Microsoft Vista
| Edition | Description | Pricing (USD) | Retail box | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail | Upgrade | ||||
| Windows Vista Starter |
Much like Windows XP Starter Edition, this edition will be limited to emerging markets such as Colombia, India, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, and Indonesia, mainly to offer a legal alternative to using unauthorized copies. It will not be available in the United States, Canada, or Europe.[40] It will have many significant limitations, such as only allowing a user to launch three applications with a user interface at once, not accepting incoming network connections, a physical memory limit of 256 MB, and will run only in 32-bit mode.[41] Additionally, only Duron, Sempron and Geode processors from AMD, and Intel's Celeron and Pentium III processors are supported. | No pricing announced | No box shot available | ||
| Windows Vista Home Basic |
Similar to Windows XP Home Edition, Home Basic is intended for budget users not requiring advanced media support for home use. The Windows Aero theme with translucent effects will not be included with this edition. 64-bit Home Basic will support up to 8 GB of physical memory, and will be supported until 2012. | $199.00 | $99.95 |  | |
| Windows Vista Home Premium |
Containing all features from Home Basic, this edition will also support more advanced features aimed for the home market segment, such as HDTV support and DVD authoring. Extra premium games, mobile and tablet PC, network projector, touchscreen, and auxiliary display (via Windows SideShow) support, and a utility to schedule backups are also included. Home Premium supports 10 simultaneous peer network connections (compared to 5 in Home Basic). The version of Meeting Space included will also allow for interaction (in Home Basic, you may only view meetings), but Remote Desktop sessions may only be received, not controlled, in this edition. This edition is comparable to Windows XP Media Center Edition. 64-bit Home Premium will support up to 16 GB of physical memory, and will be supported until 2012. | $239.00 | $159.00 |  | |
| Windows Vista Business |
Comparable to Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, and aimed at the business market. Includes all the features of Home Premium with the exception of Windows Media Center and related technologies, Parental Controls, and Windows DVD and Movie Maker HD (the regular Movie Maker is included). Includes the IIS web server, fax support, Rights Management Services (RMS) Client, file system encryption, dual processor (two sockets) support, system image backup and recovery, offline file support, a full version of Remote Desktop, ad-hoc P2P collaboration capabilities, Previous Versions (Windows ShadowCopy), and several other business features not in Home Premium. 64-bit Business supports 128 GB of memory, and will be supported until 2017. | $299.00 | $199.95 |  | |
| Windows Vista Enterprise |
This edition is aimed at the enterprise segment of the market, and is a superset of the Business edition. Additional features include multilingual user interface support, BitLocker Drive Encryption, and UNIX application support. This edition will not be available through retail or OEM channels, but through Microsoft Software Assurance.[42] 64-bit Enterprise supports 128 GB of memory, and will be supported until 2017. | Part of Software Assurance enterprise licensing | No box shot available | ||
| Windows Vista Ultimate |
This edition combines all the features of the Home Premium and Enterprise editions, a game performance tweaker (WinSAT), and "Ultimate Extras". Microsoft has so far had little to say regarding Ultimate Extras, but they are expected to include special online services for downloadable media, as well as additional customer service options. The Ultimate edition is aimed at high-end PC users, gamers, multimedia professionals, and PC enthusiasts. 64-bit Ultimate supports 128 GB of memory, and will be supported until 2012. | $399.00 | $259.00 |  | |
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