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Thread: Wait a minute... HOW many versions of Vista?

  1. #1
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Wait a minute... HOW many versions of Vista?

    Does Microsoft LOVE to change the names around, or do they just take out some software from one version of Vista and call it something else so they can charge less for the same thing, and charge more for the same thing with features you can probably download????


    http://www.microsoft-watch.com/artic...1928547,00.asp

    http://www.microsoft-watch.com/artic...1931478,00.asp




    What's Inside the Six Windows Vista Releases?
    How many?????


    Microsoft is readying six core Vista packages, or SKUs, plus two additional releases customized for the European Union that won't bundle in Windows Media Player, as ordered by European antitrust regulators. The six Windows Vista variants are: Windows Starter 2007; Windows Vista Enterprise; Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista ultimate, and Windows Vista Business.
    ...


    Also on the list are two additional releases, Windows Vista Home Basic N and Windows Vista Business N. The "N" releases are those which do not include Media Player.

    Microsoft currently offers six core Windows XP SKUs: The line up includes XP Home, Professional, Media Center, Tablet PC, and Professional x64, and Windows XP Starter. (Microsoft also offers "N" versions of its XP Home and XP Professional releases, as stipulated by the European antitrust regulators.)

    With Vista, there will not be separate Tablet, Media Center or x64 SKUs, said Barry Goffe, director of Windows client product management. All of the planned Vista versions, except Windows Vista Starter, will be available in both 32- and 64-bit flavors.

    All SKUs will integrate Internet Explorer 7.0, the new Vista desktop search, parental controls and Windows Defender antispyware technology. And all of the Windows Vista business SKUs will embed features designed to appeal to small/mid-size businesses (SMBs), Goffe said, obviating the need for a separate Vista small-business variant.


    The new line up is "more focused on how people will use their PCs, rather than around hardware types," Goffe explained.
    As long as the hardware is very new or very expensive as it won't run on anything less.... Maybe this is why Manufacts of hardware like Dell allow Microsoft to be the only desktop OS they sell for home use..... Microsoft helps them sell more hardware to keep up with their insane minimum requirements.



    Windows Vista Starter will be available in developing nations only. Like the current Windows XP Starter products, Vista Starter will be customized for users in particular countries and will include fewer features and functionality. Starter will not be sold at retail; instead it will be available preloaded on cut-rate PCs.
    Pimp my ride comes to mind. take a pinto, give it a paint job and rims, and boom.



    Windows Vista Home Basic is aimed as casual PC users who do little more than surf the Web, check e-mail and create/store/share basic documents, Goffe said. The Home Basic version will not include support for the Aero Glass user-interface effects that will be part of other Vista SKUs.

    So so far there is Windows Vista 3rd World, Windows Vista moron edition.....


    Windows Vista Home Premium will include the same type of functionality currently delivered by Windows XP Media Center and Windows XP Tablet PC Editions. The Home Premium variant also will include technology support digital photography, movie-making and TV, as well as mobility-focused technologies.

    Oh sweet here I was worried than the home users were begining to catch on and not be confused anymore.


    Windows Vista Business will include the full-fledged Aero user interface, as well as Tablet PC functionality built-in. The higher-end Windows Vista Enterprise will include all of the features of Windows Vista Business, plus BitLocker drive encryption; Virtual PC Express virtual-machine support; the Subsystem for Unix-based Applications (SUA), which is designed to allow Unix applications to run on Vista machines; and access to all worldwide languages supported by Vista via a single deployment image.

    The catch? Microsoft will make Windows Vista Enterprise available to Enterprise Agreement (EA) and Software Assurance (SA) volume-licensing customers only. Microsoft officials have been seeking ways to entice more users to sign up for Microsoft's volume licenses, and increasingly has been using new product and service incentives as carrots to attract and keep EA and SA customers.
    LOL.



    But there's a loophole for Vista customers who are not interested in signing up for volume licenses. That loophole is Windows Vista Ultimate, the SKU which will include all of the features in Vista Home Premium and Vista Enterprise in a single offering.
    Hahahahaha do they think this is "sticking it to the man" ?

    "OK Sir, well you got us, tell you what, if you buy the most expensive of them all, you don't have to use this method".

