Wednesday 31 October 2007

Windows Vista - Now ... Just Exactly What is in What Edition Again?!?

We have our Retail (Fully Packaged Product - FPP) boxed XP Pro and Vista Business on which we base our Open Value Software Assurance benefits.

We are eligible for the Windows Vista Ultimate upgrade or Windows Vista Enterprise upgrade editions with our Software Assurance Benefits.

Okay, now ... can someone tell us simply and clearly: What is the difference between Windows Vista Ultimate and Enterprise features in one page or less ... preferably via a grid?

Microsoft's Windows Vista Choose an Edition site does not clarify that.

So, we click the link at the bottom of the Vista Comparison Grid:
Large, global organizations with complex IT infrastructures should consider Windows Vista Enterprise edition.
Therein we find a link to Vista Enterprise's features. Still, we don't find a grid to compare to other Vista editions.

With a little bit of searching, we came up with this excellent Windows Vista Edition comparison article at Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Windows Vista Review
Part 2: Understanding the Vista Product Editions
. We are provided with a grid, and the answer to the question we were asking.

The answer is: The primary difference between the two editions is the inclusion of Media Center features along with the Media Center Extensions and DVD making software in Vista Ultimate Edition.

For us, the differences are important as we need to explain to our client's senior partners the edition options that can be installed on their systems. We may also be required to run some training for our client's partners on the Ultimate feature set either here or on-site.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

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