea will get a couple K versions, for whatever reason.
The crybabies in this thread really need to shut their mouth and take their misinformation somewhere else. I come to Neowin.net to read news, fact, and intelligent conversation, and it becomes very difficult to wade through so many tons of nonsensical, useless crap.
Uhm, looks like you joined the party then.
Except I have taken the time to state the facts, and offer something beneficial to read. My comments add something to the discussion.
All you have done is reply to my comment with one-liners to try and score points on the internet. Your comments add nothing. The commentary in Neowin articles is degrading to cnet.com levels, and that is just sad.
Except I have taken the time to state the facts, and offer something beneficial to read. My comments add something to the discussion.
All you have done is reply to my comment with one-liners to try and score points on the internet. Your comments add nothing. The commentary in Neowin articles is degrading to cnet.com levels, and that is just sad.
Name-calling and attitude tend to drown out "facts."
The beauty of the internet is that you have choice. If Neowin doesn't suit you, there are plenty of other places you can go.
I remember when it was enjoyable reading articles on Neowin, not only because of the well-written articles, but the smart and objectionable commentary that brought out good points and interesting facts.
Things have changed, and Neowin has become a rat-race for raging fanboys to post misinformation and push their own agenda. Take this article for example: an absurd amount of thoughtless people fail to read the article and simply bypass the fact that only 'two' Windows versions are being released to Retail shelves in the USA.
Neowin commentary is becoming as pathetic as cnet, and you seem to enjoy it. I'll try to keep an eye on some of the better Neowin articles here, but Gizmodo has higher quality articles and a more balanced community, where fanboys like you never gain any real momentum.
I remember when it was enjoyable reading articles on Neowin, not only because of the well-written articles, but the smart and objectionable commentary that brought out good points and interesting facts.
Things have changed, and Neowin has become a rat-race for raging fanboys to post misinformation and push their own agenda. Take this article for example: an absurd amount of thoughtless people fail to read the article and simply bypass the fact that only 'two' Windows versions are being released to Retail shelves in the USA.
Neowin commentary is becoming as pathetic as cnet, and you seem to enjoy it. I'll try to keep an eye on some of the better Neowin articles here, but Gizmodo has higher quality articles and a more balanced community, where fanboys like you never gain any real momentum.
Put your money where your mouth is.
Maybe you can help write some of those "objectionable" articles.
Provided of course, that you're familiar with the meaning of the words you're using.
I remember when it was enjoyable reading articles on Neowin, not only because of the well-written articles, but the smart and objectionable commentary that brought out good points and interesting facts.
Things have changed, and Neowin has become a rat-race for raging fanboys to post misinformation and push their own agenda. Take this article for example: an absurd amount of thoughtless people fail to read the article and simply bypass the fact that only 'two' Windows versions are being released to Retail shelves in the USA.
Neowin commentary is becoming as pathetic as cnet, and you seem to enjoy it. I'll try to keep an eye on some of the better Neowin articles here, but Gizmodo has higher quality articles and a more balanced community, where fanboys like you never gain any real momentum.
I hope you arn't taking a personal digg at all of us here at Neowin who take the time to write these articles. And just so you know, there are three major news sources that are saying there will be three versions available for consumers to purchase in retail stores.
Take this article for example. The article tries to state how "the lineup has been made clearer" yet the actual delivery of the information is even more confusing. I believe that if the author simply spent an additional 10-15 minutes streamlining the information in this article, there wouldn't be so much widespread confusion and hostility throughout the article's commentary. If the purpose of the article is to highlight the simplified Windows 7 SKUs, then the article should be simple in its explanation. Instead, we have a convoluted article which offers people more confusion than information, and does the opposite of what the original news source is all about: Something becoming more simple.
Take the article on Lifehacker for example: Here
Where in this article does it say there will be three versions for retail? I have read this news across several different sites, and they all say that Home and Professional are the only two SKUs hitting retail. Enterprise/Ultimate are not Retail SKUs, and Baic/Starter are either for OEMs or emerging markets. Where is this third retail SKU?
