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Windows 7 SKUs Unveiled

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Geekzone is reporting, and Engadget has confirmed through Microsoft, that Microsoft is set to unveil their SKU line up for Windows 7:   6 total SKUs with the 2 main ones being Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Home Premium. Windows 7 Enterprise will be targeted for those businesses buying licenses through the Software Assurance Program. Windows 7 Starter Edition is for price sensitive customers with small notebook pcs ( whatever that is??), and Home Basic for emerging markets. Starter and Basic are only available through OEMs. Windows 7 Ultimate is still the top dog with every feature imaginable. Each higher end SKU will contain all the features of their lower-end siblings. So, I’m hoping that means we’ll get MovieMaker HD encoding and Media Center in Windows 7 Professional? Let’s hope so. Update: Looks like we’re in luck – much of the reason to upgrade to Windows Vista is now included in Windows 7 Pro – that’ll save folks a lot of money and headache.

Update: Here’s the official press release.

More after the break.

From GeekZone:

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.

via Engadget

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. Amitai Rosenberg

    02/03/2009 at 11:26 am

    Nice!
    This is worth a read:
    https://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_skus.asp
    He also explains more.

  2. GoodThings2Life

    02/03/2009 at 1:00 pm

    Given how well W7 Ultimate works on pretty much everything tested, I don’t understand why they don’t just stick with Home and Professional and be done with it.

    The K.I.S.S. principle is a lost cause. :(

  3. Jose R. Ortiz

    02/03/2009 at 2:39 pm

    hmmm…i’m not so sure it was that simple even in the xp days. i remember having three different version of xp at once: media center on my home pc, tablet on my le1600, and pro on my work dell latitude. although there are six sku’s, i think only three of them will actually be attainable by mainstream consumers (home, business, ultimate). the only sku i have an issue with is ultimate: they better make more “ultimate” than they did with vista because it was just a rip off.

  4. ChrisRS

    02/03/2009 at 3:34 pm

    Professional being a superset of Home Premium simplifies things. This was a gap in Vista Business. It will be interesting to see the upgraxde prices.

  5. GoodThings2Life

    02/03/2009 at 5:02 pm

    @ChrisRS,

    Yes, I do agree that each being a superset of the other DOES simplify things compared to Vista.

    @Jose,

    I would agree except that Media Center was just Home with the Media Center Extensions and was only available on that specific type of hardware, and Tablet PC Edition was Professional with the Tablet Extensions available only on that type of hardware.

    In any case, I like the superset mentality, but I just don’t see the justification from this in a business perspective or as a consumer… especially when consumers have already been angry enough to sue Microsoft and OEM’s over the confusion with Vista.

    Oh, and I completely agree with you on the Ultimate issue.

  6. HG

    02/03/2009 at 7:54 pm

    MS should only have one sku for all, just like Mac OS X. If MS wanted they could create one for small netbooks but in the end most people would just get full version since Windows 7 runs so well on Atom. Before there was XP Home, XP Pro, and then Media Center. MS did release Tablet Edition but it was XP Pro with tablet functions. So I say MS’release one OS for all. :}

  7. HG

    02/03/2009 at 7:57 pm

    One more thing. MS should keep the price low kind of like Mac OS X. One OS one low price.

  8. Ben

    02/09/2009 at 8:23 pm

    Why 6? Since it’s Windows 7 it should have 7 SKUs. Duh.

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