Windows 7 simplifies release, upgrade path
When Microsoft first announced the beta version of Windows 7 it kicked up a storm by suggesting it planned to release multiple "editions" of the new operating system. But yesterday the company clarified its market strategy. The company said that most users would be satisfied by a choice of just two systems – Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional – and that the upgrade path between editions had been greatly simplified.
The Windows 7 Home Premium edition will be aimed at the home user market and the successor to Windows Vista Home Premium. This edition will include the Aero interface with the Windows 7 enhancements, full multimedia support and multi-touch and handwriting features.
TheWindows 7 Professional edition will include all of the features of the Home Premium edition but will also include additional business-type features such as the ability to join a Windows domain, group policy management, remote desktop and support for encrypted filesystems.
But perhaps the most important announcement from Microsoft is that with Windows 7 each edition of the OS will be a subset of the one above it. The advantage of this for users is that the upgrade path will be greatly simplified should they choose to upgrade from, say, Home Premium to Professional.
Windows general manager Mike Ybarra said yesterday that "as customers upgrade from one version to the next, they keep all features and functionality from the previous edition. As an example, some business customers using Windows Vista Business wanted the Media Center functionality that is in Windows Vista Home Premium but didn’t receive it in Business edition. Customers won’t have to face that trade-off with Windows 7. With Windows 7 there is a more natural progression from one edition to the next."
Although there will be two primary editions of Windows 7 there are also additional editions that will be aimed at more specific target markets. Among these is the Ultimate or Enterprise edition which will be targeted at corporate users with specific licensing agreements with Microsoft.
Microsoft also said that it would continue to offer a stripped-down version of Windows 7, called Windows 7 Home Basic, for the emerging market. This edition will not include the Aero interface and will only be on sale in the developing world.
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