Windows Vista Product Editions Revealed (Microsoft Milks the market)

Arstechnica.com ^ | 9/10/2005 | Ken Fischer

[BallandPowder]

If you've been wondering why Windows Vista has taken a long time to reach Beta 1, we can now tell you why: there are seven separate editions of Vista headed your way. OK, that's not the reason for the delay, but how else do you introduce that many OS versions, without invoking Snow White & friends? Join me know as I romp through the various editions, many of which you'll see are just barely differentiated.

First up, there's Starter Edition, which like XP Starter Edition, is a crippled (and lame) product aimed at the two-thirds world. It will limit users to three concurrent applications, and provide only basic TCP/IP networking, and won't be suitable for most games. The next step up is Home Basic Edition, which is really the sibling to today's Windows XP Home. However, as the name suggests, there's also Home Premium Edition, and this is where we start to split features like hairs and create a gaggle of products. HPE will build on the the Basic Edition by adding, most notably, the next-generation of Media Center capabilities, including support for HDTV, DVD authoring, and even DVD ripping backed up (of course) by Windows DRM. For non-corporate types, this is probably going to be the OS that most people use. It's similar to XP Pro in power, but with all of the added bells and whistles for entertainment. Well, most of them.

Windows Vista Professional Edition won't occupy the same spot that XP Pro occupies today, because this time it's truly aimed at businesses. It won't feature the MCE functionality that Home Premium Edition has, but it begins to provide the kind of functionality you'd expect in a business environment, such as support for non-Microsoft networking protocols and Domain support. But don't expect too many businesses to necessarily turn to PE. Microsoft is also planning both a Small Business Edition and an Enterprise Edition, which build upon pro by adding (seemingly minor) features aimed at appealing to each market. SBE, for instance, includes a networked backup solution, while EE will include things like Virtual PC integration, and the ability to encrypt an entire volume of information.

Last but not least, there's Ultimate Edition. Hey, I'm just glad that they didn't call it Extreme Edition. I'll leave it to Paul Thurrott, who has all of the details, to explain (and promote) this beast:

The best operating system ever offered for a personal PC, optimized for the individual. Windows Vista Ultimate Edition is a superset of both Vista Home Premium and Vista Pro Edition, so it includes all of the features of both of those product versions, plus adds Game Performance Tweaker with integrated gaming experiences, a Podcast creation utility (under consideration, may be cut from product), and online "Club" services (exclusive access to music, movies, services and preferred customer care) and other offerings (also under consideration, may be cut from product). Microsoft is still investigating how to position its most impressive Windows release yet, and is looking into offering Ultimate Edition owners such services as extended A1 subscriptions, free music downloads, free movie downloads, Online Spotlight and entertainment software, preferred product support, and custom themes. There is nothing like Vista Ultimate Edition today. This version is aimed at high-end PC users and technology influencers, gamers, digital media enthusiasts, and students.

OK, everyone got that? There will be a quiz on Monday.

My initial reactions are reserved, because there's just not that much detail available. Pricing, for instance, would be really nice to know. Will Home Basic Edition debut below the price point of XP Home today? Place your bets. The one thing I will say is that I fear that this may cause a great deal of confusion on behalf of your average consumer. Two versions of XP were enough to cause confusion, and now Joe Blow has four choices that may fit the bill.

One final note worth mentioning is that this strategy does remove the "corporate Windows XP" option from the hands of pirates. Volume licensing for Pro, SBE, and EE may still mean that there will be copies of Windows Vista out there that don't "call home" for Windows Product Activation, but as you can see, Microsoft has removed most of the features that most pirates would want from those OSes. You won't see corporate licensing versions of Ultimate Edition.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Wow, guess its a good thing I just bought a PCI-Express 256mB video card, then.

[dennisw]

Many of those PCI Express cards seem to use the main system memory to power them. EXAMPLE: one might have 32mb onboard and the system memory is supposed to supply the rest to bring it to 128mb.

[ideablitz]

so, you are telling me Lotus 1-2-3 on DOS/386 on VGA Monitor ($2000 computer back then) will run just as fast as Lotus 1-2-3 on Windows Vista/Pentium 8xx processors ($1000 computer) at lower price level?

maybe, you have a journalism degree?

[zeugma]

The lines have already started forming for Vista...

[TehBadPlace]

Speaking of arstechnica.com, has anyone ever clicked on their forums? Specifically, their "Soapbox" forum is full of anti-America vitrol and endless Bush bashing. It almost rivals Democratic Underground for sheer stupidity....

[SlowBoat407]

Memo to self: Buy more Apple shares on Vista release day.

[postaldave]

good luck with that new OS eveyone i'm not getting on the next M$ train.
i've got xp and it runs well.


if the linux guys can get their package install crap together then the only switch i would see is onto a linux train.

see http://smartpm.org/ for the key to getting linux past the next step towards real world use.

[js1138]

Most users never buy Windows. They buy a computer. Most computers are never upgraded, they are just demoted and replaced. The second-hand user simply continues with whatever OS was originally installed.

