Ready for Windows 7? [already here]

[Nakor]

No, there is also Home Premium and Enterprise in the mix. Home Basic and and Enterprise will not be widely available at retail however. There is also a sixth, near featureless edition called Starter.

Starter will be available via OEM licencing only. It's likely this will be seen mainly in emerging markets and/or third-world countries.
Home Basic is being sent to emerging markets.
Enterprise is available via volume licencing only. So far as I can tell, it has the exact same features as Ultimate, just a different sales scheme.

Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate will be available via both retail and OEM licencing.

[TStodden]

From what I heard, there's was going to be 7 versions of Windows 7...

Starting with "Starter Edition" for Netbooks (limit 3 open apps) on the low end to "Ultimate Edition" for the high end.

One difference is that Microsoft is including everything with the installer, but there's different "Registration Codes" to unlock each version. The main reason behind this is to make the upgrade process from one version to another as easy as entering a new registration code.

[Nakor]

Nope, it's 6. There were 7 versions of Vista, all the same as the Win7 versions except with an extra one called "Business" (similar to Vista Enterprise but with less features).

[Frong]

Wrongo, Frongo. Vista is dead. That's why prices have dropped like a rock; dealers are dumping stock before 7 takes over. Full-retail upgrades for Premium have dropped by $70 already.

Still, even if Vista is pretty much dead in the water by now, it's already been out long enough for Vista versions of a lot of stuff to be released. Besides, whether new programs are developed for Vista because Win7 isn't out yet or for Win7 directly, they should both work. That's really all I care about, that there won't be ridiculous compatibility issues like there were between XP and Vista.

[Diabolique]

Nope. I still love XP.

[TStodden]

I'm not certain of how Microsoft was going to distribute them, but I knew there was multiple versions & an upgrade system in place from what I've read.

[Nakor]

Some trivia: The main reason businesses need the XP mode in Win7 isn't because of programs that specifically need things XP could do that Win7 couldn't, but rather because they use shoddy or very old software that is bug-laden, and therefore very prone to breaking when changing operating systems. Most companies refuse to spend money on improving or replacing such software, because those in charge often don't have a solid enough understanding of the software to realize what alternatives or improvements may provide to the company monetarily. Exceptions to this are few and far between; software good enough to be kept tends to be good enough to be updated for new OS's anyway.

[Frong]

So basically, they have to put the XP mode in there to account for people who are afraid of or unwilling to change. That's pretty sad, but I can certainly see it being true.

[coffeehound]

We still have some managers with last century computers... Screams from reboot hell can occasionally be heard.

I ordered Win7 Home Premium upgrade from Amazon.

49.99 ain't bad, and I don't need XP mode or remote offered in Professional...

[Frong]

That's kinda like what I remember the media saying about the computers in the White House and Congress. Obama and his campaign staff were all hi-tech with Blackberries and wifi and whatnot, and then they got to the White House and it was like stepping back into the stone age.

[coffeehound]

Yikes, imagine a day in the life of those IT people!

That file!! The classified one... Where is it?!?!?

[Diabolique]

Yikes, imagine a day in the life of those IT people!

That file!! The classified one... Where is it?!?!?

[Frong]

That file!! The classified one... Where is it?!?!?

They could tell you, but they'd have to kill you.

[Diofan]

After Vista I was Done with Windows for the most part. My laptop and my computer at work ore the only windows machines I use. the Desktop only has Ubuntu Linux on it and at home it gets the most use. Ubuntu is way more stable then ANY windows and I don't have to deal with all those security updates all the time.

[Nakor]

Ah, I'd have to disagree on that point, Linux tends to get a lot of updates. That said, it's in part because nearly every program on Linux can be updated simultaneously through a single updater, meaning that on any given day if you have enough software installed, there's bound to be something that updated.

In Linux's favour on updates, it usually does not need to be rebooted after an update (only kernel updates require a reboot), and they tend to be small (the largest updates are, again, the ~30MB kernel ones that appear maybe once every month or two on average; most updates are under 1MB).

I don't personally consider regular updates a bad thing anyway.