Windows 7 SKUs announced: your worst nightmare has come to pass
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted February 3rd 2009 2:59PM
posted February 3rd 2009 2:59PM
- Windows 7 Starter (limited to three apps concurrently)
- Windows 7 Home Basic (for emerging markets)
- Windows 7 Home Premium (adds Aero, Touch, Media Center)
- Windows 7 Professional (Remote Desktop host, Mobility Center, Presentation mode)
- Windows 7 Enterprise (volume license only, boot from virtual drive, BitLocker)
- Windows 7 Ultimate (limited availability, includes everything)
Update: Just to be clear, we've checked specifically with Microsoft on all six versions, and the placement of Home Basic in emerging markets. There's now a full breakdown after the break.
Windows 7 Starter
- Available worldwide to OEMs on new PCs
- Missing Aero UI tweaks
- Limited to 3 simultaneous applications
- Only available in emerging markets
- Missing Aero UI tweaks
- 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
- 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
- Available only in volume licenses
- Includes all features of Professional
- Adds Branch Cache
- Adds Direct Access
- Adds BitLocker
- Limited OEM and retail availability
- Includes all features of Enterprise
Are they def, dumb, blind or just stupid?
the outrage has nothing to do with wanting microsoft to hear us and instead a general complaint about doing business this way. maybe i'm missing something, but why don't people using mac's ever complain about having a more advanced OS? i've never heard one single argument from anyone saying Apple should make different versions of their latest and greatest OS's.
second, creating different versions will only allow users to become up sold by sellers at best buy and stores of that nature (or a dell customer service rep, etc). yes you may say that you can easily compare features and select the right OS for you, but imagine someone is more naive in the computing world. this allows them to just shell cash out for an OS they are talked in to.
it really is not the end all be all, but deciding to go forward in this manor is a reflection of microsoft as a company. maybe they honestly need more than one version to get the right OS's to a specific consumer type. i just know as both a mac and pc owner, it's nice to learn about leopard and not worry that another mac user is getting more out of their computer because of the level of OS they have.
What a bunch of fools. You would think that they would have learned from the Vista debacle.
So you can collect them all !!
Wah! The stupid consumer has too many options, if they released only 3 sku's everyone would be crying on the other end. DEAL. Windows 7 is a great product even in its beta stages it far surpasses vista. Xp is still more compatible with everything yes, but there is functionality in 7 you can't get anywhere else.
They are only releasing three SKU's. RTFA
Mr. Reply to everything go to the "Read" button and tell me what the microsoft website says...
Ok since you cant find read here it is...
"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."
Looks like a couple more than 3. WTG!
Only 3 you can buy you moron. Engadget got it wrong. It is you who needs to get their facts straight. Learn to read. Enterprise is for Businesses and starter for third world. No home basic. Thats home, professional and ultimate. Now if you try to count that's 3 that you can buy.
Yeah maybe that's all you can buy, but IT professionals have many options thanks to licensing.
Come on stop making yourself look like an idiot.
Tim You really don't know what you are talking about. Therefore You are too stupid to own a computer.
IT pros will have more options than consumers? They will have to deal with 6 options instead of 3?
What a disaster. I mean, it's not like these IT pros get paid to know about this stuff or anything.
Wow did you guys blow this one!!
There are only 5 SKUs:
Windows 7 Starter (emerging markets only)
Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 Enterprise (volume licensing only)
Windows 7 Ultimate (very limited retail)
So, there's one less than Vista. Also, only 2 will be regularly available in retail, compared to 4 for Vista. Ultimate will only be available on a very limited basis. So you guys are spitting garbage. Normally you guys get it right; but not this time.
Where is the future "Bill Gates"? Someone please give us a viable solution. Don't say Mac or Linux unless you make them a lot better and of course more open (in the case of Mac).
Common MicroNerf don't you get it?
