Brandon LeBlanc has put together a great article together over at the Windows Team Blog explaining the differences in the SKUS for Windows 7, that many have said that” its the same as Windows Vista” and have caused many to think they will be having systems not being able to run from the same misunderstanding with the Windows Certified, that got many people upset when purchasing a new PC, but didn’t bother to research their purchase and how it would run Vista. Its like buying a car - “What do you mean I can’t convert my new car to Bio Diesel, my neighbor can do it with his car?!!!” is shock to people that don’t research what they are buying.

Brandon covers the decision process behind the SKUs as well as a better upgrade path for those who want to come in at a lower price point, but not have the install problems they had in the past since the Windows 7 build is cut from the same bits. I only hope that someone can do an upgrade in place with a purchased upgrade aka solid media DVD as well as the online only option of the Windows Vista upgrade in place, which just blew. I had a new Windows Vista PC with Windows Vista Business on it that I couldn’t upgrade in place to Windows Ultimate even thought I had purchased Windows Ultimate legitimately from the Microsoft store. I had to wipe the whole install and start from scratch and reinstall all my programs and configure everything again. Hopefully this too will be resolved.

Today, I wanted to take a closer look at the Windows 7 SKUs since there has been some discussion about them for the last couple of days. By the end of this post, I want you to know exactly which edition of Windows 7 is right for you and help you understand how we approached addressing the large amount of feedback we received.

Our SKU line-up is based on listening to feedback from customers and partners and here is what they have told us and how we are addressing their feedback in Windows 7:

1. Customers wanted clarity on which version of Windows is the right version for them.? So…Windows 7 will be offered primarily in 2 editions: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional.

2. Customers wanted upgrading to a different SKU to be easier.? So…for Windows 7, we are using a single image for all SKUs. This means the bits for all the editions are already on your computer if you are running Windows 7.? With Windows Anytime Upgrade, users can unlock and upgrade to a different SKU much easier than before.

3. Customers did not like losing features when upgrading to a different SKU.? So…in Windows 7, each SKU is a superset of the previous SKU. No features are lost on upgrade.

4. One size does not fit all—particularly with a billion users and thousands of partners around the world.? So…we are addressing the specialized needs for customers in specific markets with Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, and Windows 7 Enterprise.

Let me dive a little deeper into these 4 areas and what it means for you.

Check out the rest of Brandon’s article here.

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