    "Dirrrrrrrrrr that sounds good Mr. PhuckMeHarder, I'll do that".....


    "Vista Ultimate is for people who have a single PC that they use both at work and at home," Goffe said. "It also will be good for small-business owners and managers who have PCs with customer data stored on them" and who need to insure it stays secure.

    Goffe acknowledged that some users interested in Vista Enterprise, but not the volume-licensing stipulation, might choose to opt for Vista Ultimate as a workaround. But Microsoft has no plans to position Ultimate in that way, he said.

    It's not clear how much of a premium Microsoft plans to charge Vista Ultimate users – or customers of any other Vista variant -- for that matter. Microsoft will release Vista pricing at a later, unspecified date, Goffe said, some time before the six versions begin shipping in the latter half of 2006.

    Even minus the pricing details, the Vista SKU lineup itself is significant, however, Goffe maintained.

    "For the first time, there is a good/better/best ranking" for the Windows releases," Goffe said. "There are different levels of features in all the SKUs. Our line up is more rational and more customer-focused," he added.

    *Sigh*

  2. #2
    Just Another Geek
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    It's horrible.. That many different versions... I'll bet things are moved around too.. Function A on version A is here.. Function A on version B is there.. Function A on version C is there but lacks this.. Aaarghh.. IT-shops will have a field day..

    I would rather see 1 (stable) totally stripped-down version and several seperate "add-ons" for added functionality..
    Oliver's Law:
    Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

  3. #3
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Come back VMS.............all is forgiven

    Seriously though, if I were a Microsoft stockholder, I would be worried....

    Seems to me that they have reached rock bottom and started to dig?


  4. #4
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    Dice, you mean like the packs Windows 9X came with extra cost?

    And as for VMS:

    You can buy that from HP. Open VMS.... Probably nothing like the old one but it is VMS.

  5. #5
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    It doesn't surprise me that they're trying to flood the market with 8 versions of Vista...after all...there were 7 versions of XP...

    Windows Xp Pro
    Windows Xp Home
    Windows XP MCE
    Windows XP Embeded
    Windows XP Enterprise (volume license for corp)
    Windows XP N (Euro version)
    Windows XP Starter

    Eg

  6. #6
    Senior Member nihil's Avatar
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    Hey Gore the 9x stuff got "distributed"

    And the open VMS is well cool...................to an old fart like me

    As I see things, M$ are digging their own grave?................I have been doing a little experimentation, and users don't see any difference between "Lindows" and the Microsoft product..........

    Stock tip: sell, sell, sell

  7. #7
    Just Another Geek
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    Originally posted here by gore
    Dice, you mean like the packs Windows 9X came with extra cost?
    Yeah.. More or less.. Just 1 basic version and different add-ons.. Like an Internet add-on with IE and Outlook.. A multimedia add-on with Mediaplayer et al.. A domain/CIFS addon so you can add the machine to a domain and use file and printer sharing.. etc... etc.. That way you can buy what you need and you're not paying for stuff you never touch.. It'll also keep the monopoly/cartel police happy because there's room for replacement/competitors.. You don't need to install MS's Internet addon, you can use Mozilla's..
    Oliver's Law:
    Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

  8. #8
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    Just to throw in here...somewhat off-topic but still about OS's...I found this interesting little write-up on the history of OS's...

    In the 1800s, the first computers were programmable devices for controlling the weaving machines in the factories of the Industrial Revolution. Created by Charles Babbage, these early computers used Hollerinth (Punch) cards as data storage (the cards contained the control codes for the various patterns). The first computer programmer was Lady Ada, for whom the Ada programming language is named.
    http://www.osdata.com/kind/history.htm
    history of operating system

    Eg

  9. #9
    What I really wonder is which versions MS plans to support in the long term. Even though XP home and pro are so similar, MS is only going to support pro over the long run. I think this many Vista versions is going to strike confusion in the minds of many. I can understand having a "business" version, since corporations like to limit accessability of their machines, but then again, it would be an equally useful feature in Home, so parents could limit their children's accessibility as well!

  10. #10
    Senior Member RoadClosed's Avatar
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    Like linux isn't ditributed in an almost endless degree of forms.
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