RSSMicrosoft offers clarifications on Windows 7 SKU issues
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published February 4, 2009, 3:53 PM
A number of key details surrounding Microsoft's announcement yesterday on Windows 7 versions were left up in the air, and now spokespersons are working to bring them down to earth.
A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to Betanews this afternoon that Windows 7 Home Basic -- the version of the operating system that would have reduced "experience" features, comparable to Vista Home Basic -- will not be available to retail customers in the US, Canada, and Western Europe. But Win7 Starter Edition -- which was at one time touted as the company's emerging markets version -- will be available through retail channels.
Betanews presented a Microsoft spokesperson this morning with a list of issues we had following yesterday's announcement, and what follows is the precise transcript of the questions we asked and the company's responses:
Betanews: Will Home Basic still be available to customers outside of the emerging markets that Mike Ybarra mentioned, such as the US, Canada, and Western Europe?
Microsoft: No, Windows 7 Home Basic will be only available in emerging markets; however, Windows 7 Starter will be available worldwide.
Betanews: Will the price point differential between Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate be roughly the same as for their Vista counterparts?
Microsoft: Final decisions are still being made on details like pricing. We will be in touch when we have more to share.
Betanews: Ybarra mentioned that different versions of Win7 would be available for netbooks and small form-factor PCs, though he didn't mention which one, specifically. Are we to assume he meant Home Basic or Starter Edition?
Microsoft: Customers who have only basic computing requirements can choose Windows 7 Starter Edition. However, customers interested in getting the most complete consumer experience from their small notebook PC investment will want to consider Windows 7 Home Premium, which offers richer multimedia capabilities and visual enhancements, if their netbook has sufficient hardware. However, Windows 7 was designed in a way that any edition of the OS should be able to run on small notebook PCs with sufficient hardware.
Betanews: Will the "user experience" in Home Basic still be somewhat limited, in the same way Vista Home Basic is limited compared to Vista Home Premium (the Aero environment is disabled)?
Microsoft: As each SKU builds upon the one below it, the first few SKUs in the lineup do have more limited functionality. Aero Glass and its enhanced navigation is a feature that is first available in the Windows 7 Home Premium SKU.
Betanews: Last October, [Microsoft Corp. VP for Windows Product Management] Mike Nash gave us an indication that there would be a Windows 7 SKU for netbooks? Was that being considered, and if so, why was the idea turned down?
Microsoft: All versions of Windows 7 will be made available for the small notebook PCs known as netbooks. For OEMs that build lower cost small notebook PCs, Windows 7 Starter will now be available worldwide. Microsoft recommends the more complete versions of Windows 7 like Windows 7 Home Premium on small notebook PCs with sufficient hardware for customers who want more than just basic features on these small PCs.
Betanews: Do consumers have any reason to expect price increases for this round?
Microsoft: Final decisions are still being made on details like pricing. We will be in touch when we have more to share.
7:20 pm EST February 4, 2009 - Late this afternoon, Microsoft's spokesperson nailed down a response to another of our questions. When asked whether the "experience" included in Home Premium and Ultimate editions would still be called "Aero," as it has been for Windows Vista, the spokesperson responded, "Yes, Aero will be the final name."
Personally I prefer more versions as long as the pricing is reflective of the functions I am looking to us. I have a Netbook and two Laptops. I think more SKUs give better options for companies budgeting upgrades and for the variety of hardware this is supposed to support. Remember that this is supposed to be for XP and Vista. XP can run on some lower level hardware.
Score: 0
|Six versions.
The damned morons didn't learn a freaking thing and marketing is still trying to gouge.
Read my lips M$ - give customers value for their money (you seem to be having a problem with that these days), to whit:
Two versions.
Home and Business.
No 32-bit versions - people haven't been able to BUY 32-bit hardware in over three years and besides, Vista (on which 7 is based) was clearly not meant to run on 32-bit machines if only because of the salami-in-a-test-tube memory footprint. Yes, I know you sent it to Jenny Craig but we both know that it won't last.
