Windows 8 Editions Revealed

Monday, April 16, 2012 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

One of my biggest gripes with Windows in past years has been the ridiculous amount of versions/SKU’s for Windows.  It was confusing to both consumers and business customers, and I was concerned this would happen again to Windows 8.  I was wrong and I am glad about that.

Today Microsoft announced the Windows 8 Editions and there are only a few to choose from:  Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and Windows RT.

For PCs and tablets powered by x86 processors (both 32 and 64 bit), we will have two editions: Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. For many consumers, Windows 8 will be the right choice. It will include all the features above plus an updated Windows Explorer, Task Manager, better multi-monitor support and the ability to switch languages on the fly (more details on this feature can be found in this blog post),which was previously only available in Enterprise/Ultimate editions of Windows. For China and a small set of select emerging markets, we will offer a local language-only edition of Windows 8.

Windows RT is the ARM version and will only be available on PC’s and Tablets pre-installed.  This edition will also include a touch optimized version of Office.

I’m glad they have simplified Windows 8, and I’m looking even more forward to getting the final release.

Check the Windows Blog for a comparison of features between editions.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/04/16/announcing-the-windows-8-editions.aspx

 

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lee3908870
Reply #21 Tuesday, April 17, 2012 10:27 PM

Haaaaaaaa! the boo birds are out again. . .

Philly0381
Reply #22 Tuesday, April 17, 2012 10:38 PM

lee3908870
Haaaaaaaa! the boo birds are out again. . .

It all comes down to being a customer or user and our own individual choices.  It's not always that folks are reluctant to change. 

gevansmd
Reply #23 Tuesday, April 17, 2012 11:20 PM

Windows 8

Windows 8

Fisher Price

Fisher Price

starkers
Reply #24 Wednesday, April 18, 2012 12:11 AM

The other thing that pisses me off about Metro apps concept is MS' trying to emulate Apple, etc, and cash in on other folks works by taking a 30% slice off the top.  While it may seem a paltry amount per app, though probably not to the author, it will net MS millions upon millions, and for mine, that's just not right.  It's certainly not a market I will buy into... or from.  All the functionality and eye candy I need is in my purchased software and freeware I've downloaded, so apps and tile thingies are not something that'll get on my systems.

Savyg
Reply #25 Wednesday, April 18, 2012 12:58 AM

gevansmd
Windows 8

Reduced 75%Original 800 x 450

Fisher Price

Reduced 88%Original 500 x 500

sooooo use the dev preview instead of the consumer preview a lot to 'prove' your point do you

Uvah
Reply #26 Wednesday, April 18, 2012 5:32 AM

Sadly, given Microstuff's track record, i doubt the RTM will be much different than the consumer preview. Sure...they may tweak it here and there but in the end same ole bleh!

gevansmd
Reply #27 Wednesday, April 18, 2012 9:09 AM

 

 

quoting:  "sooooo use the dev preview instead of the consumer preview a lot to 'prove' your point do you"

I have neither as I currently don't have a PC to spare a test run, I grabbed a screenshot from the web.  Many reviewers have commented on the garish colors. I simply attached a description to that, calling it the Fisher Price interface.  I used to call XP the Crayola interface because of its use of primary colors but it was no way near as ugly as Metro.  I've read reviews and seen video demos and know how it generally looks.

 

However, beyond its appearance, forcing desktop and notebook users into a touch screen interface is stupid.  The x86 and ARM versions are already incompatible enough they could have simply kept Metro for tablets and the old desktop for keyboard based PCs.  My first reaction to Metro was a Facebook post I made, "Microsoft porting its ugly and failed Windows 7 phone interface to the desktop."

starkers
Reply #28 Wednesday, April 18, 2012 5:02 PM

Sadly, given Microstuff's track record, i doubt the RTM will be much different than the consumer preview. Sure...they may tweak it here and there but in the end same ole bleh!

One would hope MS tweaks it enough to make the standard desktop the default UI on PC editions, with Metro as an alternate for the handful of people who like it.  However, it is doubtful and I won't hold my breath that MS is watching the negative towards Win 8 threads plastered all over the internet. 

The other thought one would hope MS has, and that is towards its hardware manufacturing partners/RTM's.  If Win 8 is a dead set flop, which it seems likely to be given all the negative feedback to date, then all those PC's with Win 8 pre-installed will largely remain on the shelf, thus risking profits and jobs right across the industry. 

