Because software analyst Michael Muchmore is on vacation, I volunteered to write the news story covering the new Windows 7 versions, as well as a followup FAQ presenting as many details as possible that should be up later on Wednesday.
I think what we have so far is pretty comprehensive. However, I'm writing this blog post to highlight what I consider to be the newsiest, most interesting, and unexpected tidbits of information I found while researching both stories.
1.) Netbooks will run any flavor of Windows 7. Any flavor, including Ultimate.
Yes, it's hard to conceive of an Atom-based netbook running Windows 7 Ultimate. The key caveat, however, is that Microsoft says that those Windows 7 netbooks need to run on "sufficient hardware". Microsoft doesn't say exactly what that is, unfortunately. However, given that they've thrown that out there, look for this feature to be one of the most closely examined of any Windows 7 offers.
2.) Remember Windows Ultimate Extras? They're gone.
Does anyone actually remember why they paid extra for the Windows Vista Ultimate Extras? Was it DreamScene? Windows Sound Schemes? Tinker? Yeah, me either.
"Our new approach to planning and building Windows doesn't have the capacity to continue to deliver features outside the regular release cycle," a Microsoft document provided to PCMag and AppScout says. "While our core development team is focused on building the next release, our sustained engineering team is focused on updates to existing features. As a result we don't plan to create Ultimate Extras."
Perhaps, although I wonder why Microsoft never thought about creating a Windows 7 (or Vista) apps store?
3.) Windows 7 will run DVDs natively -- but is there Blu-ray support?
Windows 7 won't add the a la carte DVD support Vista included. Instead, "for Windows7, we will now offer DVD playback natively in Home Premium, Pro, and Ultimate, and will no longer offer Home Basic and Starter with the 'with DVD' option," Microsoft says.
But wait -- will Windows 7 support Blu-ray straight out of the box? We don't know that as yet, unfortunately.
4.) Downgrade rights are actually mentioned.
Downgrading Windows wasn't even part of the tech lexicon until Vista, when people suddenly backpedaled and realized that Windows XP might actually do the job better than Microsoft's latest operating system. With Microsoft's Steve Ballmer claiming that Windows 7 is Vista, but better, I'm surprised that the topic was even mentioned in the document I saw.
"Final decisions are still being made on details like End User downgrade rights outlined in the applicable product License Terms," Microsoft says. "We will be in touch when we have more to share."
Incidentally, there will be a Windows XP-to-Windows 7 upgrade available, Microsoft says. (full Story)
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