Windows 7 Versions Announced

Microsoft has semi-officially released the five versions of Windows 7, although the company is apparently making a concerted effort to simplify the release plan to avoid the complexity of Windows Vista.

At this point, the releases have been provided (leaked?) to Gizmodo and Paul Thurrott's SuperSite, which has a rundown of the new offerings. Microsoft officials hadn't responded to requests for comment by post time. Microsoft has now provided an official list of the SKUs as of late Tuesday morning.

Essentially, the five versions are the same as for Vista, but with a few exceptions. However, Microsoft will only promote two directly to the consumer: Home Premium and Professional.

The Home Basic SKU has been eliminated except for emerging markets (which makes it a sixth version, techically), and the "Ultimate" offering, which was previously positioned as the end-all, be-all version of Windows, will be sold as an end-user version of Microsoft Windows 7 for Enterprise. It's unclear whether or not enthusiasts will flock to Ultimate as they have in years past, but at this point Microsoft seems to be downplaying the Ultimate offering as one that's really geared toward specialized users. The Ultimate SKU will still be sold at retail, apparently, however.

Microsoft Home Premium will be the standard offering for home users, with multmedia codecs being offered straight out of the box. Microsoft's Business version of Windows 7 will include specialized features like location-aware printing. Enterprise, however, will take Business and add to it, with such features as security features such as AppLocker and BitLocker, which will lock down applications and data, plus add the ability for remote access without a VPN. The Enterprise version will be offered through Microsoft's volume license program.

What's Windows Starter? A cut-down version for emerging markets. Chances are you'll never see it. However, if you do want to upgrade, you'll already have the code: all of the Win7 discs MS ships will apparently contain all of the versions' features, according to Thurrott.  (full Story)