I don't have a problem with multiple versions of the OS so long as their marketing department doesn't make me decide between all 6 versions again. Let me choose between Home Premium and Ultimate as a consumer, period. If I order a business-minded PC then give me the choice between Professional and Enterpise (which is like small-business vs. corporation). I don't know what the heck Starter means, but maybe it'd be good for netbooks, but then make it the only option for underpowered netbooks. Finally, just don't offer me Home Basic, so help me god if you give me a choice between Home Basic and Home Premium again. Leave it for markets outside the US.
joy kill
Ah thank you Apple for Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server. No need for 7 different versions and probably both cheaper than their respective Windows counterparts. Now if you only made a netbook and a computer I would want to own that is less than $2000.
ok guys people are not dumbass's theres so difference in the architecture of the operating system on different versions. Basically from what i see the difference is a few features that wont drastically change the operating system. So you pick what you need. My parents need starter, i need home premium, a business needs enterprise. I thought none tech people were stupid but im starting to thing engadget and you guys are. Choice is good, it keeps me from having to choose a product like Monster cables, and from using OSX so im happy
OMGZZZZ
"I was gooing to buy it now I don't know if I will, I'm a passive aggressive pirate!!!"
Listen to what (some of you) are saying, it sounds really daft.
Seriously, how hard can it be?
I'm in business & need more enterprise tools & none of that fancy media stuff - I'll get business
I'm a home user that just wants to email & do basic stuff - I'll get home basic
I'm a home user who likes to use media - I'll get home premium
I'm a user in a market where Microsoft wants to lure me into using Windows but too poor to buy the full version
I'm a user who thinks I need ALL the features & have a bit more money to throw away on false promises - I'll get Ultimate
etc, etc, etc
not exactly rocket science
I think this is a bad move for Microsoft. The consumer will stumble their way through this ... not knowing what they needed or missed, but let's face it ... MS is flexing it's near-to-monopolistic might in continuing with this business model ... and fomenting bad feelings among the people most likely to be early adopters. My first reaction was immediate and strong: "f*ck you, microsoft."
Some of us see this as an insult ... yet another way to take an OS and not only charge a ridiculously high price for it- but leverage even more money out of it by crippling the distro in a variety of ways. That's the part that leaves me simmering. They have to take something that offers all these capabilities (like, let's say, OS X does in it's own way) and deliberately remove functionality in order to make even more money.
Kudos to Apple for putting out ONE release at a reasonable price. It's a shame MS continues to price gouge the consumer. Just like the browser wars, though ... piss of enough people, get enough competition, and MS loses it. The ill-will? Just another nail in the coffin of business as usual. Taken a look at the economy lately MS?
Hey apple can run the "Pick a Windows" commercial again, I liked that one.
Is Microsoft ever gonna learn... granted Windows 7 is a nice fix to Vista... but is there really a need for all these versions aside from a marketing/money making scheme... Steve Jobs has it right with one OS version, One disc... thats it aside from buying a multi-license family pack but the OS you get is one in the same, no confusion... Maybe the other Steve (Balmer) will one day figure this s**t out... till then I'm sticking with my Mac.
Maybe one SKU is good for the 10% of people who have a Mac, but for the rest of us we like choice
You'll only see Home Premium, Pro, and (to a lesser extent) Ultimate on store shelves.
Some poeple want basic computing for a low price.....they can buy Home Basic, which it seems may only be available OEM anyway.
Most people will buy Home Premium
Businesses do not need (and in most case probably do not want) things like Media Center....That's what Pro is for.
Enthusiasts who want the extras/specialized parts of Pro (like BitLocker) in addition to Media Center etc. will get Ultimate, and the "limited availabilty" means you might not see it at best buy, but you'll probably see it on newegg which makes more sense than I can possibly believe.
and don't start the "but mac is so much cheaper" argument because I'd rather pay 260 and put it on any machine I choose than 130 and only be able to put it (legally) on a handful of machines that are no less than 500 bucks more than what they're actually worth.
Keep in mind that Apple only sells a very small number of hardware configurations and to a much smaller demographic. No one complains about Mac because everyone gets the same experience from the hardware and they all have the same basic needs. Try to advertise OS X to a consumer, a corporation, and put it on a netbook at the same time and you'll see why sometimes it's wise to trim off some of the fat. Besides, can you imagine if we gave my grandmother all the same features, settings, and options as a corporate power user? Oh the humanity.
http://i.gizmodo.com/5145366/all-the-flavors-of-windows-7-explained
Go to gizmodo. They know what they are talking about.
They are claiming 5 Sku's get your facts straight before you want to corrupt people.
*listen
What the hell is wrong with them?!? Make one friggen version for desktop / laptop PCs. Geez, whats the rationale behind this?!
