Windows 8 Editions announced

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heatlesssun

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Looks like Microsoft has after all of these years finally gotten the number of Windows versions solved. There's only three and they make perfect sense.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/.../04/16/announcing-the-windows-8-editions.aspx

So Windows 8 will be the edition that the vast majority of consumers will get. Windows 8 Pro will be the business edition with domain capability and business security features. The big difference on the x86 side of Windows 8 looks to be the exclusion of Media Center in the core product. Seems to be available only to the Pro version as a at cost add-on, so it looks as though Media Center's days are numbered with isn't surprising considering the rapid shift to internet content, but at least its still an option and hopefully it will still work with CableCard. And of course there are licensing fees that Microsoft will no longer have to pay for in every copy of Windows for Media Center as well, so it's really as much a cost saving move as a right fitting of how content is now delivered which has changed radically in the decade since the release of Media Center.

The most interesting version for many will be Windows RT, which is the ARM version that only comes with ARM devices and isn't a standalone product. The most interesting aspect to Windows RT is the inclusion of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and perhaps the most important app in that suite for tablets, OneNote. However no Outlook and no mention of it at all, not even as at cost app, but I would have to imagine that there well be an ARM version of Outlook.

The inclusion of these Office apps I think is a big deal especially for business tablets. If these things are priced right and there's good hardware and of course assuming that the new version of Office is good, this is going to put at least dent in the iPad's business adoption. But I think the big loser here will be more the more expensive Android tablets.

So overall this looks pretty great with the exception of Media Center becoming an at cost add-on.
 
Good they dispensed with the version silliness. Interesting to see Office integrated into the RT version.
 
According to that chart, I can't upgrade from Windows 7 Pro to just basic Windows 8? Someone tell me I'm reading that wrong, but that is what it looks like to me.
 
"BitLocker and BitLocker To Go, Boot from VHD, Client Hyper-V, Domain Join, Encrypting File System, Group Policy, Remote Desktop (host)"

This is the difference between Normal and Pro according to that chart. I think a power user might be ok without the Pro since I don't hear of anybody using Bitlocker over TrueCrypt and other VMs then HyperV. The host for RDP I dunno but there's alternatives for that too. At least the RDP client I assume is in Normal.

And call me oldschool but I never trust the updaters, always a quickformat and fresh install
 
There was a post later on in the comments clarifying that media center is included free in the regular Win8 and was an optional upgrade for Pro since most pro users don't need it. I'm glad they cut back on the number of editions, but RT is a really stupid name. Also lacking AD and RDP support on RT makes no sense if they want to push into the business market. The clarifying comment said they expect enterprises to use x86/64 Win 8 on tablets, but that defeats the whole purpose of having a very low power ARM based system. I have a feeling that might have been Intel's pressure since they want to push ultrabooks so much, but I already know a lot of people hat will be quite disappointed that RT is just as unmanageable as iOS.
 
darkpaw said:
There was a post later on in the comments clarifying that media center is included free in the regular Win8 and was an optional upgrade for Pro since most pro users don't need it. I'm glad they cut back on the number of editions, but RT is a really stupid name. Also lacking AD and RDP support on RT makes no sense if they want to push into the business market. The clarifying comment said they expect enterprises to use x86/64 Win 8 on tablets, but that defeats the whole purpose of having a very low power ARM based system. I have a feeling that might have been Intel's pressure since they want to push ultrabooks so much, but I already know a lot of people hat will be quite disappointed that RT is just as unmanageable as iOS.
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The name for RT is meaningless, because they are not selling it as a product. It comes pre-installed on arm tablets.
 
I have to disagree there. I know it will not be sold on its own, but a name is still relevant. iOS isn't sold on its own either, but they still picked something that most people seem to understand. Every tablet sold will still list the OS and marketing does have a pretty big impact on the average user. That is really one of MS's biggest weaknesses, their marketing is horrible. I'd argue their only successful ad campaign in the past decade was the laptop hunters.
 
darkpaw said:
I have to disagree there. I know it will not be sold on its own, but a name is still relevant. iOS isn't sold on its own either, but they still picked something that most people seem to understand. Every tablet sold will still list the OS and marketing does have a pretty big impact on the average user. That is really one of MS's biggest weaknesses, their marketing is horrible. I'd argue their only successful ad campaign in the past decade was the laptop hunters.
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Sure, but Microsoft and OEMs are just going to advertise that a tablet comes with "Windows" not "Windows 8 RT"
 
CEpeep said:
Sure, but Microsoft and OEMs are just going to advertise that a tablet comes with "Windows" not "Windows 8 RT"
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Well with so many windows tablets out right now, I know it's going to be very confusing....
 
darkpaw said:
There was a post later on in the comments clarifying that media center is included free in the regular Win8 and was an optional upgrade for Pro since most pro users don't need it. I'm glad they cut back on the number of editions, but RT is a really stupid name. Also lacking AD and RDP support on RT makes no sense if they want to push into the business market. The clarifying comment said they expect enterprises to use x86/64 Win 8 on tablets, but that defeats the whole purpose of having a very low power ARM based system. I have a feeling that might have been Intel's pressure since they want to push ultrabooks so much, but I already know a lot of people hat will be quite disappointed that RT is just as unmanageable as iOS.
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I think Windows RT is a proper name as it denotes the kind of applications that it can run, WinRT apps that are available only in the Windows Store. The problem is that Metro has been the term that most people have been using to name WinRT but I'm thinking that WinRT will probably become the name that Microsoft will use formally for Metro UI apps. And in reality WinRT and Metro are really not the same thing anyway. WinRT is an API, Metro is a design language.

