Posted on 4-FEB-2009 04:00.
| Filed under: News
: Windows.
Microsoft is annoucing the Windows 7 SKU lineup with different Windows 7 editions for specific market requirements. Each SKU is a superset of the previous SKU. This means that each higher edition SKU will have every feature lower edition SKUs have.
The company also says focus will be on two primary editions of Windows 7: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional.
A few targeted SKUs will be offered for customers with specialized needs: for price-sensitive customers with small notebook PCs, some OEMs will offer Windows 7 Starter. For customers in emerging markets, Microsoft will make Windows 7 Home Basic available.
Businesses have two recommended choices: Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise. Windows 7 Professional is recommended for small businesses and Windows 7 Enterprise is recommended for mid- and large-sized businesses that have a Software Assurance Agreement with Microsoft.
The complete SKU lineup for Windows 7 is: Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic (in Emerging Markets only), Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate.
For Consumers Microsoft is recommending Windows 7 Home Premium for most customers and Windows 7 Professional for customers who want additional features and functionality useful for small business activities.
For Businesses, the company recommends Windows 7 Professional for most customers and Windows 7 Enterprise for medium-to-large business and enterprise customers that choose to license Windows through Software Assurance.
These are the key features by SKU:
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.
*sigh* Microsoft sure love to make multiple yet confusing SKUs as its Vista-evil... What happened to the days of just Windows for home, for pro and for ubergeek? ??
On second thought... Pro edition will be more than sufficient for good all round systems, and Ultimate for my own computer.
Good to see Pro has Media Centre - superset of Home Premium - and a step up from Vista's Business.
And after digesting through the information here (and everywhere else) a bit more... in most countries, on the retail front, most anyone would see are Home Premium and Professional, and with selected places for Ultimate (if you know what you want/looking for).
Ultimate is the "retail" version of Enterprise - which only available through Volume Licensing.
So yeah this announcement sounded all kudos!
Now question is...
1) Will there only be single media which content both x86 and x64 binaries?
2) And are all media full package (meaning one can do Anytime Upgrade using the same low-level edition to unlock high-level edition's features?)
6 more versions of Windows, thats what we don't need. Why couldn't they simplify things a little. Or perhaps they could provide one disk with all versions on it the way Intuit does.
Is that not what they are doing? My understanding was that all versions were included on the DVD, with the correct version being installed based on your license key.
I don't know what sort of problems this will cause as you probably won't be required to put your license key in immediately at install.
Your Right, I did some checking on the internet and found this at ComputerWorld.
Windows 7 DVDs will continue to include the code for all versions of the operating system. That means users with a license for Starter Edition, for instance, can do an "Anytime Upgrade" all the way up to Ultimate by visiting Microsoft's Web site and paying. Users can then upgrade their PCs using the original Windows 7 DVD in a matter of minutes, according to Microsoft.
Please login or register to post a comment on this article.
I did some checking on the internet and found this at ComputerWorld.
Filed under: 
Please