Choosing the Right Windows Vista
It has been confirmed that Microsoft’s next generation operating system “Windows Vista” will be available in stores from January 30 2007. Microsoft has been working hard past few years for this release and I believe this version of Windows is worth buying.
Windows Vista Editions
Unlike Windows XP, Windows Vista comes in 6 different versions and each of them is different in features and price. Obviously you will be at confusion while choosing from the different versions.
In Europe & Korea, Microsoft is releasing special versions of these editions acknowledging anti-trust laws in these countries. Thus in total there are 17 different versions of Windows Vista including European, Korean, 32Bit & 64 Bit Editions.
As this site is dedicated for international visitors, we will be concentrating only in major editions.
1. Vista Starter Edition
This version is the stripped down version of the basic home edition. This means it has the lowest feature set and security. It is more like a demo for all other editions of Vista. This version is only available in emerging regions like India, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia & Thailand.
2. Vista Home Basic Edition
This is more like Windows XP Home Edition. Just the enough features for casual Internet browsing and entertainment. This edition does not have the important features like Aero UI & Windows media technologies.
3. Vista Home Premium Edition
This is more similar to Windows XP media centre edition. It has all the important features required for normal Home entertainment PC. This edition comes with Aero UI, Scheduled back up feature & premium games. Thus if you are addicted to XP media centre edition, this is the vista equivalent for you.
4. Vista Business Edition
Business Edition of Windows Vista is equivalent to XP Professional Edition. It has all the features of Home Premium Edition except parental control and has some additional feature for faxing & scanning. This also has shadow copy - system back up & recovery service to keep your data safe. If you are a XP Pro fan like me, this is the right version to look forward.
5. Vista Enterprise Edition
From the name itself, it should be clear that it is for big enterprises where data protection is important. The major difference between Vista Business and Enterprise is the added data encryption & security features. You only need to buy this version if you are running a business and need more security for your data.
6. Vista Ultimate Edition
If you have all the designed features of Windows vista in one package, you call it Windows Vista Ultimate. It has all the features of Home Premium and Business Enterprise Editions. Unfortunately, I’m yet to learn the prospects of this edition.
Thus if you are an avid gamer, movie enthusiast or an audiophile, Home Premium is the best choice. If you just need a PC for emailing and document processing, Vista Home Basic is your edition. For small businesses, I would recommend Vista Business Edition.
30 Comments to “ Choosing the Right Windows Vista ”
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[...] Windows Vista Versions [...]
Isn’t it strange that for every system release Microsoft says that it is the “safest†product? I mean, why don’t they say that it is one of the most so they leave us alternative? I mean that the Firewall in XP is good enough if associated with an AV and AdWare. I haven’t upgraded to Vista for I want to find out my pals’ opinion.
The concept of “Virtual Folder†is something revolutionary. Does this exist on other Operating Systems?
The Vista pricing structure frustrates me. Even though the features for each are described, I would not know their value unless I actually used them. The top end Vista is close the price of a new computer.
And I can’t use my iPod with it!
@ Troubled Youth,
Yep. In fact security problems are already discovered in Windows Vista and MS just released a small patch for it.
@Addicted
Yes, it looks like a great addition.
@ Randy
May be you want to wait little longer until more and more people migrate to Windows Vista and learn from their experience. The actual problem is that Vista requires and high-end system for the best performance; thus in reality you will need to buy a new system + new OS.
[...] Microsoft yesterday released the list of 800+ Vista certified software applications that will work perfectly with Windows Vista. “This article contains a list of applications that have earned the “Certified for Windows Vista” logo or the “Works with Windows Vista” logo. These applications are officially supported on Windows Vista by our independent software vendor (ISV) partners.” [...]
[...] Windows Vista allows you to use flash based memory to be used as RAM(Random Access Memory). You can plug-in your high speed USB flash drive in to your computer and use this as an additional memory. Even though it won’t be as much fast as regular RAM, this concept will improve the overall system performance. Thanks to faster transfer rate of USB based flash drives. Windows Vista will cache programs in these memory that are not required in RAM, but not ready enough to be put in page file. [...]
[...] Shattering the expectations of Halo 2 for Windows Vista hitting the market on May 8th, Microsoft officials announces a new shipping date as May 22nd. The cause for unexpected delay is to provide some improvements and address some technical issues. “We recently adjusted our May 8th ship date for Halo 2 for Windows Vista to make some improvements to the install experience and address other technical issues. Given these changes, we will be adjusting the on-shelf date of the product.” [...]
[...] Microsoft Windows Vista’s new feature is the sleep function. This function has the benefits of earlier Windows’ hibernation & standby modes. By sleep function you can easily resume you PC faster than in the state of hibernation or standby. [...]
