Microsoft Vista Info Leaked

slashnutt writes to tell us Yahoo News is reporting that Microsoft accidentally released information about Windows Vista earlier than originally planned. From the article: "Microsoft disclosed information about a plan to release eight different editions of the new operating system on a company help page that was under development. The company has not made any official statements about the different versions of Windows Vista it plans to offer. The company has since taken down the Web site and declined to confirm the information and said it will offer more details about the Vista launch, targeted for the second half of 2006, in the coming weeks. Microsoft spokesman said in a statement 'This page has since been removed as it was posted prematurely and was for testing purposes only.'"

Old news

[posterlogo]

This was revealed days ago in an Engadget entry that was much more informative:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/19/which-windows-v ista-will-you-run-you-have-8-choices/ [engadget.com]

"Windows Starter 2007 - Vista without Aero, probably meant for developing nations.

Windows Vista Home Basic - Basic Windows Vista for your single PC fam, doesn't sound like much going on here. Analagous to XP Home.

Windows Vista Home Basic N - European version of the same, but without Media Player (because of antitrust rulings against MS in the EU).

Windows Vista Home Premium - This is the one we're all probably gonna own. It's got Media Center functionality, Cable Card support, the whole home-media shebang.

Windows Vista Business - Think of it as XP Pro, but Vista.

Windows Vista Business N - Think of it as XP Pro, but Vista, but Euro.

Windows Vista Enterprise - Business version of Vista with numerous enterprise features, like Virtual PC, volume encryption, etc.

Windows Vista Ultimate - Love that name. This one does all of the above (and more); what else do you need to know? It's ultimate Windows.."

More choices are rarely a bad idea. I dislike bundled crapola that I'll never need or want.

Re:Enough Choice To Choke A Horse

[Jugalator]

Where did you get that list? According to Neowin's recent news, it's more like this [neowin.net]:
- Windows Starter 2007
- Windows Vista Home Basic
- Windows Vista Home Basic N
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Windows Vista Business
- Windows Vista Business N
- Windows Vista Ultimate
- Windows Vista Enterprise

No Basic/Premium of Business, and there's no "Corporate" listed there.

Anyway, it's still 8. :-) And I agree it's too many. It confuses more than it clarifies. When Joe User gets to decide, is he a Basic or Premium home user? Do a company need a Business edition or an Enterprise edition? The problem seem to be that you need to study feature lists and compare to know for sure what you need. I'd rather see just a Home vs Pro vs Ultimate (being the Home + Pro merge). Three editions (or more if you count N editions which Microsoft must do).

Analysis

[wilburdg]

I found a pretty good analysis of the various editions. [winsupersite.com]

Re:eight?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, how many versions of XP are there?

XP Home
XP Pro
Server 2003
XP "Lite" for Asia
XP Home without Media Player
XP Pro without Media Player
XP Media Edition

Not including SP2 and whatever.

Re:Hey, its better than Linux

[Stephen Samuel]

At least I can try most of the various versions of Linux without having to pay $400 a pop.

And, once I have a version I like. I don't have to fork out another $400 just because I decide to upgrade my motherboard.

And a lot of the so-called 4000 versions of Linux are specific versions that people have built for their preferred application. An example would be my netboot CD [bcgreen.com] that allows net-booting Knoppix from a CD -- which I designed so that I can give students in a classroom their own Linux box (without touching their hard drives), and also a way to do semi-automated backups and restore for public Windows boxes.
That's something that I (as a hobbyist) could never create with Windows (much less distribute).

This will ultimately frustrate users...

[TheDarkener]

1) Whoever pirates Windows won't bother pirating anything but the "Ultimate" version, whatever that will be.

2) Legit users will get frustrated when they find out feature X is not included in their version of Vista. They will want to know why and will become angry. This anger will soon make them want to change to something more simple.

3) Something more simple will eventually win the hearts of legit users.

4) Whoever pirates Windows will follow whatever is the most popular/compatible OS.

Re:Enough Choice To Choke A Horse

[DogDude]

While I'd really like to believe otherwise, I cannot help but think that this will turn into a nightmare for application support.

Why would you think that? Microsoft has the BEST support for multiple OS and backwards compatibility that I've ever seen in the entire software industry. The vast majority of current software designed for Win32 runs on any of their platforms from the past 10 years. Can you think of any vendor that has better cross-OS and backwards compatibility support? I certainly can't.

Actually, no...

[hummassa]

All functionality is available or is installable with one command-line (even if it's "tar xzvf some.tgz; cd some-versin; make; sudo make install" in most (all?) linux distros; nobody is hiding anything nor making anything incompatible on purpose. So, no, the 2000 different linux distros will be actually less confusing than the eight Windows Vistas.

