Don’t go for Windows 7, before you know
By asad | October 21st, 2009You may have heard about Microsoft Windows 7, tomorrow Microsoft is going to officially release Windows 7 starter. Most of you might have decided to upgrade to Windows 7, specially students in US, who are enjoying discount on its purchase, but are you aware of all the features and know which flavor of windows 7, either Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate etc, best suits you. Here we provide you some most advertised features of Windows 7, to make your choice smarter.
According to Microsoft, Windows 7 will be available in 6 different editions. All editions will support the 32-bit (x86-32) processor architecture and all editions except Windows 7 Starter will support the 64-bit (x86-64) processor architecture.
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Windows 7 Starter edition, Microsoft is releasing tomorrow, is the least-featured edition, it does not include Windows Aero theme, and will be available pre-installed on computers by computer vanders.
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Windows 7 Home Basic will be available in countries like Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Pakistan. Other countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, will enjoy Windows 7 Home Basic with extended features including, some advance Aero options.
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Windows 7 Home Premium contains features for home users, such as Windows Media Center, Windows Aero and touch-screen controls.
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Windows 7 Professional best suits for enthusiasts and small business users. It includes all the features of Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows Server, such as Remote Desktop server, location aware printing, Encrypting File System, Presentation and Windows XP Mode.
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Windows 7 Enterprise edition targets the enterprise segment of the market and will be sold license to companies which have a Software Assurance contract with Microsoft. This edition include support for Multilingual User Interface, BitLocker Drive Encryption, and UNIX application support.
- Windows 7 Ultimate with same features as Windows 7 Enterprise, will be available to home users on an individual license basis. Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional users will be able to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate for a fee using Windows Anytime Upgrade.
The table below is a comparison of these different editions of Windows 7, to help you select one for yourself.
|
Features |
Starter |
Home Basic |
Home Premium |
Professional |
Enterprise |
Ultimate |
|
32/64-bit versions |
32-bit only | Both | Both | Both | Both | Both |
|
Maximum physical memory (64-bit mode) |
N/A | 8 GB | 16 GB | 192 GB | 192 GB | 192 GB |
|
Maximum physical CPUs supported |
1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
|
Home Group (create and join) |
Join only | Join only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Backup and Restore Center |
Cannot back up to network | Cannot back up to network | Cannot back up to network | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Multiple monitors |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Fast user switching |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Desktop Wallpaper Changeable |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Desktop Window Manager |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Windows Mobility Center |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Windows Aero |
No | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Multi-Touch |
No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Premium Games Included |
No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Windows Media Center |
No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Windows Media Player Remote Media Experience |
No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Encrypting File System |
No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Location Aware Printing |
No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Remote Desktop Host |
No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Presentation Mode |
No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Windows Server domain joining |
No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Windows XP Mode |
No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
Aero glass remoting |
No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
|
AppLocker |
No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
|
BitLocker Drive Encryption |
No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
|
BranchCache Distributed Cache |
No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
|
DirectAccess |
No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
|
Subsystem for Unix-based Applications |
No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
|
Multilingual User Interface Pack |
No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
|
Virtual Hard Disk Booting |
No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
(Comparison Chart Source: Wikipedia)
Now you will find yourself in a better position to decide for edition of Windows 7. Microsoft is going to surprise people. If you’re working for an enterprise that hasn’t upgraded to Vista because it won’t run acceptably on your existing PCs, you’ll want to look again at Windows 7. If you have planned or planning to buy Windows 7, share with us, which edition best suits you.