[...] Windows Vista allows you to use flash based memory to be used as RAM(Random Access Memory). You can plug-in your high speed USB flash drive in to your computer and use this as an additional memory. Even though it won’t be as much fast as regular RAM, this concept will improve the overall system performance. Thanks to faster transfer rate of USB based flash drives. Windows Vista will cache programs in these memory that are not required in RAM, but not ready enough to be put in page file. [...]
[...] Windows Vista comes with a new performance feature called Vista ReadyBoost. This feature allows you to use your USB flash drives as temporary memory instead of the regular HDD pagefile. As USB drives are faster than hard disk drives, using readyboost can improve your system performance when you are low on installed RAM. [...]
[...] Select the properties of Window Vista that you really found useful. Please note that some setting will remove the visual styles and make you windows look like old Windows 2000. But again, it is faster than fully loaded Windows Vista! [...]
[...] A small, but power utility to optimize Windows Vista, Tweak VI can help you tweak many hidden Window Vista settings. [...]
[...] Even though this new feature can help you prevent messing up your PCs, it is becoming an annoyance introduced in Windows Vista. UAC always asks for administrative rights to run some programs and it’s sometimes irritating. [...]
[...] One of the innovative feature on Windows Vista is the Windows Vista 3D flip. It is a feature rich expanded system similar to Ctrl-Tab. Using Ctrl-Tab, you can only see the icons of open Windows. Instead of these icons Vista 3D Flip allows you to watch live animation of rotating Windows. [...]
[...] Do you wish to change the boring progressive bar booting-up screen in Windows Vista? Yes, you can. Here is the small tweak that can change your old boot-screen to an aurora boot screen. [...]
[...] To harness the full features of Windows Vista, this updated vista version supports multiple skins, aero design and Windows Vista sidebar integration. [...]
[...] BBC has a news story stating that Microsoft plans to reduce the price of Windows Vista in the near future. This means, single copy of Windows Vista Ultimate would now cost only $319 instead of earlier $399 price mark. Microsoft expects this move will improve the number of people upgrading to Windows Vista. We believe it can also accelerate the sales of new Windows Vista licenses. However, this does not change a penny on the price pre-installed versions. This means, if you are buying a new computer with pre-installed Windows Vista, you will not see any changes in price. [...]
[...] about the usability of their operating systems and now most of the suggested features are loaded in Windows Vista. Just check out important design [...]
[...] Windows Vista allows you to use flash based memory to be used as RAM(Random Access Memory). You can plug-in your high speed USB flash drive in to your computer and use this as an additional memory. Even though it won’t be as much fast as regular RAM, this concept will improve the overall system performance. Thanks to faster transfer rate of USB based flash drives. Windows Vista will cache programs in these memory that are not required in RAM, but not ready enough to be put in page file. [...]
[...] Microsoft Windows Vista’s new feature is the sleep function. This function has the benefits of earlier Windows’ hibernation & standby modes. By sleep function you can easily resume you PC faster than in the state of hibernation or standby. [...]
[...] MS Windows Vista’s SuperFetch is a memory management program that actively monitors the user behavior and pre-loads frequently used programs to un-used memory. Thus when you need a program, it will be loaded very quickly than in XP based based systems. [...]
[...] you can use iTunes in Windows Vista to load your [...]
[...] installing Windows Vista, I have been playing with Vista transformation pack to get the feel of Windows Vista. Even though [...]
[...] Apple has confirmed that their software products, iTunes, QuickTime, Airport For Windows, Bonjour For Windows, iDisk utility, and AppleWorks for Windows does not work with Win Vista. [...]
[...] indeed a good news for Apple iPod users using a Win Vista platform. A critical bug which corrupted data in iPods when they eject the hardware via Windows [...]
[...] the expectations of Halo 2 for Windows Vista hitting the market on May 8th, Microsoft officials announces a new shipping date as May 22nd. The [...]
[...] released the list of 800+ Vista certified software applications that will work perfectly with Windows Vista. “This article contains a list of applications that have earned the “Certified for [...]
[...] Windows Vista comes with a new performance feature called Vista ReadyBoost. This feature allows you to use your USB flash drives as temporary memory instead of the regular HDD pagefile. As USB drives are faster than hard disk drives, using readyboost can improve your system performance when you are low on installed RAM. [...]
[...] If you are looking for another Windows Vista Tweaking Utility, then here is one: Windows Vista Manager. As the name suggests, this software is like a manger more than a tweaking utility. It is a collection of utilities to tweak, customize, clean and manage Windows Vista. [...]