It should come as no surprise that anyone who has been following the saga of Windows 7 is interested to know what versions of it will be available. Microsoft has been silent about this issue but now a small tidbit of information has come to light.
ArsTechnica received some information that gives three options to upgrade from Vista to Windows 7.
Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Premium
Vista Business Edition to Windows 7 Professional
Vista Ultimate Edition to Windows 7 Ultimate
Vista Basic to Windows 7 Basic (Not expected)
The argument for no Basic edition is reasonable. Windows 7 will have lower hardware requirements than Vista or at least that’s the rumor. It will also be able to use a processor (800MHz +) to handle the interface graphics. Without that requirement just about any modern computer can handle Windows 7.
With Vista the existence of a Basic edition was only used on computers that couldn’t support the advanced features of any other version. This won’t be a problem for Windows 7 and if there is a Basic edition it will probably be relegated to the “netbook” segment.
What’s also not stated is whether or not the folks up in Redmond will offer an upgrade path from XP to Windows 7 but don’t hold out for it. Most users will probably end up moving from Vista to Windows 7 or just outright buy a new PC with Windows 7 preinstalled.
Microsoft will probably debut a public beta of Windows 7 at the upcoming CES in January. That’s not confirmed either but is more likely than not. No doubt to fight the marketing of OSX. The company has not been shy about the fact that the new taskbar in 7 was modeled off of Mac OSX.
Expect Apple to label Windows 7 as “Vista II” and the fight will continue until one company goes out of business.
Source:Blorge
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