There is a follow-up post to this story: Vista Flavors, This Time for Real
Because choices are good? Or because there would be more money to be milked? Perhaps the victims of having 8 different flavors of Windows Vista are the software vendors, who would have to explain the differences between each edition to their customers.
Here’s a quick rundown of the 8 product editions:
Windows Starter 2007 Windows Vista Starter - This edition does not include the Aero graphical user interface, hence it’s not Vista-branded. And there’s no 64-bit edition, no networking, no Fast User Switching, no DVD Authoring, no gaming common controller support, and no image editing with enhanced touchup, and only three applications/windows are allowed to run simultaneously. Good only for really basic users with low budgets.
Windows Vista Home Basic - This is the true baseline version of Windows Vista; think Windows XP Home Edition. You can expect to find features such as Windows Firewall, Windows Search, Photo Library and etc. However, it doesn’t include the Aero graphical user interface as well. Every other edition below will be based on this edition. Good for general consumers or even the kids.
Windows Vista Home Basic N - Same as the Home Basic Edition, but minus the Windows Media Player. This edition is for the Europeans as they have antitrust rulings against Microsoft which does not allow the player to be bundled.
Windows Vista Home Premium - This edition includes features such as Media Center Extender support, Cable Card support, DVD authoring and Tablet PC functionality. This edition is best suited for notebooks and networked home desktops, but it’s probably insufficient for the geeks.
Windows Vista Business - Analogous to the Windows XP Professional, this will probably be the most widely used edition in corporate environments. This edition allows joining of domains, non-Microsoft networking (Netware, etc), Remote Desktop and Microsoft Windows Web Server. Most geeks and IT professionals will want to go for this edition.
Windows Vista Business N - Just like Home Basic N Edition, this one is meant for the Europeans and comes with no media player.
Windows Vista Enterprise - This edition will come with several new features such as Virtual PC, multi-language user interface (MUI) and Secure Startup (BitLocker Drive Encryption).
Windows Vista Ultimate - This one is going to be the most expensive, most feature-packed, and perhaps the most pirated edition of Vista. It’ll include new and unique features such as Game Performance Tweaker, Podcast creation utility, online “Club” services and privileged product support. This edition will be perfect for Windows fanboys.
So which one’s for you?
