Windows 7 is available in six different editions, but only Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate are widely available at retail.The other editions focus on other markets, such as the developing world or enterprise use. All editions support IA-32 CPUs and all editions except Starter support the x64 CPUs. (64-bit installation media is not included in Home Basic edition packages, but can be obtained from Microsoft).
Windows 7 Starter
Market: Worldwide availability this time but with new PCs only
Key features: Enhanced taskbar, Jump Lists, Windows Media Player, Backup and Restore, Action Center, Device Stage, Play To, Fax and Scan, basic games
What's missing: Aero Glass, many Aero desktop enhancements, Windows Touch, Media Center, Live thumbnail previews, Home Group creation
Price: n/a (netbook/low-end PC bundles only)
This version will only be sold through PC makers to users, but unlike with Vista, it will be sold worldwide. This suggests that netbook makers will choose this version, even in the US. As with previous Windows Starter Edition products, it is limited in some ways: You don't get Windows 7's full mobility capabilities, for example, and can participate in but not create a Home Group. Also, there's no Aero Glass.
Windows 7 Home Premium
Market: Mainstream retail market
Key features: Aero Glass, Aero Background, Windows Touch, Home Group creation, Media Center, DVD playback and authoring, premium games, Mobility Center
What's missing: Domain join, Remote Desktop host, network-based backup, EFS, Offline Folders
Price: $199.99 Full version, $119.99 Upgrade version
The volume Windows 7 offering for consumers builds on Starter and includes Mobility Center, Aero Glass, advanced windows navigation features like Aero Snap and Aero Peek, and multi-touch, as well as the ability to both create and participate in Home Groups. Home Premium will be sold at retail and be included with new computers.
Windows 7 Professional
Market: Mainstream retail market
Key features: Domain join, Remote Desktop host, location aware printing, EFS, Mobility Center, Presentation Mode, Offline Folders
What's missing: BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, Direct Access, Branche Cache, MUI language packs, boot from VHD
Price: $299.99 Full version, $199.99 Upgrade version
This volume Windows 7 version builds on Home Premium and adds features like domain join, Group Policy (GP) controls, location aware printing, network backup, EFS, and offline folders. Pro will be sold at retail and be included with new computers.
Windows 7 Enterprise
Market: Volume-license business customers only
Key features: BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, Direct Access, Branche Cache, MUI language packs, boot from VHD
What's missing: Retail licensing
Price: n/a (Software Assurance/volume licensing only)
As before, Enterprise is aimed at Microsoft's Software Assurance (SA) volume license customers. This time, however, Enterprise is a superset of Professional and adds much-heralded Windows 7 features like Direct Access, Branch Cache, BitLocker, and BitLocker To Go. Aside from licensing differences, Windows 7 Enterprise is functionally identical to Windows 7 Ultimate and includes every single feature offered by Windows 7.
Windows 7 Ultimate
Market: Retail market, limited availability
Key features: BitLocker, BitLocker To Go, AppLocker, Direct Access, Branche Cache, MUI language packs, boot from VHD
What's missing: Volume licensing
Price: $319.99 Full version, $219.99 Upgrade version
For those few customers who simply must have everything, Windows 7 Ultimate offers all of the features from Enterprise but loses the volume licensing requirement. So you can think of Ultimate edition as Enterprise for consumers (and other retail customers).
Windows 7 Ultimate is kind of a wild-card. It will be available at retail and with new PCs, but Microsoft says that it will not be heavily marketed and will instead be "offer-based" via occasional promotions and offers from both PC makers and retailers.
"We're experimenting with the kinds of offers we can make for Windows 7 Ultimate," Veghte said. "It's going to be a low-single digit run rate (i.e. low market share) product. We expect retailers and OEMs to occasionally offer Ultimate with new PCs as part of special promotions. But in terms of run rate, it will be a tiny,
tiny percentage of the volume. We will keep the marketing energy on Home Premium and Professional."
Minimum Hardware Requirment
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Upgrading from Windows XP
As for XP users, they can only "upgrade" by performing a clean install of Windows 7--Microsoft will not support an in-place upgrade--but there will be utilities to smooth the process and get data transferred over easily. It's not as straightforward as the Vista upgrade, but XP users will be able to migrate to Windows 7 on the same hardware without losing any valuable data.Click Here: Upgrade xp to 7 with Screenshot
Upgrading from Windows Vista
Windows Vista users will face the simplest upgrade choices: You can go from Vista Home Basic or Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium or any higher product edition, for example, and thanks to the common underpinnings, these types of upgrades can be performed in-place, with no loss of applications or data files. The upgrade process is a bit slow, especially compared to the speed of a clean install of the OS, but the results should be excellent. "We're going to make this as simple and clean as possible," Veghte said
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