Last edited by Kojio on 04 Feb 2009 - 23:00
Take this article for example. The article tries to state how "the lineup has been made clearer" yet the actual delivery of the information is even more confusing. I believe that if the author simply spent an additional 10-15 minutes streamlining the information in this article, there wouldn't be so much widespread confusion and hostility throughout the article's commentary. If the purpose of the article is to highlight the simplified Windows 7 SKUs, then the article should be simple in its explanation. Instead, we have a convoluted article which offers people more confusion than information, and does the opposite of what the original news source is all about: Something becoming more simple.
Take the article on Lifehacker for example: Here
Where in this article does it say there will be three versions for retail? I have read this news across several different sites, and they all say that Home and Professional are the only two SKUs hitting retail. Enterprise/Ultimate are not Retail SKUs, and Baic/Starter are either for OEMs or emerging markets. Where is this third retail SKU?
First of all, many newsources these days do inline sourcing. Which is what we are focusing on doing here at Neowin. If you feel that we should directly state the source, then please bring your concerns to an editor or administrator here at Neowin. Second, you're right we don't always find the spelling errors or grammatical errors. We try our best to deliver news fast, simple, and in ways that our readers can engage in conversations.
Third this article was not published with the intention that Microsoft was delivering a "clearer lineup". The list provided was taken off Paul Thurrott's website, I delivered an overview for consumers, and then stated my personal opinion on the matter. How is that confusing?
A) Listing the lineup of Windows 7 with features
B) Clearly stating that there will be three SKUs available at retail outlets.
C) Giving my personal incite on the lineup.
Once again, how is that confusing?
Fourth, regarding the SKU's that will be available at retail stores. If you actually read the source I provided you would have seen that the Ultimate, the third SKU is going to be available at retail stores.
thanks
Why?
If you read my post below, it makes sense.
All we will see anyway is Home Premium and Professional.
Enterprise and Starter will not be seen and Ultimate won't be seen much at all.
Did you not read Brandon Live's response on the availability of Ultimate?
However, why the need for both Home Basic and Starter? Couldn't they be merged into the same product called Windows 7 Starter? That way, Home Premium could have a much better name which relates to the product. I mean a lot of people are going to be wondering what the "Premium" is for and it doesn't make sense to have it on the end, if Basic and Starter are merged
It should be these 5 versions:
Windows 7 Starter - for emerging markets.
Windows 7 Home - for the average home user
Windows 7 Professional - for small businesses and home users who want those more 'professional' orientated features.
Windows 7 Enterprise - for large businesses and corporations, with everything included in.
Windows 7 Ultimate - for people who want everything Windows has to offer. This should not be available commercially, but in special deals with OEMs or to be ordered from Microsoft online or something.
That way, we, as customers would see only 2 versions of Windows, essentially: Windows 7 Home and Windows 7 Professional.
^ That is all very similar to what we have now, with a few minor changes - mainly Home Basic merged with Starter so Home Premium doesn't have to have that horrible name.
Last edited by P1R4T3 on 04 Feb 2009 - 10:23
Boo! Everybody needs good backup software no matter what OS you're using.
-- Windows 7 Professional (superset of Home) ... What's missing: BitLocker, BitLocker To Go
That Ultimate upgrade had better be cheap, or really discounted with Server 2008 R2 CALs. BitLocker To Go looks like one of the best new business features in Windows 7, and there's no way the folks I work with (small businesses) will spring for a volume license version when the systems already come preloaded with Professional.
A person walking into a store will only see two boxes sitting there; Home and Pro. Ultimate will be on limited availability. Everything else will be on a need-to-have basis, and people wanting those editions should be smart enough to figure out what they want.
Or are people, even here, too retarded to choose between 3 possible boxes? Hell, they'll probably even be different colored. Dee-dee-dee...
Windows 7
Windows 7 Server
END OF STORY.
Have one additional step during installation process where user can simply click Typical or Advanced Setup. In Advanced Setup you would have ability to install or not media center and other packages, meaning everybody could have customize their OS , Home people, Business as they want to. Later through Windows Add/Remove Features they can add additional or remove packages.
All these editions with Windows 7 is just like with Windows Vista...overblown Windows OS which none of them is right for you.
I'm also especially displeased that once again, the multi-language interface is only in Enterprise and Ultimate.
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