"Starter" and "Home Basic"?!? WTF
"Home Premium" and "Ultimate" ?!? WTF
Steve Jobs is laughing on his gurney as reads this.
Laughing all the way to the operating...table.....hmmmmmm I'm sure he'd happily swap market shares as well
Very nice. While you windows 7 users will have to wip out your crib sheet to figure out what features you will want in your new OS, I will happily install Snow Leopard without having to do a comparison amongst different OS versions. And guess what, whatever choice you decide to make you will spend a lot more money then I will for my OS upgrade. Oh and I won't have to worry about do i want to pay for the full version or the upgrade version, every copy of OS-X sold is a full version and I can install it on as many machines as I want.
You would have thought with all the mileage that Apple got out of the different flavors of Vista that Microsoft would have approached this differently with Windows 7. Unfortunately this decision to have different SKUs makes perfect sense when you consider what customers Microsoft wants to keep happy and it isn't the individual user.
lol @ Dimitros
so you'll spend alot less money on your upgrade will you?
is that because you spent a shat load more for the OS in the first place? yeah - i think so.
If you dont think you're lining Jobs' pockets with your OS purchases you're a complete tool, and should look over what thy are charging you for your specs as opposed to your OS - you'll find it amounts to about $400 for that shiny os.....
Oh, and arent macs so lovely? reccently had a friend with Tiger who had to upgrade because the iPhone wasnt compatible with tiger (read - apple didnt spend a week making sure it would work with the tiger iTunes.....) - so yeah - she spent the $200 to upgrade because she was cornered into it.
Noob....
I wonder if this ultimate will be worth it...
As someone who has kept a small network at home for a while (servers running NT, 2000, 2003 and now 2008), I have disliked the inability to join a domain without moving to a Pro level. Beyond that, there are few issues in using Home Premium vs Pro.
It's not that bad, it's much better then Vista, when you spend a few min. reading the facts.
1. Most consumers will have two choices Home Premium and Pro, just like with XP.
2. As MS said "Every [product edition] increments, and doesn't take away features or capabilities from the other editions. They are true supersets of each other, and additive."
3. Easy Upgrade from Premium to Pro or even Ultimate with Download.
4. The Starter or Enterprise are not for the Avg. user.
** 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
This version will only be sold through PC makers to users in emerging markets. As with previous Windows Starter Edition products, it is limited in some ways: You can run only three applications at once, don't get Windows 7's full mobility capabilities, and can participate in but not create a Home Group.
** 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.
** Windows 7 Professional
Market: Mainstream retail market
Key features: Domain join, Remote Desktop host, location aware printing, EFS, Mobility Center, Presentation Mode, Offline Folders
What's missing: BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, Direct Access, Branche Cache, MUI language packs, boot from VHD
This volume Windows 7 version builds on Home Premium and adds features like domain join, Group Policy (GP) controls, location aware printing, advanced backup, EFS, and offline folders. Pro will be sold at retail and be included with new computers
** 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
As before, Enterprise is aimed at Microsoft's Software Assurance (SA) volume license customers. This time, however, Enterprise is a superset of Professional and adds much-heralded Windows 7 features like Direct Access, Branch Cache, BitLocker, and BitLocker To Go.
** 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
And lets make one version of windows 7 so my netbook has to run the same thing as my 3.2 ghz home machine. YOU GUYS SHOULD RUN MICROSOFT you smart pants you.
GIVE ME MORE VERSIONZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Choice is good. Good work Microsoft; don't listen to Engadget they're bloggers they don't know what they're talking about.
2 versions should be made: 32 bit and 64 bit.
These are for emerging markets/ 3rd world only.
# Windows 7 Starter (limited to three apps concurrently)
# Windows 7 Home Basic (for emerging markets)
This is for volume activation only which means it's the version you buy if you have a large collection of PCs in your business
# Windows 7 Enterprise (volume license only, boot from virtual drive, BitLocker)
These are the only copies any of us will see in a shop or pre-installed on a new PC so 3 different versions how scandalous !
# Windows 7 Home Premium (adds Aero, Touch, Media Center)
# Windows 7 Professional (Remote Desktop host, Mobility Center, Presentation mode)
# Windows 7 Ultimate (limited availability, includes everything)
What a load on nonsense three versions is fine, Apple can sell one version of Mac OS because they are selling to such a small part of the market, 88% of the world use Windows and much like all the different EeePc models they need to cater for EVERY market or else they lose sales. Why is is this news again ?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
SAy it ain't so!
