It can't be bought here Only in developing countries.

You jest now, wait until 2010 when Windows 7 Starter is THE new OS for playing games.

  They forgot:

Windows Student and Teacher: For everyone from K-12 to MBA!

Windows HomeMaker: For all those old fashioned young ladies with marriage and family on their minds.

Windows SportsFan: For the ultimate Notre Dam and Steelers Fans!! (Complete with Budweiser T-shirt and Couch Pillow.

Windows Commuter: For those trendy hipsters with the latest gadgets, widgets, whachamacallits, and Wifi as well!!!

Windows Immigrant Edition: For those foreign markets where Windows is hacked and slashed and torrentized!!

Windows Slacker Edition: For those in mid-level management who aspire to greater heights of grandeur!!

Windows Working Class Stiff Edition: For all those waitresses, cooks, mechanics and day-laborers (like me) who dont know one end of a mouse from the other!!      "Hey, i plug the mouse cord into the cd socket, right!!!??"

Windows MS Bill Edition: For all those who secretly run MacOSX in a plain beige box, with a MS Windows Screensaver that looks like a desktop with icons on it.  

Just teasing!!  

-Anonymouse

<Cheese Anyone?>

Yes, simple and straightforward would be nice. But it is still MS, so i suppose we cant expect them to be too different than they always have been.

Hey Teal, you forgot...

the Win7 Alaska Edition... for users who want to see Russia from every window:

the Win7 Banker Edition... has bonus maps outta town to avoid stoning with rotten fruit:

the Win7 Hooker Edition... for $20 extra you get fringe benefits and a glass of cheap champagne:

the Win7 Governor Edition... does a little quick step if you ask it to do anything (Best Little Whorehouse in Texas reference there)

On a serious note, I hope the x64 versions are more readily available (here in Oz particularly) than the x64 Vista editions were... most retailers didn't and still don't stock them, and can't or won't get them in.

An idea on pricing would also be nice... and hopefully, MS will take into account the global recession and price Win7 reasonably.

Windows 7 Torrent
Market: Mainstream wasters, losers, youth of today, people who can't spell
Key features: Free, built in malware
What's missing: Product key, self respect

Market: Mainstream wasters, loosers, youth of today, people who can't spell

Is that including you?

  Yep, i forgot, haha, sorry about that, but really its fun to poke fun, but MS has really been doing a decent job lately and Windows 7 is looking quite seriously as a very nice OS. Will like to give it a try, but am waiting for it to come out of beta. But some using it now, say it is doing well.  That is very encouraging news. 

-Teal

Yeah, it's great to poke a bit of fun when it harms no-one... and isn't MS a fitting target after its boo-boos regarding the release of its editions of Vista, though I've not had any major issues with it since trying the first piublic beta.  In fact, I prefer Vista to XP because it is faster, more stable and reliable... moreso now that I've installed the 64 bit version of Vista Home Premium.

Having said that, I am trying the Windows 7 x64 beta and I'm loving it.  Not only is it faster than Vista, it has a smaller footprint and uses resources more efficiently... meaning programs and apps run that much better, especially when multi-tasking.  Even at this stage of development Win 7 is better than when Vista went 'gold', so why wait to try it if you have a license key on hand and the drive space?

If you don't already have a licence key you can get it here, but be quick as the betas are closing in a day or two.

Win 7 Burger King Edition... will send free burgers, fries and coke - with USB burger warmer and coke cooler - if you delete 'Google Friends' and 'Google Search' in favour of 'Live Search' and 'Friends of MS'  There are currently NO 'friends of MS', but if you sign on in the first 100 you also get a free dessert with each burger meal.

Win 7 Stimulus Edition... no it doesn't give away free money, but rather a USB powered vibrating seat cushion for your PC chair

Win 7 Chrysler Edition... not for the average user, but rather for car enthusiasts who don't mind frequent pop ups saying thank you for the 'stimulus' payments frivolously spent on "thank you" ads.

Win 7 Madoff Edition... though primarily aimed at bankers, this edition will help users stash ill-gotten cash reserves in places the government and prosecutors can't find.\

Win 7 Superbowl Edition - All the normal features but also loads of annoying commercials that are celebrated and praised for some reason. Cause it's American, don't ya know? Crashes after 4 hours.

Win 7 Professional edition - Every time you move an icon on the desktop, Christian Bale appears on your screen for 30 minutes yelling and asking you if you are professional or not. Does not boot unless you wear a suit.

Right now the beta is good ... ... I can only see it getting better ...

They should only have 4 products. Two versions for laptops and 2 for

desktops. A 32 bit and a 64 bit ... The 64 bit verision should have

special options that can be downloaded and added to it. So, you

can connect to a corporate server and network.

If Microsoft thinks alot of companies are going to swarm to Windows 7 ..

I don't see it happening ... Right now most big companies are still using

Win XP ... and it works ...  All IT groups aren't spending ... an some are

thinking of going to linux for cutting costs ...  Also, IT staff in most companies

are small now. So, I don't see any major OS rollouts in the coming months

happening ...

So bottom line ...  Make a better consumer version ... the average joe or

techie will get it before the corporate types " O.K."

I disagree.

They should have one product. At installation it should detect what environment it's installed in, and configure the OS accordingly.

It should also allow for manual selection of OS environment, since a user might want another OS environment than the most logical choice.

From a commercial point of view it makes sense to have a personal and business edition of the OS though. Anything else is just too much...

"Starter edition" is just way silly. People will pirate the full editions to get the things that are not included in the starter edition anyway.

An edition of Windows 7 I would have liked to see is a Gamer's Edition, which would be wriiten to runs demanding apllications. Just a thought.

I read on the Windows Blog site that the installation discs this time will contain all the bits for every version, that which version you get depends on the license purchased... thus making is easier for users to access the 'Upgrade Now' function.  OK, it doesn't address the too many SKU's issue, but it is a step in the right direction.

One concern I have is OEM's installing the 'emerging market' edition on PC's intended for other domestic markets, thus cutting their own costs and forcing unsuspecting consumers to purchase a license for a Home Premium or a Professional version later, because the find being able to run only 3 apps is too restrictive.  Hope fully MS would takes steps to prevent this, but I doubt it.

Disagree.

• No reason to have a special version for laptops. Just make it detect what it's on.
• I think it should come with both 64 and 32 bit, and install 64 bit by default. Yes, even on home machines. Personally, I think that everybody should be moving towards 64 bits, not just businesses.
  

I think separating personal and business is okay, and thankfully they're letting business be a superset of Home - which means I can buy business and get all of the home stuff. I just couldn't afford Vista Ultimate.

. . . and in all honesty, I think Microsoft should move back towards users being able to choose which features they want during the install. Let the SKUs determine what features are available, but don't force the user to install features they don't want.

That's an interesting idea.

The problem with it, though is that the download would be very large...and what would happen if you wished to migrate to another machine (with a different use)? Would it be a "Custom" installation with different modules adding different amounts to a "final" price?

As I said, an interesting idea, mickeko.

Realistically, there are only 2 versions consumers will care about: Home Premium and Professional. The rest are for specialized markets.

There are still some 32 bit only processors that can run Windows 7. P4s can probably run it. In addition, upgrading a 32 bit system to 64 bit requires a fresh install, and some people may not want that.

I'd say make 64 bit the default, but still have 32 bit around for CPUs that don't support it.

While I agree with moving in that direction, a lot of people and businesses move slowly. And to be honest I understand their reasoning: Don't fix what's not broke, and don't upgrade just because it's the cool thing to do. A machine that does its job might not need memory upgrade.