[kanaloa]

<span id="nointelliTXT"><img src="http://parcom.pronetworks.org/PROneT-News/WindowsVista.jpg" align="right" alt="Windows Vista Editions Explained"><font size="4"><b>Windows Vista Editions Explained</b></font>

This post is made in light of a much more details news article our own Larry Richman posted <a href="http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=71788"><b>HERE</b></a>. If you are looking for in-depth details on the various editions of Windows Vista, please see that post. You can also read an abbreviated version detailing the features of each edition quoted at the bottom of this post. <a href="#editions"><font size="1">~Click here to jump to those descriptions</font></a>.

Today (September 05, 2006) it became official the the <a href="http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=81861"><b>prices</b></a> for Vista leaked during the last weeks of August 2006 (by Amazon.com) are in fact correct.

We now know Microsoft is planning a $900 million marketing campaign to drive sales. In early 2006, at the Intel Developer Forum, Microsoft said they expect to have 400 million computers running Vista within two years of its release. Naturally, most of those sales will stem from new computer purchases, but the company is also hoping to catch the fancy of enthusiasts like many of you reading this post. Can <a href="http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=81861">these prices</a> do it?

First, in my honest option you can forget about <b>Home Basic</b>. Why? Simple, it's a crippled OS because Home Basic lacks support for Aero. For anyone remotely interested in Vista, it's hard to see why Home Basic would be a target purchase. Aero is definitely one of the biggest visual features of the new OS. It is miles, and I do mean miles, ahead of that fuzzy stuff XP had when it released in 2001. Aero is a sleek, animated, and downright cool GUI to work in. So...

That brings us to <b>Home Premium</b>, which is the true Vista enthusiast's entry-point OS. At $159 for an upgrade, Microsoft is staying close to the Windows XP Pro upgrade price, which means that they likely can expect decent sales with this edition. But what will you be missing out on? After all, chances are any copy of Vista you've already tested was, in fact, Ultimate edition. See <a href="http://www.pronetworks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=71788">this post</a> for more details on the specific features of this build.

Getting further up the line, it starts to get more interesting. The pricing difference between Home Premium to </b>Ultimate Edition</b> spans $160 for the full version and $100 for the upgrade. Ultimate costs $399 new or $259 for upgrade. Due to the fact that Ultimate Edition is a compound mixture of the Home and Business editions, its logically priced higher than those two editions. While this does makes sense, but it also complicates the pricing tier.

Since Microsoft is already selling <b>Business Edition</b> for $70 more than Premium ($40 for the upgrade). Business Edition loses Premium's Media Center functionality in favor of its management functions, which seems like more of a trade-off than a feature boost... so why charge so much more for it? (More on the different versions, here.)

Whatever version buyers choose, the "Anytime Upgrade" will make the initial buying decision less important. This may be a good thing, because Ultimate is priced at a premium that many users may balk at. And when it comes to OEM sales from the manufacturers like Dell, Sony, or Gateway, the challenge will be massaging a $400 OS into their line-up.

Vista will sell well, but Microsoft has a marketing challenge on their hands when it comes to Ultimate. Though I have to admit; letting the public flirt with Ultimate via the various public releases was certainly a move in their favor.

<a name="editions"></a>

For Businesses:

• Windows Vista Business: For small businesses, Windows Vista Business will help keep PCs running smoothly and securely so they are less reliant on dedicated IT support. For larger organisations, Windows Vista Business will provide dramatic new infrastructure improvements that will enable IT staff to spend less time focused on day to day maintenance of PCs and more time adding strategic value to the organisation.
• Windows Vista Enterprise: To better address the needs of large, global organisations and those with highly complex IT infrastructures, Windows Vista Enterprise is designed to significantly lower IT costs and risk. In addition to all of the features available in Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise is designed to provide higher levels of data protection using hardware-based encryption technology.

For Consumers:

• Windows Vista Home Basic: For consumers that want to simply use the PC to browse the Internet, correspond with friends and family over email or perform basic document creation and editing tasks, Windows Vista Home Basic will deliver a safer, more reliable and more productive computing environment.
• Window Vista Home Premium: Will help consumers utilise mobile or desktop PC functionality more effectively while enabling the enjoyment of new, exciting digital entertainment experiences

Last edited by kanaloa on Thu Feb 08, 2007 2:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[kd1966]

Oh yeah....... let us measly beta testers play with the "ultimate" version as much as we want....... let us get used to it........... (Perhaps even attached to it.....) then sock it to us when it's RTM......... yeah, I'm a crybaby.......lol

[kanaloa]

It is kinda cruel isn't it, LOL

[gries818]

Nice Post!!! I am almost sure I am buying Ultimate but then again maybe I could settle for Home Premium

[kanaloa]

Nice Post!!! I am almost sure I am buying Ultimate but then again maybe I could settle for Home Premium

I think I'll go with Ultimate for my main PC and likely Home Premium for everything else, upgrades for both.

Home Premium I really do believe will be the big seller at this point.

[gries818]

yeah, the only way i think Ultimate would be a huge seller is if they gave you multiple licenses - lets face it for the amounts they are charging you should get more than 1 license for Ultimate

[Nine3Niner]

Nice post with everything clearly outlined. Thanks.

Home Premium will do it for me.
No Aero for Home Basic -- how disappointing!

[kanaloa]

yeah, the only way i think Ultimate would be a huge seller is if they gave you multiple licenses - lets face it for the amounts they are charging you should get more than 1 license for Ultimate

Imagine the fix this will put businesses in. I mean, wow. They'll likely go with the low end business setup. It'll take years for most businesses to role out the new OS anyway. XP was a vast improvement over 2K (although SP4 on 2K was good). But Vista doesn't carry the same incentives for businesses that XP did. XP works and security (at least for where I work) is not client to client machine, but done on the master server. So security isn't a big issue. But we also have pretty strict web limits at the DOT now.

[wase4711]

the incredibly high prices that they are asking will definately keep businesses from rapidly adopting Vista...

I mean, compare these prices to what XP costs, I can't imagine many large corps jumping on the Vista bandwagon...If it comes preinstalled on machines, thats one thing, but to upgrade your current, stable OS at the prices they have announced just doesnt make alot of fiscal sense...

[b_a88]

What I am really wondering is how much will it be for a full new license and not an upgrade because I can't see any reason for putting Vista on my current machine. I know for XP it was $99 for an XP Home upgrade and $199 for the full thing while Pro was $199 for upgrade and $299 for the full thing, those are all of course retail. I am wonder what the $159 for Vista Home Premium upgrade will translate to in terms of a full new license. If that means $259 for a full retail version of Home Premium that's a bit steep for software in my opinion, I mean that's getting up there with the price of an Xbox 360 and that's a full fledged entertainment system and not just the software that runs it.