Eight months ago, in response to claims that there’d be seven different editions of Windows Vista (then referred to by the codename Longhorn), I said:

This seems a rather unlikely story

Today, reports state that

there are seven separate editions of Vista headed your way

So you’ll notice that I picked up on quite a small rumour months ago, and trashed it. And it turns out to be true. That’s a pretty big bobo, even by me. But hey, when I was I ever right? 😉

Anyway, the seven editions are reported to be Starter Edition, Home Basic Edition, Home Premium Edition, Professional Edition, Small Business Edition, Enterprise Edition, and finally the Ultimate Edition. Nice to see that they’re keeping it simple. How on Earth do they hope to educate users as to which version they need? It was hard enough to educate people when there was just XP Home and XP Pro – seven versions is going to be a bit of a marketing nightmare. But, as I’ve said before…

At the same time, though, this would be a good move by Microsoft if it meant that the most basic version of Windows could be sold at a very low price, so that it could compete in that field for the home users that Linux and the like are trying to target, since these could become more of a threat over the next few years. And, of course, Microsoft has been shifting in this direction by adding two further editions of Windows XP to the market (Media Centre and Tablet), as well as the stripped-down bargain version sold in countries where piracy is a particular problem. So there are clear advantages to taking this proposed stance on the release of Longhorn, and clear signals that this path is being taken.

Hey ho, I’m sure Microsoft have done their research, and I have little doubt that Vista will be very successful. So good luck to them.