Iria

Word was that Microsoft would announce the list of SKUs for Windows 7 on Feb. 3rd, and that's what happened. Unfortunately for those of us hoping to see something like Windows XP, with two versions, we didn't get our wish.
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Source: Tech-Ex

Mousey

Why would anybody WANT another XP? Jeeesus. SKU's are a great idea because you pay for what you want/need, not for everything which will have stuff you won't use in it.
Honestly why are people so stupid these days? Can they not see the sense?

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Customgamer1

If only.

I think people just want 1 price 1 copy. Would be nice to have Ultimate edition the same price as Home basic and be done with it!

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Asus Laptop: 2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gigs DDR 2, Windows 7 64bit! Windows 7 > OSX!

Judas

would be nice.. but apparently would prefer to bitch more about the overpriced windows then have cheaper options that do what they want it to do...

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hohum

My concern isn't about pricing, but that all these different versions with differing features will confuse a lot of customers, possibly alienating them again as a result.

Judas

what's to really get confused over.

Home basic.. and home Premium are really the only things they should be looking at with Ultimate as the next thing above all things....

Most people are happy with basic.... Premium is all most of any would ever need.... and Ultimate is just pure overkill with very little worthwhile for the general joe blow.

Business/enterprise etc vista options were strickly for those areas......

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dj_stick

there's actually a lot to get confused about

most people who are less than computer literate think that when they buy a computer they should get the "best" OS available, having a huge number of choices, even with basic descriptions, will probably bewilder quite a few people, even if the most basic version is perfect for them.

I think XP's Home and Professional editions is probably all that's really needed, although I can understand Vista's distribution (still home basic wasn't really needed when home premium is there), I really can't see a use for 6 versions, unless that includes the server edition (which is usually released a year or two after the desktop version, to sort out stability issues)

what are we going to have?
Home Basic/Premium?
Business Basic/Premium?
Ultimate
Server Basic/Premium?


personally I think it's getting a little too convoluted, two or three editions is really all that's required imo.

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Customgamer1

They should combine the Home editions together and if you want the basic version for "best performance" you should be able to turn off all the extra eye candy easily or something.

I think you need 1 for Business

And 1 more for the Ultimate.

So 3 total.

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Asus Laptop: 2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gigs DDR 2, Windows 7 64bit! Windows 7 > OSX!

Judas

while i would agree with home premium and basic being put together...

the demand for a cheaper os then home premium (which is rather just silly considering a meer 10 dollars gave you the extras)

btw, Enterprise eddition of vista is available....

so it's

Starter (mostly not available for most, nor would most want it... extremely limited)
home basic (good for majority)
home premium (basically everything most of anyone would need/want)
business (Specifically built for the business spectrum)
enterprise (HIGHEND business....)
ultimate (Everything in one package that everything above includes)

Now this is not taking into consideration the N edditions of each required by the European union.

And then double that again for EACH for being 32bit and 64bit.

So in actuality... there would have been 12 or 24 sku's just for the vista packages..... excluding the server 2008

From what i see, they are following EXACTLY the same thing.....

Just a slight name change as well as a shift in the capabilities to better suit. I just hope that the price/values actually match up right.... and they don't remove some nice features while adding others.


As far as getting confused however, perhaps my trust in majority of people having a sense of "common sense" as well as worthwhile investigation of a product they are about to buy is a little high. However talking to people around here, most of anyone that had any care for the subject when asked which they would like pick, would emediately pick one of the home edditions, and generally would go with the premium package as "it was a little more expensive and appears to have a few more features" just by going by the box.

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IvanV

Won't the same keys work for both x32 and x64? I thought that that was the case with Vista and that it was a neat way of dealing with it.

Is that related to the future prices of 7 or to Vista? Vista Home Premium costs $30 more than Basic if it's an upgrade, and $40 more if it's a full version (source).

I must say that I agree that Microsoft's prices are a little steep, $240 for (Vista) Home Premium and $320 for Ultimate full versions are a lot of money, especially if you consider that Mac OS X, which has only one SKU which can be considered an equivalent of Ultimate, costs only $130, and if it's bundled with iWork and iLife it's $170, still cheaper than even Vista Home Basic full version. Maybe MS has bigger and thus more expensive developer teams and they can exploit the fact that 99% percent of people is used to Windows and specific Windows applications too much so they won't even consider an alternative, but when one's product is so much more expensive than it's Apple counterpart, it's time to sit down and think a little.

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Feed the porkers and don't touch the buttons!

hohum

Although you arguably pay through the nose for Apple hardware anyway, so it balances out.

Customgamer1

That is true. They get the money via the hardware they sell and can make it look like the OS cost is not included when you buy it for $100 when a new one comes out.


So yeah it does balance out.

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Asus Laptop: 2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gigs DDR 2, Windows 7 64bit! Windows 7 > OSX!

Judas

unfortuneatly... with every major update for the mac OS.. you have to pay for it..... where as Service packs for windows you don't....

Yes vista's 32/64bit sku's all work with each other... and i beleive.. but am not sure... that the N versions keys work with the non N versions to.... still it's 6+1 primary versions... just like windows 7 will be apparently....



right now.... i can buy windows vista home premium 64bit version (which is oddly more expensive then the 32bit even though both keys work just fine.... wtf).... OEM copies btw..... not retail.... i can get the hp oem for 165 and the basic for 152... .so 13 bucks different.....

ultimate for 205

this is Canadian dollars.

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CJLMTLCA

I bought a Samsung TV a few years back and when you plug it in for the first time it asks you if you are in a shop or at home.

What do you guys think about having 1 retail version?
DIY installers will be asked is this a home environment or business. If business is selected then all related components will be installed. If home is selected then you get 2 other choices, quick or custom. Quick would be like a Home Premium install (for dummies) and custom, well, install what you want (for geeks).
1 DVD with both 32bit and 64bit with a newly re-designed and powerful virtual-pc.
Price? 119.99-149.99? 199.99 max?

Enterprise would get a special version through microsoft or their OEM.

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dj_stick

that idea makes a lot of sense actually, but I can't see microsoft taking it up

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