As for Windows RT not supporting RDP hosting, domains, etc. That's a lot of overhead for devices that will be targeted primarily at consumers that will never need these features and Intel is working very hard on power efficient Atom tablets that they seem to be claiming will about as thin and light as ARM devices with comparable battery life. And Windows 8 on these new Atoms is going to run much better than Windows has run on Atoms in the past. What's going to be interesting is the cost of Atom verses ARM tablets. I would suspect that there will be some good Atom tablets at the $500 mark.
 
I'll be going with Windows 8 Pro. Mounting to VHD is a definite need even if all of the others aren't that important.
 
heatlesssun said:
I would suspect that there will be some good Atom tablets at the $500 mark.
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I sincerely hope so. A good x86 windows tablet would be a boon for several projects I've got in the pipeline; it can't get here fast enough.
 
I don't mind the name. I'm not asking for an "Android Ice Cream Sandwich powered touchscreen tablet device" when I buy an Android tablet.

Windows 8 RT works for me. It'll just be a Windows 8 tablet. Although, I'm going with an x86 tablet with Win8, myself. ARM looks good, but it's limited. I'm not looking for 2 days of battery life, anyway.
 
bpizzle1 said:
According to that chart, I can't upgrade from Windows 7 Pro to just basic Windows 8? Someone tell me I'm reading that wrong, but that is what it looks like to me.
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Actually, an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 Pro to basic Windows 8 is impossible. That said, you can install basic Windows 8 on a system that's currently running Windows 7 Pro - but you'll have to perform either a clean install or a dual-boot install.

And with the restriction of Windows Media Center to only the Pro edition, and then only as an extra-cost add-in, this makes the HTPC as we know it obsolete. The AMD/ATi TV tuner cards will not work at all in basic Windows 8 without third-party (read: non-Microsoft and non-AMD/ATi) DVR/media player software (since the Catalyst media player that comes with such cards does not run properly on anything newer than Windows XP).
 
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E4g1e said:
Actually, an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 Pro to basic Windows 8 is impossible. That said, you can install basic Windows 8 on a system that's currently running Windows 7 Pro - but you'll have to perform either a clean install or a dual-boot install.

And with the restriction of Windows Media Center to only the Pro edition, and then only as an extra-cost add-in, this makes the HTPC as we know it obsolete. The AMD/ATi TV tuner cards will not work at all in basic Windows 8 without third-party (read: non-Microsoft and non-AMD/ATi) DVR/media player software (since the Catalyst media player that comes with such cards does not run properly on anything newer than Windows XP).
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Yeah, I assumed as much (I ALWAYS do clean installs anyway), but it just seems strange that they won't let the customers that actually want to just do an upgrade to do so.
 
bpizzle1 said:
Yeah, I assumed as much (I ALWAYS do clean installs anyway), but it just seems strange that they won't let the customers that actually want to just do an upgrade to do so.
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It's been this way since Vista. Upgrading from a higher to lesser edition has never been allowed.

Edit: Correction - since XP with its plethora of editions, too
 
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Silly Q. Chart seems like normal Windows 8 won't allow extra languages, shame. Though I could be reading it wrong.
 
It's not official that the next Server will be "Server 2012" as well.
 
Is there any info about if they will have student promotional pricing? I remember that when Win 7 first came out you could buy it for $30 with a .edu email.
 
allen5055 said:
Is there any info about if they will have student promotional pricing? I remember that when Win 7 first came out you could buy it for $30 with a .edu email.
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I'm sure there'll be more than one special offer for Windows 8 considering it's controversial nature.
 
heatlesssun said:
I'm sure there'll be more than one special offer for Windows 8 considering it's controversial nature.
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How dire and badly received the consumer preview is they should be looking at around a price of between free and $15. Especially with all the adware replacing proper software. :p
 
heatlesssun said:
I would suspect that there will be some good Atom tablets at the $500 mark.
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I would say that good and atom just do not go together at all. (Atom is a slow piece of crap.) However, I do have a Acer W500 which has a AMD C 60 dual core 1Ghz cpu with a HD6250 and 348MB of dedicated/non shared video ram. This thing runs circles around anything atom based and is very quick.

Also, my W500 cost me just $550 with next day shipping from newegg. In the low cost X86 tablet market, this is where I think AMD can take off.
 
bpizzle1 said:
Yeah, I assumed as much (I ALWAYS do clean installs anyway), but it just seems strange that they won't let the customers that actually want to just do an upgrade to do so.
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As another reply in this thread stated, this upgrade policy has been going on since the first release of Windows XP. Users of Windows 98 or Windows Me could upgrade to either XP Home or XP Pro - but users of Windows NT 4.0 could only upgrade to XP Pro (NT users could not upgrade to XP Home).
 
AndreRio said:
How much is it going to cost (win8 I mean)??
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There's no official news on the price tag, but judging how Microsoft priced the retail editions of previous Windows releases I would bet that Windows 8 standard and Professional will cost $99 and $199 for upgrade only, and $199 and $299 for full, respectively.
 
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