What to Know about Windows 7
The moniker Windows 7 might not seem as exciting as the development codenames of “Blackcomb” and “Vienna” but rest assured, Microsoft has been hard at work improving the performance, security, and personalization of their prized OS. Similar to Windows Vista, Windows 7 is a series of operating systems for use on personal computers including: home/business desktops, laptops, and notebooks.
Despite the water cooler gossip controversy and media criticism with Vista coming in too many versions, Microsoft has stuck to their guns and released W7 with six different flavors. But, there is a method to their madness. Plus, the average consumer can easily narrow down their choice to just two, maybe three, of the variations and completely ignore the remaining versions.
Here’s a breakdown of which each flavor has to offer:
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STARTER Makes small notebook PCs easier to use because it puts less between you and what you want to get done. Starter has some of the key features of W7, such as the new taskbar and Device Stage. It will not have the live thumbnail previews, the Windows Aero theme, and it won’t be available in a 64-bit variant. Starter is limited to running three applications at a time and will have limitations on screen resolutions and processors it will support. |
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HOME BASIC Will be available in the following emerging markets: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, The Philippines, and Thailand. It will NOT be available in the following countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, or the United States. |
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HOME PREMIUM Makes it easy to create a home network and share all of your favorite photos, videos, and music. You can even watch, pause, rewind, and record TV! Premium is the standard consumer offering of the OS with Aero Peek, Media Center and all the other cool features you’ve been hearing about lately—such as touch-screen controls. It’s better at media than Vista Home Premium, since it ships with DVD playback and codecs like DivX. |
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PROFESSIONAL Has everything included in Home Premium, but with business and “enthusiast” features like file encryption and location-aware printing. You can run many XP productivity programs in XP Mode and recover data easily with automatic backups to your home or business network. You can also connect to company networks effortlessly and more securely with Domain Join. |
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ENTERPRISE (Not Available thru Retail/OEM Channels) Enterprise will be sold through volume licensing to companies which have a Software Assurance (SA) contract with Microsoft. One of the SA benefits includes a license allowing the running of multiple virtual machines, and activation via VLK. Enterprise has everything included in Professional, but with a few additions like MUI packages, BitLocker full-disk encryption and direct access capability (no need to go through a VPN for remote access). |
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ULTIMATE This is the most versatile and powered edition of W7. It combines remarkable ease-of-use with the entertainment features of Home Premium and the business capabilities of Professional, including the ability to run many XP productivity programs in XP Mode. For added security, you can encrypt your data with BitLocker and BitLocker To Go, and for extra flexibility you can work in 35 different languages. |
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