First
they
were, and then
they
weren't, but now BBC News is reporting that, Microsoft has really, officially confirmed that it will be shipping
Windows Vista, to quote our own Victor Agreda, Jr., in "a rainbow of flavors." Ready? Start counting:
- Vista Business
- Vista Enterprise
- Vista Home Basic
- Vista Home
Premium
- Vista Ultimate
- Vista Starter
You can head over to BBC News
for all the deets, but here's the gist: It's pretty much
what we've been expecting. Vista Business and Enterprise are pretty much what you'd expect. Home Premium does
everything Home Basic does but tosses in the Aero GUI that we've seen in all the screenshots and "will also be
able to connect their machine to an Xbox 360 gaming console"--expect it to be the version that ships on most OEM
PCs. Vista Ultimate combines the features of all the other versions and, finally, Vista Starter is intended for low-end
PCs in developing nations. Additionally
there will be "versions made specifically for Europe that,
in accordance with an EU mandate, remove the Windows media player," which are analagous to the "N"
versions previously rumored. So that adds up to... yep, a rainbow of flavors.
Tags: basic, business, commercial, enterprise, home, microsoft, osupdates, premium, starter, ultimate, vista, windows
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Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsRandyFeb 27th 2006 1:57PM
According to the press release, Enterprise will have options that won't be available to the rest of the editions (and will not be available on retail shelves).
The only other thing I picked up on is the description of Ultimate: it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Business edition - instead it sounds like it takes the Home Premium version and adds Media Center/Tablet support to it... Business does have Tablet support but it doesn't get MCE support, so it's more like "Home Ultimate".
FranklinFeb 27th 2006 3:09PM
I have a colleague who did contract work for Msoft out in Redmond, and he doesn't think any of these versions will include the Media Center Edition components. He says that MCE is developed by a division that's separate from the rest of the Windows development division. And because of the peculiar way the company sets up its divisions, there is very little cross-over in packaging and marketing. Weird, I know, but he claims that each person in charge of their division is extremely territorial.
Basically, if my friend is correct, then none of the Vista versions will include MCE. You will still have to buy a pre-built desktop which has MCE pre-installed. Or an OEM version of Vista + MCE through back channel distributors/means.
RandyFeb 27th 2006 4:54PM
Not to put your friend down, but s/he should know that in a company as big as Micrsoft, it's very hard to know what every group is doing... it's OK, because I was getting this from information from the official press release: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/feb06/02-26WinVistaProductsPR.mspx
Windows Vista Home Premium.
[...] Windows Media Center capabilities turn the PC into an all-in-one home entertainment center. Consumers can use Media Center to record and watch TV shows (even high-definition TV) and access new kinds of online entertainment content. It also provides the ability to connect Windows Vista Home Premium to Xbox 360™, extending the Media Center experience to multiple rooms in the home.
[...]
Windows Vista Ultimate.
Windows Vista Ultimate is the edition of Windows Vista that has it all. It is the first operating system that brings together all the entertainment features, mobility features and business-oriented features available in Windows Vista.
Both will have it of those will have MCE; these two, as well as Business, will also have Tablet support, from what I'm reading here.
FWIW, I've also seen screenshots of the Feb CTP with an Ultimate product key: Media Center is already there. I just didn't know it would also be in other Home versions.