Windows 10 is coming this summer in 190 countries and 111 languages. Today, we are excited to share more details on the Windows 10 Editions.
We designed Windows 10 to deliver a more personal computing experience across a range of devices. An experience optimized for each device type, but familiar to all. Windows 10 will power an incredibly broad range of devices – everything from PCs, tablets, phones, Xbox One, Microsoft HoloLens and Surface Hub. It will also power the world around us, core to devices making up the Internet of Things, everything from elevators to ATMs to heart rate monitors to wearables. No matter which Windows 10 device our customers use, the experience will feel comfortable, and there will be a single, universal Windows Store where they can find, try and buy Universal Windows apps.
The supposed appeal of Windows 10 is that’s universal, no matter the device, so to still have different versions for consumer devices (i.e., I can understand separate server and IoT stuff) seems counter-intuitive.
That being said – Windows Mobile is back. Makes it all worthwhile.
Not yet it ain’t. They already said it wasn’t launching with the desktop version. And I’d be surprised if we saw it at all this year.
…compared to Vista, Win7, and Win8
Not surprised they kept Windows 10 Home, since its suppose to be equivalent to Windows 9x/Me/XP and their 7/8 equivalents.
That said, when I use Windows I never used anything less than Ultimate (Vista) and Pro (XP/7/8). It just never made sense, and I probably would have the same advice on Win10.
Home was quite popular as an OEM license.
It came with a lot of low end machines.
I suspect that that is it’s main reason for being.
Never understood why people use version that has unused features. Why use Ultimate/Pro at home? I personally use HomePremium at home because I don’t need domain or encryption or fancy backup support which are exact features to differentiate the Pro/Ultimate in enterprise environment.
For me, I Need Remote Desktop so I can work from home when the need arises.
That’s the only Pro feature I need need. For me, that justifies the cost of the the upgrade.
RDP client to connect to remote system? There are third party ones. I thought the RDP in Home was just from “connection to” perspective?
Yeah, I have Windows 8.1 with Bing (which is not Pro, obviously) and it had both RemoteDesktopConnection.exe and access to the Modern UI RDP client.. So unless you mean connecting from outside to your home machine, you don’t need Pro from what I can tell.
Edited 2015-05-14 11:37 UTC
When you looked at all the features, the Home and Home Premium were junk when it comes to the needs of Power Users, which I certainly am.
From various limits to removals of functionality, they just are not worth it. Using Pro, I don’t have to worry that something won’t be there that I need.
Could you give an example of a pro feature missing in HomePremium? PowerShell works on any Windows and Domain support is not a pro feature but enterprise necessity.
Looking at comparison here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions
I cannot see a single feature Iwould use at home where I have exactly one computer. Maybe do you have a need for Folder redirection, multimedia redirection or virtual host stuff? None that I dream of at home environment.
Edited 2015-05-14 14:44 UTC
More than 16GB RAM does stick out as one.
Complete PC Backup (Vista), XP Mode (Win7), Hyper-V (Win8, useful with Virtual machines)
Not to mention RAM and other limits…
For me, being able to RDP in to my computer, Encrypted Filesystem, and Hyper-V are important.
I also sometimes use Group Policy to edit certain settings that don’t otherwise have a UI to do so.
I also have IIS installed and hosting a couple sites for me (DokuWiki, and Bonobo), but I do think IIS comes with Home. I don’t know. The last “Home” version of a Microsoft OS I’ve used was Windows 98se, and only when certain games didn’t run on NT4.
I moved to XP from Win2K.
OK I am clearly not in the same league with you guys. The only purpose of a computer at home for me is to browse web, play games and watch movies. End of story. Therefore I’ve never seen a value on anything more than home oriented version of Windows.
So thanks for sharing but I am just that kind of computer user.
Probably because their Windows activator app needs a VLK version of Windows to work.
Stop putting windows on freaking ATM’s. It feels so wrong, and they never update their systems. There are still Win XP embedded ATMS, and they still use the default windows sounds for various actions. It makes me feel so unclean. I expect a bluescreen, a xxx popup, and bonzi buddy to popup any second. Not happy memories to associate with a secure device.
It appears that your problems are not technical in nature.
Yes, and no. Security that interacts with humans, is more than encryption algorithms and firewalls. UX design has to take that into account. An interface has to do more that be technically secure, it has to make the user feel secure. By not even bothering to change the default sounds from an operating system that was known to be a security failure, ATM designers really screwed that up. If you really want windows as your ATM OS, fine. Just don’t make it apparent to the end user.
And you think it would be any different with another OS?!
Yes. There is no way OS/2 will trigger my Windows XP PTSD.
I bet XP is more up to date than OS/2.
