Windows 7 version lineup revealed: Prepare for disappointmen

[Newsbot]

Remember when Vista was announced, and Microsoft decided to release six different versions of the operating system, much to the confusion, disappointment, and ridicule of potential buyers? Well guess what? Microsoft is back with the Windows 7 strategy. What has it learned in the last three years? Pretty much nothing.

While Microsoft is touting the "two primary editions" of Windows 7 -- a Home Premium edition and a Professional (intended for business) edition -- the fact is it's sticking with the same six different versions (or SKUs, stock-keeping units) that it had for Vista.

The real difference is that Windows 7 Home Basic -- the much-reviled stripped-down version of Vista that was designed for bare-bones PCs -- is now being shunted to emerging markets only, though it will still exist. But to confuse matters, a Windows 7 Starter edition, which will run only three applications simultaneously, will also be available.

Also a glimmer of hope: Home Premium will have most of the same features you're used to in Vista Home Premium, but the new Windows 7 Professional is a nice improvement over Vista Business Edition in that Windows 7 Pro will include all of the features from Home Premium (including Media Center and gaming capabilities), plus some other business-centric extras. If there's a bright spot in this news, it's that the Pro version finally looks enticing, unlike the neutered business version of Vista that was pawned off on workplaces two years ago.

But Microsoft blows it again with two more SKUs, again offering an Enterprise and Ultimate version of Windows 7, both containing features that ought to be included off the shelf in Windows 7 Professional. That means nickel-and-diming buyers once again in order to get the BitLocker encryption system.

Microsoft touts the new SKU structure as a "streamlining" of its product line, but I'm having trouble seeing how the Windows 7 lineup is much of an improvement. Things seemed to work pretty well with XP's two versions -- and the Mac folks get along fine with just one. But in an attempt to wring every last dollar out of every last customer, Microsoft again sticks us with a complicated version nightmare that no one's going to like. Is the honeymoon over already? Dang.

Bill Gates can suck Bizarro The Grin's big black dick. Twice.

[Bizarro The Grin]

Bill Gates can suck Bizarro The Grin's big black dick. Twice.

oH, HE HAS, nEWSBOT. mANY MORE TIMES THAN JUST TWICE.

[vynsane]

so, these new windows 7 ads are so retarded. to that end, i've created my own version of what it sounds like they're saying to me.

[anarky]

She looks like she just realized she took a queen shit of turd mountain in her skirt.

[anarky]

Double post! Suck my cock, Grimlock, if you're still around!

I just realized something:

Windows 3.0 (3)
Windows 95 (4)
Windows 98 (5)
Windows ME (6)
Windows XP (7)
Windows Vista (8)

So how the fuck is the ninth version called Windows 7? And that's not even counting Windows NT or Windows 2000.

[vynsane]

actually, it's really windows 6.1, as vista is numbered 6.0. but they're calling it 7 because it's apparently the seventh client edition of the NT kernel family.

95 was 4.0 and 98 was 4.10.1998 (or 4.10.2222A for the 'SE' version) with ME being 4.9.3000.

win2k was 5.0 and xp 5.1. 2k was the first desktop environment built on NT kernel, which is why it was much more stable than 95/8.

[Ran]

So the guys that counted the number of figures for Hasbro's 300th Boba Fett and 500th Vader also number Windows?

[Diabolical]

Cappy (yeah, he's still alive) got Windows 7 with his new computer and hates it.
He said its a pain in the ass get get Firefox started and it still won't recognize his printer, among a few other complaints.

[anarky]

The reviews of Windows 7 I've heard have been worse than the reviews for Rise of Cobra (which I refuse from this point on to call "GIJoe"). The best I heard about Rise of Cobra from anyone who wasn't an apologetic fanboy* was, "It wasn't bad. It wasn't good, but at least it wasn't bad."

*--Just to be clear, JJL, I do not consider you to be an apologetic fanboy. If the Clone Wars showed Anakin as a black guy with one eye who was voiced by Coolio and rapped all his dialogue, and you liked it, then I would. It would still be closer to the original material than Rise of Cobra.

[Ran]

Stupid question...I'm running Vista. I can upgrade to Windows 7 for free from school. Do I want to do that?

[anarky]

Do you want to be King Shit of Turd Mountain, or just King Shit? I don't like Windows 7 much at all, but I think maybe it allocates memory slightly better than Vista. Hell, a retarded chipmunk running on a hamster wheel inside your computer doing all your tasks in pencil probably is better than Vista. That, however, does not necessarily mean that Windows 7 is better than Vista, as it is still slightly stupider than a retarded chipmunk.

[vynsane]

i've been happy with my win7 virtual machine, and my wife's not had any problems with her win7 native installation on her dell. there are features of win7 that are above and beyond vista (tagging files with keywords comes to mind, which will give you another layer of categorization above the folder structure of your files with which to search by.)

that said, i'm SERIOUSLY considering migrating my desktop to linux for good. i'll keep an install of winxp on there for the things that linux absolutely can't do, but that list is getting shorter every day.

[Ran]

I asked our IT guy at work. He said it was worth the upgrade. I'll probably upgrade our laptop first. It has performance issues. Not sure if they are a Windows problem or a "my laptop is a piece of shit" problem. Probably both.

[vynsane]

just bear in mind windows 7 requires a LOT of disk space.

[Ran]

Ok. I guess that means it will be a long download. Disk space won't be a problem because we don't have much installed on the laptop anyway.