Ladies & Gentlemen – Windows 7

Here it is, the Windows version that will take all your Vistas, I mean worries away. This will correct all the wrongs and set them right. It is here to end the XP life as we know it and usher us in to the next generation of computing. Oh wait, it comes in 5 different versions and more if you are in the EU. Didn’t they learn anything from Vista?

Apparently they did, which is why they have tiered and logical progressions when it comes to upgrades. You have a distinct upgrade path to go through as you move upwards in the version hierarchy. But I seriously wish they had fewer versions.

We start with Windows 7 Starter edition. Since you can’t buy this edition, that’s one less version to worry about. But chances are that you will see it, especially if you are buying a netbook. This has all the basic features but has a stripped down UI and no 64-bit support. Since it is meant for low-powered devices, they figured you wouldn’t need all that. But you do get Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player 12 and the like.

You get all the goodies like new Paint, Calculator, WordPad, Action Center, Firewall, Windows Defender, redesigned taskbar, etc. There is also the SuperFetch feature that makes your frequently used apps load faster.

Move on to Home Premium and you will get all that plus the eye-candy Aero UI, Windows 7 themes, multi-monitor video and multitouch touchscreen support. Another major difference is the fact that you get the full Media Center Package, which gives you DVD authoring, DVD playback, streaming media over network, etc. – basically, all you need to turn your PC into a media center device. This is also the lowest version to include the XP emulation mode, which allows you to run legacy apps that run on XP only. Sadly, this feature is still in beta and might cause you severe heartache if you depend on it.

To add to the confusion, they have a Windows 7 Home Basic version, which is meant for ‘emerging markets’. What they mean is mainly developing Asian countries. Thankfully, they are not making everyone else suffer through it and you will see only three versions when you log on to their website. Be careful though, because there are upgrade versions and full versions. Yes, even more choices.

At the top we have Windows 7 Ultimate. It has everything that Windows 7 has to offer plus advanced features like – AppLocker (to block unwanted applications from running), BitLocker (built in data encryption) and Domain Join. Yes, those are corporate-centric features and that exactly where this edition is aimed. It also runs some UNIX applications. Do I hear a small noise of approval from the Open Source supporters?

Overall, general users should be happy with Home Premium and Microsoft is of the same opinion. They expect that version to be the best selling version. Click here for Microsoft’s own version comparison page.

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