“up to date”. I’m assuming that you mean “More secure”. I don’t know that to be true. I’d need to review the security history of OS/2 ATMS vs Windows based ones. Then you’d need to assign a ranking system to each kind of vulnerability,etc, etc. My main objection is to the ease in identification of the operating system, and windows XP’s poor track record of security on the desktop.
If you meant,”has more recent security updates”, then yes, that is most probably true.
If you meant “has more current technology inside”, then yes that is also most likely true.
Drivers for modern hardware and peripherals is another important factor in “up to date.”
Windows’ poor history on the desktop is the result of being insecure by default – applications expecting to run as Administrator, and no firewall on by default prior SP2.
It was very possible to lock down Windows to be secure. In the case of an ATM, when the user doesn’t have the ability to run arbitrary software, it is extremely secure.
That is, unless the bank buying the ATM failed to basic tasks like change the default password, or properly secure access to external ports. Every failure of an ATM I’ve heard of was the result of banks failing to do basic security setup, and had nothing to do with weakness in Windows.
The same applies with OS/2-based ATMs, as well.
The OS has very limited control of the hardware in ATM machines, but you do have a point.
However, at this point, it just doesn’t make sense to develop a custom OS for these things anymore.
There was a a time where nearly all of them ran the hopelessly outdated and EOL os/2. In fact, that’s the main reason for ecomstation’s existence … banks.
Now, i love os/2, don’t get me wrong … but it sure was a hell of a lot worse from a security perspective.
True, a custom OS is pointless. However, there are a variety of OS’s out there – VXWorks, QNX, and a number of Linux distributions – that would do just fine or better; all of which are provably more secure than any version of Windows.
Yes, true, but the companies producing these have invested in windows, and focused their development on it.
The easiest to hack / exploit were the wince based ones.
Although i am a firm supporter for linux in the home and enterprise, and i do believe it is superior to windows in both applications (no flame, just opinion) … i don’t know if it would necessarily be more secure here.
If it really was this big of a concern, they would already have migrated away from windows.
I’ll just leave this here:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/hackers-text-atms-for-cash-via-windows…
So, in other words, hackers can hack machines they have unmonitored, unrestricted physical access to?
COLOR ME SHOCKED!!!
There are still OS/2 ATMs in rather wide use.
Wich six countries does not microsoft sell to? I bet north korea is one at least, but the other five? Who knows. But i am genuinely curious.
(that is the wold atlas number but it could be higher as there are several countries with low or little international recognition as well. Places like Abkhazia, Ossetia, Kurdistan, Taiwan and so on.)
Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and Region of Crimea
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/exporting/faq.aspx
Cuba should come off the list pretty soon, i imagine.
p13,
If so, it could be detrimental to cuba’s efforts to switch from windows to linux:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Cuba-Linux-Nova-America-Windows,news-…
That would be a shame, but i bet microsoft sees that as an opportunity more than anything …
Edited 2015-05-14 14:52 UTC
There’s really only two SKUs for sale for consumer devices: Home and Pro. None of the others matter, from a consumer point of view.
There’s really only Home and Pro that consumers need to bother with and I think they can handle that choice.
Agreed, one less version than their are Macbooks (MB, MBA & MBP) or Mac desktops (iM, MM, MP).
I think people will cope.
Two versions for consumers makes sense, especially since there’s people who don’t use advanced networking and update options in their OS and others do. It makes it especially easier for support too.
As an IT pro it makes total sense to me. While in a perfect world the OS would have everything and it would just be a configuration setting on first run, reality is a bit different. Let’s not forget that microsoft also sells support.
Nah, a single consumer edition (no ‘Home’, ‘Basic’, ‘Pro’, ‘Enterprise’ bullshit), a few server editions, and as many industry-specific editions as Microsoft sees fit would make better sense.
It’s kind of ridiculous to assume that, for example, a home user will never need integrated full-disk encryption (BitLocker), more fine-grained system permissions (Group Policy), or the ability to boot Windows from a removable drive (Windows To Go). By the same token, it’s also silly to assume that a user that needs Windows To Go will need the entire feature set. Just provide every single feature that a consumer edition of Windows has to every user and let him/her configure what to use and what to disable.
Wow. They’re planning to release this summer? I can’t believe it.
I’m using the Technical Preview on an original Surface Pro. To say it’s rough around the edges is being very, very kind. It’s been fun watching it develop over the last few months, but they completely broke the flow and UI and haven’t been super-quick to fix it again.
I liked Windows 8.1 (can’t believe I’m saying that…) It’s a beta, so I’m reserving final judgement, but so far Windows 10 feels like a huge, unfinished step backwards.
Certainly the promise of a unified platform is huge, and I understand why people didn’t like the Metro interface in 8 on traditional desktop PCs, but 10 will be a critical release for Microsoft. It’s their shot to bring clarity to their disparate efforts and platforms.