Re:Hey, its better than Linux

[Gulthek]

Actually, it isn't true. "Linux" is the kernel, which is now available in two versions: 2.4 and 2.6 (and all prior versions of course). There are many distributions, but they all use one of those two kernels.

Re:Enough Choice To Choke A Horse

[amliebsch]

They don't have a choice about that one; they must produce it by order of the EU.

Re:eight?!

[amliebsch]

You forgot XP Tablet Edition. On the other hand, Server 2003 is not XP.

Re:Enough Choice To Choke A Horse

[theqmann]

I remember seeing this useful guide [winsupersite.com] a while back on the different versions. Enjoy!

This is where Apple wins

[Anonymous Coward]

Two versions:

OS X

OS X Server.

You choose what you want installed, plus they include developer tools with the regular version, and you get the full capability of the OS. Not only that, but any computer you buy includes the full install CD's, not just some "restore" CD's.

I don't see why Microsoft can't do that.

Re:What you talkin' about?

[JordanL]

Distros of Linux are, in many ways, packaging the same OS with a different face for people. Much like Dell computers come with different preloaded software than HP computers, different distros of Linux have different software packages.

What you are doing is essentially berrating Linux because it allows the vendor more prepackaging options than Windows, not less, and obfuscating a point that is moot: that no core functionality is ever lost between distros, and that only the ways in which it deals with software, not which software it can use, is changed.

False analogy

[dustmite]

fedora, ubuntu, suse, debian, rhel, slackware.... the list goes on and on ... let's not be hypocritical.

Oh really, so all those Linux distro producers are also creating artificial market segmentation in order to practice price discrimination in different markets with different points of elasticity?

No??

Then STFU, because the two situations really are completely different, and hence, nothing hypocritical about it at all.

Re:Old news

[uncreativ]

Interesting perspective. I was thinking that I preferred things when win2k was the same--business or home.

With Microsoft, however, which features are available with which version seems arbitrary and at times frustrating. For instance, I understand the intent of limiting file sharing capabilieties on Windows XP home so that MS can offer that prooduct at a lower price for home users. However simple file sharing (tm) is a horrible idea. Maybe I don't trust others by nature, but I really don't like sharing anything without file security--even at home.

I guess the ease from uniformity of capabilities has to be balanced against over-bundling. I would prefer Microsoft start with a basic OS that is the same, then you can buy feature packs to add different levels of capability. They kind of did that with their "plus" versions of windows, but "plus" really just meant "plus more crap" instead of something meaningful.

Re:What you talkin' about?

[TheZax]

The guys argument may not have been delicately articulated, but its still a valid point. "Linux advocates" can hardly make negative comment about MS product range when in the Linux world the choice is even broader.

I think the reason that this is being debated as a valid point, is because with Linux you have options, with Microsoft versions, you just have limitations. OSS and MS are different paradigms, and Microsoft's paradigm is to cripple their products built-in functionality to offer something a little bit more cost competitive.

Re:Hey, its better than Linux

[Keeper]

"The WPA system checks ten categories of hardware:
* Display Adapter
* SCSI Adapter
* IDE Adapter (effectively the motherboard)
* Network Adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address
* RAM Amount Range (i.e., 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc.)
* Processor Type
* Processor Serial Number
* Hard Drive Device
* Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
* CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM

It then calculates and records a number based on the first device of each type that was found during setup, and stores this number on your hard drive. Initially, this is sent to Microsoft in an automatic dial-up, together with the Product ID number derived from the 25-character unique Product Key used in setting up Windows.

If Service Pack 1 has been installed, the entire Product Key is also transmitted: This can then be checked against a list of known pirated keys

The hardware is checked each time Windows boots, to ensure that it is still on the same machine. Also, if you subsequently perform a complete format and reinstall of Windows, Microsoft's activation center will have to be contacted again because the information held on the machine itself (the number previously written to your hard drive) will have been wiped out by reformatting the hard drive. If your hardware is substantially the same, this will be done by an automated call without your needing to talk to anyone.

What does 'substantially the same' mean? WPA asks for 'votes' from each of these ten categories: 'Is the same device still around, or has there never been one?' Seven Yes votes means all is well -- and a NIC, present originally and not changed, counts for three yes votes! Minor cards, like sound cards, don't come into the mix at all. If you keep the motherboard, with the same amount of RAM and processor, and an always present cheap NIC (available for $10 or less), you can change everything else as much as you like.

If you change the device in any category, you have lost that Yes vote -- but will not lose it any more thereafter if you make changes in that category again. So, for example, you can install a new video display card every month for as long as you like.

Note that it appears that if you boot with a device disabled (disabled -- not removed), the device is not found in the enumeration -- so if, say, you disable a network connection which uses the NIC and then reboot, you may be missing its three votes and find that a new activation is needed."

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php [aumha.org]