No dumba** memory limitations - Home gets a 128GB limitation and Business whatever else that's higher.
Home gets the Media Center crap. Business doesn't.
Both get AD since your precious Home Server wants to use a cut-down version of same.
Six versions?
What an abortion.
Score: 0
|So you'd be fine with one version for everyone, @ $240 a pop?
Score: 0
|F*****g Microsoft...more reasons for people to go Mac or stick with XP.
Score: 0
|Drats. :-(
Instead, how about only 2?
Windows 7 Home
Windows 7 Business
Home has all the multimedia goodies, but none of the "host web pages / connect to huge corporate networks" type of stuff.
Business has a lean, clean install that is locked down by default and can be extended modularly to include any features available, but as a separate install.
That might be okay...
Score: 0
|It's exactly the same like Vista, except Starter and Home Basic have reversed their roles as far as availability is concerned and for SKU features, the higher priced SKUs will now be supersets of lower priced ones (though I'm doubtful if Enterprise edition for example will include Media Center and DVD Maker). No lessons learnt for feature distributions across SKUs as well, still there's no Bitlocker in Professional, no Fax and full backup feature-set (Imaging and Shadow Copy) in Home Premium. A feature like EFS that has been around since Windows 2000 Professional is missing from the Home SKUs. RDP Server/Host requires Professional, WTF!
What's missing (my guess is) from lower editions will be mostly the same as Vista:
Missing from Professional:
Bitlocker, Services for Unix, Multiple Languages (MUI)
Missing from Home Premium:
Shadow Copy, Previous Versions, EFS, Complete PC Backup, Deployment tools, QoS, NAP Client, Credential Providers, Smart cards, RMS Client, Bitlocker, SFU, MUI, Small Business Resources, Fax & Scan, Wireless network provisioning, Windows Mobility Center?, RDP Server (Host), Domain Join, Group Policy, Offline Files, Client-side caching (Cached Credentials), Credentials Manager, Roaming user profiles, Folder Redirection, IIS7
Missing from Home Basic: All that's missing from Home Premium plus incremental backup, scheduled backup, network backup, Aero *animations*, Tablet features, InkBall, Mahjong Titans, Chess Titans, Fax & Scan
Missing from Ultimate: Nice Ultimate Extras like DreamScene and games. Is there any commitment to make existing extras available for Windows 7? What incentive will users have for "upgrading" if they lose DreamScene and some well loved games?
Score: 1
|"A feature like EFS that has been around since Windows 2000 Professional is missing from the Home SKUs. RDP Server/Host requires Professional, WTF!"
Win 2000 professional was *also* not a home SKU, dude. No change.
Ultimate Extras is a joke. Texas Hold 'Em? Seriously? DreamScene? Third parties do them both a *lot* better than MSFT did.
Score: 2
|Does anyone else find it odd that Microsoft keeps referring to netbooks as "small notebook PCs"?
Score: 1
|They're probably still figuring out the Microsoft name for them since Origami never took off. Also, a lot of Netbooks are sold with Linux which they wouldn't want to be confused with.
Score: 0
|Given all the negative comment (from both press and consumers) Vista's multiple-SKU approach generated, I simply don't understand why Microsoft refuses to learn from that mistake...
Stupidity or Arrogance? Both?
Score: -2
|Can you honestly point to any consumer confusion? Aside from the initial blow-back regarding "basic", the only edition being sold on most computers right now is Home Premium. The OEM's learned from the mistakes and are relegating Basic to the ultra-low end.
I can only assume they'll do the same with Windows 7 Starter Edition. Home premium will be the only edition widely available to the consumer, both on the shelves and pre-installed.