There may be some sales from those who have no choice but to update their hardware, but me thinks it will be much like in the days of Vista, when users promptly had XP installed on the machine as soon as they got home.  In this case, those users will revert back to Win 7 and wait for an improved Win 9 -10 or 11... without Metro, or they'll switch to a Mac or Linux.  In any event, I can bet the other developers [Apple - Linux] are rubbing their hands with glee over this Metro disaster.

GigaByte69
Reply #29 Wednesday, April 18, 2012 10:45 PM

RDP access is the only feature of XP/Vista/7 home that was missing that I always needed.  Hopefully they will allow it in 8, but I doubt it.

Have you tried the Windows Live Mesh, part of the windows Live Essentials Pack

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows-live/essentials-other-programs

GigaByte69

MarvinKosh
Reply #30 Thursday, April 19, 2012 2:04 AM

Windows releases go a bit like Star Trek sequels, except it's the even-numbered ones that suck.

Wake me up when they ship Windows with time-travelling Borg.

Uvah
Reply #31 Thursday, April 19, 2012 6:19 AM

I'm holdin' out for Win 13. That should be the one what melts  our lappies and desktops into slag. Then we can all gang up on Microstuff and demand restitution. As unlikely as that sounds.

DrJBHL
Reply #32 Thursday, April 19, 2012 7:40 AM

Sorry to have found this so late into the thread. Might help folks decide which version they might want/need:

gevansmd
Reply #33 Thursday, April 19, 2012 7:14 PM

So no direct upgrades from Vista?  For the Vista to 7 upgrade, MS was a little loose in the use of the word "upgrade".  Yes, you could upgrade from Vista Ultimate to 7 Premium, meaning you paid the upgrade price, but it was a clean install, not an upgrade installation.  That meant every app had to be reinstalled.  That's the main reason I didn't upgrade from Vista to 7.  With 2 Ultimate PCs, the upgrades would have cost $438, unless I was willing to reinstall everything.

DrJBHL
Reply #34 Thursday, April 19, 2012 8:31 PM

Depending on your equipment (age, cpu, RAM, etc), and the fact that clean installations are better than upgrades, you might be better off with a clean install on a new system rather than a sluggish, strained system...

From what I've read, there will be a direct path from XP and Vista to 8 using online installation. There might also be DVD's available but MS hasn't mentioned price.

The online option will supposedly drop installation time and number of clicks: The latter by 82%. You won't have to wrestle with a 25 letter/digit key using the online installation.

I wonder if "No bloatware/trialware" will be an option.

gevansmd
Reply #35 Friday, April 20, 2012 11:24 AM

I understand a clean install is preferable but I don't have a week to reinstall all my apps.  It's absurd that MS still treats its users as if they're buying their first OS.  There's zero reason why they can't do the equivalent of a clean install of the OS while porting the apps.  Laplink can do it, why can't MS?

Savyg
Reply #36 Friday, April 20, 2012 12:24 PM

gevansmd
 
However, beyond its appearance, forcing desktop and notebook users into a touch screen interface is stupid.  The x86 and ARM versions are already incompatible enough they could have simply kept Metro for tablets and the old desktop for keyboard based PCs.  My first reaction to Metro was a Facebook post I made, "Microsoft porting its ugly and failed Windows 7 phone interface to the desktop."

I used the dev preview and the consumer preview, and I've yet to see this mythical 'touch only interface'.

Although the dev preview UI was pretty awful, and the consumer preview could use tweaking for large monitor/high resolution users.

At any rate, can't wait for the release preview.

RiddleKing
Reply #37 Saturday, April 21, 2012 3:38 AM

Stupid ballmer signing off on stupid UI- this is what happens when you put someone who doesn't no jack shit about computers and software to run a software and hardware company.. Hes no Steve Jobs.. and this metro bs is the worst innovation in software history--hes such a muppet. 

 

 

 

gevansmd
Reply #38 Saturday, April 21, 2012 4:20 PM

@Savug, I did not mean the interface only works with touch screens but it is obviously designed for them first and foremost.  Forcing a mouse user to do endless horizontal scrolling was a bad choice.

piers38
Reply #39 Tuesday, May 1, 2012 4:13 AM

Customise win8 to what you want when it goes rtm!. So far from what I have seen it's faster than win7 with slightly better interface. Dont like metro?? swap it out for the desktop that your more familliar with.

 

It's still in beta last time I looked

Hawawaa
Reply #40 Wednesday, May 2, 2012 10:25 AM

Just saw this video in my list and had a good laugh.

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