Today Microsoft have announced the various editions of Windows 7 that will be available on launch. There are no major surprises with Windows Media Center being part of Windows Home Premium and if I read it correctly Professional builds on Home Premium so Media Center should be in that SKU as well, which means business users get to have Media Center too (great for business travelers)
Details from Microsoft:
SKUs for Windows 7:
Windows 7 Starter
Windows 7 Home Basic
(emerging market only)
Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows 7 Professional
Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate
Key Feature list
· Broad app and device compatibility with up to 3 concurrent applications
· Safe, reliable, and supported
· Ability to join a Home Group
· Improved taskbar and JumpLists
· Starter features
· Unlimited applications
· Live Thumbnail Previews & enhanced visual experience
· Advanced networking support (ad-hoc wireless networks and internet connection sharing)
· Mobility Center
· Home Basic features
· Aero Glass & advanced windows navigation
· Easy networking & sharing across all your PCs & devices
· Improved media format support, enhancements to Windows Media Center and media streaming, including Play To
· Multi-touch and improved handwriting recognition
· Professional features
· Ability to join a managed network with Domain Join
· Protect data with advanced network backup and Encrypting File System
· Print to the right printer at home or work with Location Aware Printing
· Professional and Consumer
· BitLocker data protection on internal and external drives
· DirectAccess provides seamless connectivity to your corporate network. (requires Windows Server 2008 R2)
· Decrease time branch office workers wait to open file across the network with BranchCache. (requires Windows Server 2008 R2)
· Prevent unauthorized software from running with AppLocker
Note: Ultimate includes all Enterprise and all Home Premium features, including multi-language packs.
- Windows 7 Enterprise is available only through Microsoft Volume Licensing
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So Professional is just a renamed Business and the rest is pretty much the same.
but Media Center is in the pro edition
Ahh I didn't see that listed. That might be my new SKU then, I only need Media Center and the ability to join a domain, unless they limit tuners in pro like they do home premium...
I'm excited for the college students out there. MSDNAA gives software to students/faculty including Vista Business/VS08/etc. But if all these version above home premium include media center, the students will also benefit from this.
So, will the number of tuners be the same as they are in Vista, whereby HP gets 2 tuners of each type, and Ultimate 4?
But we're still missing the one key bit of information: price. I would seriously love to see Microsoft do volume licensing for average consumers. Like, make it $149 to upgrade one PC, $199 to upgrade three machines or something like that. I would totally do it, since I have several machines I would upgrade. But there's no way I'm spending two hundred bucks on each one.