News - Windows 8 registry reveals many versions of Microsoft's new OS

[HEXUS]

Contrary to popular belief, it appears as though we may be spoilt for choice.

Read more.

[crossy]

I think that's too many distinct versions, I'd stick with:

• Starter - for netbooks only, (and I'm not 100% convinced that this is needed);
• Home - what Win7 calls "Home Premium" - which'd obviously be the most popular pack;
• Professional - for SoHo type customers and small businesses;
• Enterprise - obviously for the 1,000s-of-seats brigades.

Plus ARM versions (where appropriate). "Ultimate" always struck me as another spin for "Enterprise" customers, (or people who wanted to boast about what they'd got), so perhaps unecessary.

I realise that there might be convincing reasons why ARM needs to be a distinct product - perhaps with reduced footprint for example - but given it's likely to be pre-installed on devices I can't see why it'd be bad to just have "Windows 8 Professional (for ARM)" instead. If they did need ARM as a distinct product then if it was me I'd drop "Starter" and slip "Windows 8 ARM edition" in there instead.

More versions = more confusion in my book. After all, even Ubuntu seems to be able to manage on a few variants!

[TheVoice]

So after slimming down the various versions with Windows 7, they're going back to their old ways again?

Although in fairness, for the majority of people there'll only be two versions they'll ever see - Home and Pro.

[aidanjt]

I think that's too many distinct versions, I'd stick with:

• Starter - for netbooks only, (and I'm not 100% convinced that this is needed);
• Home - what Win7 calls "Home Premium" - which'd obviously be the most popular pack;
• Professional - for SoHo type customers and small businesses;
• Enterprise - obviously for the 1,000s-of-seats brigades.

Or just save some steps and:

• Home - For regular users.
• Professional - For business users.

Worked just fine for XP. But they could just roll it up into:

• Windows 8

And not be bothering consumers and their maintenance folks with multiple SKUs at all. If home users aren't going to make use of enterprise network stuff, they wont. If they do, why shouldn't they? It's no big deal.

[doyll49]

Agree with both crossy and aidanjt.
Maybe a "Lite" version for iPad/phone

[Hicks12]

i agree it should be alot smaller Crossy pretty much has said what i would have said as that structure is a solid one.

An alternative though is to simply have one version, Windows 8 and then strip it down to its core and simply let users pay for the extras individually, e.g. Purchase and install windows 8 for £10, oh the user needs bitlocker, £5 please.

stuff like that .

[aidanjt]

i agree it should be alot smaller Crossy pretty much has said what i would have said as that structure is a solid one.

An alternative though is to simply have one version, Windows 8 and then strip it down to its core and simply let users pay for the extras individually, e.g. Purchase and install windows 8 for £10, oh the user needs bitlocker, £5 please.

stuff like that .

I agree with that idea too. Competent choices need to be a lot more modular than they are currently. It would certainly appease competition regulators.

An OS only *really* needs to provide hardware management, software management, file management, and user management. Everything else is optional fluff. OEMs can choose whatever default programmes they deliver as a point of differentiation, or just leave it to the user to pick what they want on first boot. Whatever, more choice is good.

[crossy]

An alternative though is to simply have one version, Windows 8 and then strip it down to its core and simply let users pay for the extras individually, e.g. Purchase and install windows 8 for £10, oh the user needs bitlocker, £5 please.

I like your thinking here - if for no other reason than isn't that kind of like what MS already does with these "Anytime Upgrade" packs? I'm sure PC World, Amazon etc would prefer your option - since it's only one SKU to stock and the rest could be done via digital-only delivery.

Wonder if anyone from Microsoft is reading this thread - they've got some clever folks there, so I'd guess at least one or two read Hexus!

[shaithis]

Wonder if anyone from Microsoft is reading this thread - they've got some clever folks there, so I'd guess at least one or two read Hexus!

If they are reading, they are probably thinking "I hope that this train of thought does not catch on".

They make more money having multiple SKUs and charging for anytime upgrades......and considering that they are FAR from hurting on Windows sales, I cannot see them moving to a model that makes it cheaper for consumers.

Maybe, if they decide to force Metro on everyone, that may change....but even then I think they would more likely make Metro optional in a patch, rather than sell Windows for less.

[lodore]

I did not think Microsoft would make it harder to choose which windows version to get.

I feel two versions would be the best approach. windows home and windows pro just like with xp.
they could even get away with one version to avoid confusion.

[Ross1]

Professional plus..... that is some rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishstain move right there. I understand some product differentiation, in that thrifty users wouldnt want to pay the £150 or whatever it will cost for a bells and whistles version, but dont lower the price for everyone, as you will be able to convince many people to pay that amount.

[andrewuk]

Only thing missing from the lineup is
Windows 8 Start Menu Edition

[szr01]

Only thing missing from the lineup is
Windows 8 Start Menu Edition

I would pay £200+ for that edition

So many choices of windows, I think I will use those comparison charts of the features before I decide.

[valhar2000]

And not be bothering consumers and their maintenance folks with multiple SKUs at all. If home users aren't going to make use of enterprise network stuff, they wont. If they do, why shouldn't they? It's no big deal.

Market segmentation, that's why. Different people are willing to pay different amounts of money for the same thing, and the best strategy for a seller is to find out what the maximum each customer is willing to pay is, and charge them that. However, people are not complete idiots (for the most part), so if you charge some people less than others, the ones who paid more are going to complain and demand their money back.

One way to avoid that problem is to come up with a showy but ultimately meaningless distinction that will fool the people who paid more into thinking that the extra price was justified. In software, this is often done by having distinct editions that are differentiated by the presence or absence of a few arbitrary features.

Thus, while we, the users, would love it if Microsoft cut the crap, Microsoft's bank account would notice the difference, so it's never gonna happen.

[hwarda]

let time be the judge which one still stands through the test of time..
then I would see which one is the product.

[tribaljet]

Only thing missing from the lineup is
Windows 8 Start Menu Edition

Aside from that, just like Microsoft did by adding N versions, they should make M versions for all Windows 8 editions. M as in Metro-less.