Official Windows 7 SKUs revealed: six editions

After a ton of guesswork and rumors flying around, Microsoft has finally confirmed what much of the evidence was pointing to: there will indeed be six editions of Windows 7, just like there were for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Customers will be able to choose from Windows 7 Starter Edition, Windows 7 Home Basic Edition, Windows 7 Home Premium Edition, Windows 7 Professional Edition, Windows 7 Ultimate Edition, and Windows 7 Enterprise Edition. The news comes hot on the heels of the Windows 7 Ecosystem Readiness Program announced yesterday.
All editions will be available in worldwide markets except for Home Basic, which will be offered in emerging markets. Starter will be also available worldwide but only via OEMs.

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. We’ll also continue to offer Windows Starter edition, which will only be offered pre-installed by an OEM. Windows Starter edition will now be available worldwide. This edition is available only in the OEM channel on new PCs limited to specific types of hardware.​

Most users will only Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate, which is why Microsoft is expected to only offer upgrade paths for these three. Microsoft will have a press release on this news over at PressPass (not available at publishing time).

Full Story: Official Windows 7 SKUs revealed: six editions - Ars Technica

 

[wwoods]

Vista will be supported much longer than 2010, he's just giving you a ballpark for his own opinion.

Yea, I said 2010, basically, by 2010 I will be all on Windows7.

 

[wwoods]

Vista will be supported much longer than 2010, he's just giving you a ballpark for his own opinion.

My concern is how much support. With excitement by media and users for 7, I think all attention within MS and 3rd party will focus on 7. But, being that 7 is based on Vista, perhaps Vista will not be left in the corner.

Well, how much support you want ? Want to call MS with a Vista Problem, yup.....Want to email about a Vista Problem......yup.

You can still call MS about XP.......use that as a gauge.

 

[Slimy]

Vista will be supported much longer than 2010, he's just giving you a ballpark for his own opinion.

My concern is how much support. With excitement by media and users for 7, I think all attention within MS and 3rd party will focus on 7. But, being that 7 is based on Vista, perhaps Vista will not be left in the corner.

Well SP2 for Vista and Server 2008 is coming out before Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, so that should give you some indication. Also, the support Microsoft provides for recent Windows versions isn't being cutoff.

 

[Everlong]

I agree with you Slimy, however, Vista seems to be a test bed to me (beta) that was sold to consumers. Not really a free beta or remotely complete OS. This is the reason for the bad press, no? Bad press was earned from the looks of it. So, we see the results of the 7 beta, people say it is the best ever! It just does not add up for me.

Vista at RTM had compatibility and driver issues. At SP1 it is a perfectly good OS and is superior to XP in every way. If there is any bad press that Vista is getting now then it is simply trolling. However, I agree with you that press is a big factor in people's opinions of Vista. Have a look at my editorial about it here: What killed Vista will make Windows 7 fly - Ars Technica

I wouldn't say it's "superior in everyway", there are areas where XP can out perform Vista, but generally for me Vista has worked better than XP for every day usage for what I do.

There will still be a lot of support for Vista. XP even got its 3rd service pack around the same time Vista got SP1. I don't think Vista's support will last as long as XP, but there will still be a few years to go.

 

[avgwarhawk]

Vista will be supported much longer than 2010, he's just giving you a ballpark for his own opinion.

My concern is how much support. With excitement by media and users for 7, I think all attention within MS and 3rd party will focus on 7. But, being that 7 is based on Vista, perhaps Vista will not be left in the corner.

Well SP2 for Vista and Server 2008 is coming out before Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, so that should give you some indication. Also, the support Microsoft provides for recent Windows versions isn't being cutoff.

Got'cha. I guess the support will be there. Last night I used Office 2007 to create a document. .docx that Office 2003 does not recognize. I was able to get a compatability download to open this .docx document. It was some sort of notepad deal but I was able to open and print. However, I refer back to an earlier post were computers were fun but are now becoming a chore with keeping all up to date.

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

I could be wrong , as I can't find a link to it now, but I think those who bought Vista Ultimate were also promised 10 years of support and Premium 5 years - if my recollection is correct, there are several years to go.

Support of course may just mean security patches - and there is the problem for Vista buyers. No real improvements - which there would have been if 7 hadn't been brought out so fast.

Having said that, I am fond of my Vista install . I have customised it a lot and there is at least one area where it beats 7 beta - it starts up faster.

You might find that M$ will let holders of Vista and XP licenses get 7 at a reasonable cost.

Makes sense to me for them to do that. A lot more people would migrate to 7 and M$ would benefit from that revenue and public approval.

I wouldn't want an Upgrade disc though - the full one at a reasonable price would go down well.

Time will tell - here's hoping.

SIW2

 

[Everlong]

I remember reading that somewhere too SIW2 just before Vista was released.

I like my Vista install as well, but just throwing my 2 cents in, I find Windows 7 boots up faster for me than Vista does as with Vista I get a blank screen after the loading screen before the startup music starts playing, but with 7 as soon as it finishes loading, it's loading the desktop that takes about 2 seconds and it's ready, but as we probably use our PCs for different things/have different things installed, it's obviously going to be different.

Don't think I'd touch an upgrade disk again after I used a Vista one