Score: 1
|I agree. When trying buy consumer PCs for work, it was frustrating when higher versions of Windows weren't offered as options. I think next time I get new machines I'll get a volume license with the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack rather than OEM. Or I'm kinda liking the idea of VDI and not having to worry about the desktop hardware. We'll have to see how MS does with that in the next ~1.5yrs (when I'll need a refresh).
Score: 0
|@Deadfly
It's also annoying to do some work on consumer-grade hardware.
Score: 0
|Nice scam. Raise the price of every computer $30 by getting rid of Home Basic in non-emerging markets (Starter edition in practice will only be on netbooks).
Score: -4
|In practice the only version of Vista shipping on OEM systems is Home Premium...so what's your point?
Score: 0
|Their answers really didn't clear anything up.
Score: 0
|They asked 2 questions twice (netbook/pricing). Were they expecting a different answer?
Windows 7 Home Premium for Home (Ultimate OEM if you need bitlocker, etc), and Enterprise for businesses.
Pretty simple.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Starter on some netbooks, most folks only have one or two apps open on those at any given time, anyway, and most of the "apps" are web-based, but I can see Home Premium on them as well. Saw an AspireOne the other day running Windows 7 (the ultimate edition), so it's definitely possible.
I really don't see why this is such a big deal: OEMs will push Windows Home Premium, businesses will order whatever their IT department recommends (Pro, Enterprise, Ultimate), and retail channels will stock Home Premium on the shelves. It's not rocket science, folks...
Score: 1
|Oh, they cleared something up all right..its obvious Microsoft knows the non-Western markets won't shell out for Home Premium, so for them we've got Home Basic. And their probably the exact same product. Oh well, maybe it will cut down on piracy a little..though I doubt it.
Score: -1
|^This to PC_Tool^
I'm interested to know what the differences between Home Premium and Ultimate are this time around, though.
Score: -1
|@psycros:
Home Basic doesn't have Aero, and is limited to 3 concurrently running apps. (I have no idea how that related to services...Heh..). Also, no Media Center. Home Premium has Aero, Media Center, no restrictions or limitations on the number of concurrent programs.
@Paul:
Ultimate is Home Premium with the Enterprise featureset as well. Bitlocker, applocker, directaccess, vhd...basically a bunch of stuff most home users won't ever need.
Score: 1
|Maybe we'll see "Windows Live OS" where the main interface is the browser connecting to Live Mail, Live Office, Live Spaces, Live *... They really need something like Google Gears to get people to really give up their local apps though.
Score: 0
|I am thinking Windows Mobile will eventually go "netbook" and contain their "Live" services (along with the possibility of "Live Office".
It would make sense, considering the Linux push for Google apps on the netbook front...
*shrug* Don't really care for either option. :) My wife wants one, but I could live without 'em.
Score: 1
|@PC_Tool and psycros
Home basic isn't limited to 3apps... starter is limited to 3 apps... home basic pretty much just doesn't have aero or DVD maker or DVD playback... i think... but i do know it's not limited to 3 apps...
Score: 0
|Ok...ya got me. That *does* confuse me.
Why in Hell's name did they swap starter/basic? *THAT* makes no sense.
The rest of it? Meh...doesn't take a genius.
Score: 0
|@PCTOOL: Im guessing they are allowing Starter worldwide so Netbook OEMs can pay a lower price per license. So MS doesnt lose money like they have with XP and netbooks having to bide by the agreement of such a low price.
But practically thats just crippling any netbook out there. Anyone that has used a netbook can confirm that you can run as many apps as you want and limiting it to 3 is just rediculous. So Im guessing that OEMs are going to have to use Home Premium which will drive the price of all netbooks up in price.
Score: 1
|As I stated in another thread, WHP doesn't cost much more (if *more* at all) to OEMs than XP does. Get over it.
Windows XP OEM: $81.44 (Mwave)
Windows Vista Home Premium OEM: $99.75 (Mwave)
Considering the actual OEM's are now getting volume discounts on Vista, it's probably much closer.
Score: 0
|