I truly wish them the best of luck with finishing it up this summer. I think there will be some tired coders by the fall.
Paul Thurrott points out that the competition can do with only one edition:
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/3422/microsoft-announces…
The competition also targets a much, much smaller range of devices, of markets, and use-cases.
Apple also doesn’t have to deal with licensing, or provide a way for customers to deal with licensing, because they sell hardware, not software, and OSX. Even still, they sell the OS X Server add-on, which adds a number of features. Some of these feature are the same you’d find moving from Windows Home to Pro. Some are features that are included Windows Home edition.
Additionally, Microsoft doesn’t sell hardware, they sell software. The primary difference between editions is how they are licensed – Home and Pro are retail, consumer editions. Enterprise is basically Pro, but licensed differently, and in a manner more amenable to a large organization’s needs (such as per-user licensing instead of per-device, if desired).
Windows Home/Pro/Enterprise/Education all target precisely the same range of hardware. Same for Windows Mobile and Mobile Enterprise.
OS X targets the home market, the professional market, the enterprise market and the education market with a single edition. iOS too.
I don’t know which use case can be covered by desktop Windows that cannot be covered by OS X.
So neither the range of devices nor the range of markets or use cases is a reason to create four different editions.
And don’t get me started on servers, there is one server edition for OS X and like a dozen for Windows (but there the additional use cases maybe justify that).
The only argument that holds here is the business one, ie. Microsoft trying to generate more income at the cost of escalating the number of editions.
Edited 2015-05-15 08:04 UTC
This indicates you think that, if Microsoft didn’t have the differentiating editions, Microsoft would be charging $200 for Windows, like they’ve always done, and the only reason the other editions exist is so they have something to charge more for.
The thing is, the price of the consumer version of Windows was still $200, 20 years ago (Windows 95, in this case). Adjusted for inflation, the same thing would cost $435 now. Don’t forget that when Windows 95 cost $200, There was also Windows NT, which started at ~$500, and went up for the server editions.
Having the different versions isn’t so they can charge more for Windows, its so they can get it into markets that require them to charge less, without cannibalizing their sales. Windows is still cheaper than it’s ever been.
The ENTIRE reason why Apple doesn’t do this is because Apple doesn’t sell their OS. They do much the same with hardware, though – they use differentiation to drive profit. You think their $500 SSD upgrade actually costs them $500? Of course not.
The price of hardware has fallen far quicker. In 1995 a “high end” (66mhz) Dell cost USD4400 (USD10,000 adjusted for infaltion). Today a powerful dektop costs about $1000.
http://www.relativelyinteresting.com/comparing-todays-computers-to-…
I just checked on Amazon. You pay even more for storage on the Surface Pro 3 compared to the Macbook 12. $400 for upgrading SSD from 256GB to 512GB on the i7 SP3, while $300 for the same SSD upgrade on the Macbook 12.
Edited 2015-05-17 11:27 UTC
You should re-read the article you linked. The entire article is about selling the same product, with the same capabilities, to different groups at different prices.
Nowhere does he talk about removing features and selling a product for less money to people that are willing to get less for less money, which is what Microsoft is doing here.
I mean, he sounds like he does, but he suggests that the primary difference between Home and Pro versions of XP are the name, and the main reason for a business to buy Pro over Home is embarrassment, and not for any technical reasons. I don’t believe either of those statements is accurate.
I’m still hoping we’ll see BitLocker added to the standard Win 10 install, but this is making it look less likely.
I’m not forking over an additional $100 or whatever for one feature that comes for $0 with OS X and Linux.
OK, we got a release date, but I don’t think that there is anything to look forward to. Let’s take a look at the lukewarm list of mediocre features:
– Start Menu comeback. OK, but no cigar. A taskbar/Dock would have been nicer. Good riddance to the Metro Start screen. Frankly, I could really do without those #@¤$ Live Tiles.
– Settings solidified = Thank God, ‘Charms’ are gone, hallelujah.
– Windowed Metro apps
– Xbox app
– Universal Apps and Unified App Store
– Action Center notifications
– Cortana
– Microsoft Edge
– Virtual Desktops
– Continuum
– New Mail and Calendar apps
Mostly junk and features that should have been implemented years ago.
+ still clinging on to that ugly looking, bright colored ‘Sesame Street’ UI. Good luck with that…
Come and play,
Windows is A-OK.
Friendly desktop there,
That’s where we meet
Can you tell me how to boot
Boot to Desktop Screen
Can you tell me how to boot
Boot to Desktop Screen
Just out of curiousity, does anyone have a list of exactly which 111 languages will be supported?
This list of available language packs for Windows 8 only lists 108:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/language-packs#lptabs=wi…
the most disconcerting thing for me right now is the blind adoption of the android line/dot/hamburger menu. we’re kind of going backward, forward, AND inbreeding at this point