Absolutely not. At least this constitutes a minimum freedom of choice.

Are they going to use the same 'boxes' they did with Retail Vista? It is pretty sad that M$ didn't even work the bugs out of their freggin BOX!

How many people here got frustrated trying to figure that dang thing out?

Where's the illustration on the box where M$ says "F - YOU" to all of the current Vista users.

as long as they keep the versions down to say 3 maximum...maybe 4th for netbook/notebook version...

i don't mind different versions for business, home use, and premium...

but when there are 32 different versions, then it's just sad....

I'm getting the OEM - don't care about box art or manuals. Just want the CD and a key and I'm good to go.

Why would the standard home user that just sends emails and light word processesing need ultimate or pro? Let the people who don't use all the features pay less for the... feature they don't use? Go figure right?

I'll be getting the Ultimate 64 - but I get legit copies free from MS, so I don't care how much they may cost =)

You know you'll probably be able to buy an upgrade version of Windows 7 for a fairly reduced price. Probably be less than $100.

Vista isn't that bad anyways, at least not now.

This is what is funny... MS develops massive features for Word, and readily admits most users only use a handful of them. The reason there are so many is because the handful of them that they do use are all different. There is only one version of Word. Then they turn around and do the exact opposite with the OS. Hypocrisy in action.

I like my Vista 64 machine, won't upgrade it, but the next computer will be win7. Curious what the particular breakdown will be between the home, pro and ultimate versions in terms of features.

Why dont they just reduce it to two different windows types like before?

yeah but if I recall, OEM are only supposed to be installed on new boxes

More versions, People, keep upgrading and upgrading!
MS is searching for more ways to empty your pockets gradually,
so you won't notice, isn' t this great?
Now, there will be not only Software versions but also flavours of the same software versions.

MS shut up and make a single package with everything in it.
It's impossible to know what kind of users will need what kind of features exactly.

There will always be cases that don't match.
Hopefully we don't go to a system of paying for every little feature you need! That would be really costly in the long run, sick and time consuming.

Can you imagine.
Want to use Paint and stuff?, pay 10$ more.
Want to show hidden files?, pay 6$ for more windows explorer features.
Now windows 8 will have even more ways to empty your pockets!
Gradually!

Great freedom of choice there is then.

Real freedom of choice is being able to choose DIFFERENT OS's like Mac or Linux!

I can definately tell that the average user will be happy without all the features XP Pro offers over Home. And the average user will also like the fact that Home is 100$ less.

One single package with everything in it would be great, but not for the money.

Yea - they said the same about XP and Vista too, yet they are all readily available in OEM form. I guess they get stripped from unsold Pre-built PCs? I don't know for sure, but I sure do like the reduced price! Hopefully they'll come out in OEM form before the Release Candidate Expires.

Windows should be just 2 versions. Desktop and server. All the rest just serves to confuse average consumers. Sure Microsoft wants to make a profit, but push that profit over to OEM versions for hardware manufacturers.

I think having one version simplifies things... No need to know you need ultimate to do "X" or you can't do that with home premium...

Ultimate for everyone.

the cost of the production on these things are so massive that I see tiered pricing as a must. Otherwise we'll be paying massive amounts of money on a single-version that garners way more features than we use. IMO, it is a little ridiculous to distribute the cost around as such, and painfully annoying, but it's not so much in the OEM versions as it is in the Retail copies that the pain comes down. IMO selling feature-limited products at reasonably lower prices is legit, because it helps reach more customers and it helps keep a "you get what you pay for" feel.

And I won't be jumping on the Win7 Bandwagon. Great OS, sure, but I love my Vista, and the usability for standard creation (beyond the eye-candy) is only marginally better. Until I get a compelling must-have feature (Like WinFS? Where'd you go?!) I'm stickin' to my tried and true guns.

I miss the XP days.... you had home and pro. then you had 64 bit later on. and server 2003. simple , not tons of special different copy's.

I don't mind as long as they keep up they're currant pricing structure. I don't need the features of ultimate so why should I have to pay for them. On the other hand. Maybe MS should just sell the ultimate version for the price of home basic One could wish...

I thank each of the -1's I got from my original post. I'm sure M$ paid very well.

home and pro should be the only division with home including everything 'ultimate' would have and pro being geared for businesses without all the aero crap and mediacenter. this idea that the cost is being directly fed to the consumer is not accurate. the greater majority of copies sold are through OEM purchases with a new computer. so the price is spread in the price of an entire bundle and is negligible to the consumer. the only people this pricing system is geared for are 'enthusiast' and frankly they'd be better serviced by the 2 version system because they're more likely to build their own custom installs with nLite or other such customizing tools.

yeah really... his point is very valid... this turn around to a 'new' version of the OS really is all about turning out more profits over anything else... so how is this not a flaming bird to all the vista buyers? i guess people just think you're a gull-a-bull for even dealing with vista, starryman...

At first yes it was for new machines, now I think it simply "legaly binds" the license to a single computer. That means that if you get an OEM license of Vista/Win7 then change computer (as defined by their license ... I think they tie it to motherboard) and you should get a new license. I heard that if you call MS to reactivate the new license they don't make much of a fuss out of it (just tell them the other MB broke). With retail version, you can legally uninstall windows from one PC and install it on another without having to justify yourself.

I like them. I think they should make a red box too.

Actually, I THINK the "Activation" resets every 180 days for Microsoft Products, meaning every 180 days you can re-install the OS on any PC you want, so long as it's not detected on another machine that's running the same license at the same time.

(Pretty sure every time you're running a PC with a net connection, it periodically sends a packet to Microsoft with the license info and IP address/and a little system ID tag, to make sure it's not running on multiple machines at the same time.)

Or something like that...

That's hot.

I want it.

I this MS should sell two products of win7 - One for home and one for business. Also I think the box art is just plain old ugly. But I can look past the box cause win7 is bitchin.

Do you want fries (directx 11) with that?
How about a shake (wireless lan capabilities) with that?
Can we interest you in a desert (screen resolutions higher than 1280 x 800)?
Do you want a to go bag (monthly/yearly subscription)?

Or maybe they can team up with American Express:
Base software package $25
DirectX upgrade $10
Going from Starter to Home Basic $125
Upgrading From Home Basic to Home Premium $75
Annual fees for getting updates, Priceless!

Boxes look too much like windows XP.

I love the freedom of choice, but at the same time you're right.
It does serve to confuse.

If the feature doesn't exist, I just get the program to give me that feature.
For example, Windows 7 integrated .ISO burning utility. It's a awesome wonderful thing. Prevented having to deal with the emulator issues originially in Win7. Now I don't use it because I don't have DL DVD discs for larger .ISO's.


A server/home edition does make sense.
Just give us the damned features and don't put ridiculous limits on the software. such as the Vista 64bit RAM caps at different versions (who thought thiat was a good idea?)

As other said, OEM is the direction I'm going hopefully.
If I have a legit license anyways, I don't care if the version is ripped just to unlock a few extra features.