Posted on 09/12/2005 8:09:27 AM PDT by 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.
*If* it would be possible to stop all piracy, then the cost of products should go down, if not then they sell less product.
What I wanna know is if you have to now go through seven layers of former fry cooks to get it activated.
Nah, you just use that word for ALL things you are ignorant of. Reduced you feeling of incompetence for a moment.
Make sure you take your boots of when you go to bed tonight.
"Holy Mother of God! "Coordination in economics and game theory"??? Yet another psychobabbling shill signs on to the Freep."
You're both wrong.
http://www.gametheory.net/dictionary/Games/PureCoordination.html
1) It's not Pareto Cooperation
2) Pathetic that you apparently never took Microeconomics in college, or took time to learn one darn thing about the subject... It's far from "psychobabble."
I note you have a recent signup date. Nothing wrong with that, of course, yet it prods my instincts. You smell very familiar. Have you been here before under another moniker?
Correctomundo!!!!
I cannot believe people would want to spend money on a computer which can show HDTV since pretty soon HDTV players
will be YOU-BIC-QUIT-US! If you're making HDTV content, well
I understand, but to type out memos, notes, and e-mails?
How did people do all those things with the lowly
Mac Classics/Amigas/PC 8088's???
Is that anything like "queer theory"? :)
"I still don't get why folks are down on DRM. It seems to me that the only folks that should be down on DRM are the pirates and thieves. I, for one, welcome DRM as it should ultimately (eventually) make it easier (seemless) for me to use my computer to view copyrighted content from whatever form of media that I have chosen to pay for."
You won't be able to... the media can be tied to playback on a specific device. For this usage of DRM, you'll have to pay AGAIN to view it on a different device, if the seller wants you to.
All valid points by you. Plus what's in Office2003 that Office2000 won't do as well for 95% of users? Even Office '97 is suitable for most. And Microsoft makes a lot more money from it's Office suite than from it's OS sales.
"the only folks that should be down on DRM are the pirates and thieves."
it stops me from placing sounds on my portable mp3, the key word is my not the one they pick for me and it stops me from networking my archived files across my personal network.
does that make me a pirate or a thief???
No, what's pathetic is in how someone wears their being indoctrinated like a badge. Just because something has "theory" appended to it doesn't mean squat.
Yous is the type that has earned us the reputation of "ignrant self-absorbed American" around the world. In most other places, people are not proud of their ignorance, but here it is bliss.
I gave you enough pointers. Go find for yourseld what game theory is. That is, if you can read. Have a good day.
Pirates and theives could care less about DRM, theyll crack it in a few weeks the people who should be bothered are honest content owners being treated liek pirates and theives. When you start to tell me what systems I can play my legally owned content thats a problem!
"No, what's pathetic is in how someone wears their being indoctrinated like a badge. Just because something has "theory" appended to it doesn't mean squat."
Actually game theory is a branch of mathematics and logic.
All things in science are called a "theory"
What's pathetic is in how someone wears their ignorance like a badge.
Here's a good introduction to a fascinating branch of applied mathematics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Theory
Please refrain from making statements that are untrue. You are propogating false information.
A PCI-E card uses no main system memory to execute commands from it's own GPU. Software written without GPU specific commands may execute commands in system memory from the main CPU.
What you might be referring to is onboard graphics (like in a laptop). Not a slot based card.
If a card says it has 256mb, it uses 256mb on the card and none from system memory.
And deal with all those downloads and patches? I'll stick to Win9x, thank you.
After rushing to Starbucks for some overpriced faddist "coffee", my pinky is sticking firmly out. I now understand game theory completely.
A game either entices you to play it, or it doesn't.
You either win the game or you don't.
There's another theory you and your advocate should educate yourself about, the theory of KISS (keep it simple, stupid).
I am sorry I don't know what to say in reply. I usually talk to people when I meet them. I certainly don't remember ever letting you smell my butt.
Sorry, I meant to include this in my other post...
One of the clear benefits of Vista will be the way it handles graphics. Instead of writing information on the screen using pixel based locations, Vista will use vector based math. This means that any image/window/text, can be scaled without having to interpolate the extra pixels. The basic of this is that Windows XP (& prior) used a 2D interface, Vista is 3D.
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