Why do you torment us Microsoft!!!!!! Why!
First the VISTA NIGHTMARE THEN THIS??
Mac Users STHU........I will stick with Windows to the end!
"Lieutenant Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company. So then I got a call from him, saying we don't have to worry about money no more. And I said, that's good! One less thing!"
That's all I have to say about that
~F. Gump
Are people in general this fuckign stupid? WHAT IS THE GOT DAMN BIG DEAL ABOUT DIFFRENT SKUS?
For instance i know i want everything so ULTIMATE sounds like exactly what I WANT.
I know starter is def not for me. Home premium does not sound like ultimate which means it probably lacks a lot of features.
Business is self explnatory I MEAN WHAT BUSINESS NEEDS MEDIA CENTER & PHOTO CREATION SOFTWARE?
Enterprize? hmmmm last time I CHECKED I live in a SOHO far from enterprise.
GET REAL IDIOTS. IF YOU FIND THIS PAINFUL THEN NO WONDER THE EDUCATION LEVEL IN THE UNITED STATES IS NOT EVEN EQUIVALENT TO A 4TH WORLD COUNTRY.
YOU PEOPLE BITCH ABOUT ANYTHING.. WITH YOUR STATE OF MIND THEN WE ONLY NEED ONE LAPTOP.
BUT WHY DOES APPLE MAKE A MACBOOK PRO & MACBOOK? SPECIALLY KNOW THAT A MACBOOK IS EVERYTHING A MACBOOK PRO IS ENCASED IN A 13" BODY?
Jesus christ stop complainign already. IS NOT LIKE SOME OF YOU ARE GOING TO DOWNLOAD each and every sku and darn microsoft because the STARTER version lacks a lot of the ULTIMATE features you wanted. I MEAN WHO'S FAULT WILL IT REALLY BE?
Get a life. AND DAMN you engadget for making it such a big deal IDIOTS.
Umm, your Caps Lock may have gotten stuck. Lucky you study Buda's teachings or one might have confused your whispering for yelling.
Gizmodo has a better explanation of the whole thing. Just comes to show that some readers truly can't think for themselves.
The reason this tends to be a pain for all involved is that the more versions MS is supporting, the more code bases they have. This increases the possibility of bugs creeping in or system incompatibilities. As a game developer, I strive to use every inch of the system that I can to provide the best game possible. When you start adding different OS versions you find those inconsistencies and have to code around them. You also have to do full regression tests on, essentially, 6 different platforms just to release on "PC". The result is more expensive and bug-prone software, longer times to release, and features dropped in favor of finding and fixing those mysterious bugs. This is part of why many game developers are moving to consoles.
What does MS get out of the deal? The opportunity to charge more money for features they have to write to stay competitive anyway, and which come stock on other OSs. Naturally, breaking up the features like this costs them even more of those same dev time, debugging, and production costs. Who do you think ends up paying for that?
What different "code base" are you talking about? Microsoft will obviously first design the Ultimate Edition (which is what you get in the current Beta), and then cut away features for the different versions...
But hey, some FUD spread. Mission accomplished.
ms are such muppets
WTF?
Bad move Microsoft...Again! I am an Apple guy who uses XP when I have to (with VMware Fusion) but prefer Leopard. I have to buy 1 disc from Apple for $139, and I get everything I want. The PC for business, and Apple for pleasure is become less of a reality. If I was a serious gamer, then perhaps Apple's OS would be a poor choice at the moment, but I am not! I want an operating system that is bulletproof. Let's see what Snow Leopard does to bridge the PC/OS gap?
HAHAHAHA! I KNEW they would do this. Anything to squeeze more money out of it. That's M$ for ya.
and Apple forcing you only to buy their 'ultimate' overpriced option without any choice is good?
now dont tell me Apple doesnt overprice their OS and chalk it up to "design" preference....
Apple's been gouging you all this time and laughing while they spend your money.
I'm thinking that Pro and Enterprise are the same thing. Just Enterprise is only being offered to organizations with large contracts with Microsoft, Essentially just a large volume license.