Apple wisdom ignored by Windows 7 sextuplets

Davey Winder
Wednesday, 04 February 2009 14:35

IT Industry - Market

Thought that Windows 7 would avoid the complicated marketing mess that was Vista by coming in an easy to understand single version like OS X? Think again, Microsoft has confirmed no less than six versions of the new operating system.

There were so many things wrong with the Vista model that it became easy prey to the Apple marketing folk. Windows XP, however, seems invincible in no small part because the Home and Professional model is easy to understand.

So with the arrival of the Windows 7 Beta you might think that Microsoft had learned a lesson, and that some semblance of version simplicity would return. After all nobody understood the mess that was Vista with different versions containing hugely different feature sets.

But, according to the words of Microsoft Windows General Manager Mike Ybarra which almost ironically appear in a discussion document meant to confirm how "Windows 7 editions are being designed to make buying simple" the exact opposite would seem to be the case.

Sure, Microsoft expects most customers will be best served by Windows 7 Home Premium for consumers, and Windows 7 Professional for businesses. However, the XP-alike sound of the line up is shattered when you realise that these are just the 'primary versions' and others will also exist.

In fact, it all sounds very familiar. Very Vista familiar. Ybarra admits that Vista was confusing and caused problems "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" however insists that customers "won’t have to face that trade-off with Windows 7."

The plan is that all editions of Windows 7 are a superset of one another. Which is good, the functionality builds rather than jumps around like a frog on speed that way. But consumers are still left with a confusing six different versions to choose from.

So what, exactly, are the different versions of Windows 7 going to be called and what can you expect from each of them? All will be revealed in some detail on page 2...

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