DELL sells about 150,000 computers a day, 365 days a year. Considering their market share, that means about 150 million new computers are sold every year, and 90 percent will be delivered with Windows.

Windows will add about five percent to the price of the computer.

[Geritol]

I am still running win98se on a couple dozen machines. I am not missing anything vital that I have ever noticed. On some of my higher end machines it almost runs faster than DOS did on my 386. I can not imagine how slow this thing would b e by comparrison.

[SlowBoat407]

Okay, does this mean that if I want electric door locks I have to get the sunroof?

[Arthalion]

All of which reveals Vista for what it truly is...welfare for the computer hardware industry. If you didn't know, much of the HW industry has been stagnant for nearly five years now. Intel and AMD have seen declining growth in the US as consumers finally ask themselves "Why should I upgrade to a 4Ghz CPU when my 1.5Ghz runs the latest OS and version of Word just fine?" or "Why do I need a 200GB hard drive when I can fit 1000 MP3's AND my entire photo collection from the past 50 years AND digital versions of all my favorite books AND every computer game I've ever loved in my 5 year old 50Gb drive?".

Users have little incentive to upgrade outside of hardware failure, so outside of gamers (who only make up 5% of the market), few have been doing so. Vista will attempt to act as a forced upgrade. Very, very few people are going to have the horsepower needed to run this thing in their current PC's, so from their perspective it will be a big boost to the entire industry.

Their problem, IMO, is that there isn't yet a killer app on the horizon for Vista. As of yet, I haven't seen a single reasons as to WHY I should run Vista in place of XP or Linux...from my perspective, it does the same thing as XP, only a little faster and with a slightly tweaked interface. For most of the market, that won't be a sufficient reason to drop one to two grand on a new computer system. For THAT, you need a hook that people can't refuse For example, with Win95 and 98, functionality for the "new" Internet was pulling people in. With XP, it was the promise that MS had finally mastered the stability thing. In the business world, 2000 and 2003 were driven by major new features and the end of the BSOD. Vista, by comparison, seems to be Windows Me rehashed. It doesn't do anything that previous versions didn't do, it just does them in a different way and with a reworked interface. The average consumer doesn't care about multi-threading, or SATA queuing, or anything else that's going on under the hood. If they're going to drop a couple grand on a new PC, they're going to have one question: "What will Vista let me do that XP won't?" So far, Microsoft hasn't answered that question.

[ExitPurgamentum]

Great for M$ and consumers get their pooch scr*wed

Oh, how "conservatives" on this board hate capitalism! And how people like you despise morality.

You have absolutely no evidence that consumers will suffer from this move. And yet you do not hesitate to defame thousands of honest hardworking people. It's less conservative of you than voting for Kerry.

By having dominant power, Microsoft has produced what is called coordination in economics and game theory, which has saved consumers uncaclulable benefits.

You should be proud of capitalism: it has made this country prosperous and surpassed any other system known to man. In the very least, learn something about it. Stop reading Java manuals and buy a book on economics.

[Abby4116]

Which One? And what if you buy one that isn't what you need? Or maybe M$ decides to quit supporting the version you bought?

With xp early on they did not support my video driver. Took them several months to do so.

But, in answer to your question, probably the top home edition. And I doubt they will not support that.

[ExitPurgamentum]

Please remove the part of the title that is in parentheses: it's been added by the poster and constitutes anti-capitalist propaganda (opinion of the poster not rooted in any known fact)

[rivercat]

The lines have already started forming for Vista..."

So you're saying that Linux users are lining up to buy Vista now? (At least that's what your picture seems to indicate)

[BallandPowder]

Powder..Patch..Ball FIRE!

You have absolutely no evidence that consumers will suffer from this move. And yet you do not hesitate to defame thousands of honest hardworking people. It's less conservative of you than voting for Kerry.

MUHHAAAAAHHAAHAAAAHHAAAA!!!!!!!

I'm not defaming anybody... But you defamed me.

[BallandPowder]

Powder..Patch..Ball FIRE!

Please remove the part of the title that is in parentheses: it's been added by the poster and constitutes anti-capitalist propaganda (opinion of the poster not rooted in any known fact)

The title should be left as is. Seven versions of the same (crippled or features left out) is definitely milking the market.

[N3WBI3]

Hey gotta hand it to them, I don't think this is a terrible idea. Depending on how its implemented it could be a good thing for consumers..

[JoJo Gunn]

By having dominant power, Microsoft has produced what is called coordination in economics and game theory, which has saved consumers uncaclulable benefits.

Holy Mother of God! "Coordination in economics and game theory"???

Yet another psychobabbling shill signs on to the Freep.

[ExitPurgamentum]

Seven versions of the same (crippled or features left out) is definitely milking the market.

One more time you are screaming at the top of your lungs that you have no clue about either economics or business administration.

Go on, it's fairly entertaining to observe a delusion ignorant socialist that does not even think about Commandments and yet fancies fancies himself a "conservative."

It's entertaining to see a buffoon. Go on, please.