Microsoft has confirmed that there will be six SKUs for the Windows 7 OS. This follows long standing Microsoft tradition of having multiple version of its Windows OS, a practice widely-criticized and mocked for bringing confusion to the marketplace.

• Starter: Available to OEMs on new PCs. Missing Aero UI. Can run 3 applications concurrently.
• Home Basic: For ‘emerging markets’. Missing Aero UI.
• Home Premium: Available to OEMs and retail. Includes Aero UI, multi-touch capabilities, media features. Can create home network groups.
• Professional: Includes all of Home Premium features. Adds enhanced networking, Mobility Center and Presentation Mode.
• Enterprise: Available only in volume licenses. Includes all of Professional features. Adds Branch Cache, Direct Access and BitLocker.
• Ultimate: The same features as Enterprise, with limited availability to OEMs and retail.

It appears that Starter will find its way into netbooks, and we will not heard alot about Home Basic since its available in ‘emerging markets’ only, whatever that means. For most consumers, the choices are between Home Premium and Professional. It is simpler compare with Windows Vista and more akin to Windows XP options.

Windows 7 Professional is comparable to Mac OS X and is the version of choice if you are running the OS dual boot via bootcamp. It is still early to see which version will run best on VMWare Fusion, Parallel or VirtualBox.

Microsoft has mentioned that there will be uprade version for existing XP and Vista users. There is no information on product pricing and for the upgrade path from old Windows versions. During installation, Windows 7 will upgrade for you if you are running Windows Vista. There is no system upgrade option for Windows XP, you need to install fresh new Windows 7.

What is your view on the same yet many versions of Windows 7? Well, we were hoping one single version of the OS, just Window 7, similar to Mac OS X. If single version is not feasible, then the line up could be simpler. Starter, Home Premium and Professional could be merged into one version, with resource intensive features such as Aero UI disabled automatically during system startup. Ultimate should be dropped, instead make Enterprise version available to OEMs and retail.

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Microsoft senior VP Bill Veghte said the software maker will provide security patches and other critical updates for Windows XP until April, 2014. “Our ongoing support for Windows XP is the result of our recognition that people keep their Windows-based PCs for many years,” Veghte wrote in a letter sent to customers. Majority of Microsoft’s large customers have not upgraded to the newer Windows Vista (released January 2007), due mainly to Vista’s resource requirements and lack of compatibility with older applications. Many of them are expected to skip Vista altogether and continue to use Windows XP until Windows 7 becomes available in 2010 or later.

Microsoft will continue its plan to stop selling Windows XP as a retail packaged product and stop licensing Windows XP to PC manufacturers after June 30, 2008. However, Windows XP will continue to be available to manufacturers of low-cost netbook PCs such as Asus Eee PC through June 2010.

Customers who require Windows XP after June 30 can install a copy by purchasing a Windows Vista license. Microsoft’s software license allows customers who purchase a copy of Windows to install and run a previous version of the OS at no additional cost.

This extended support for security patches and critical updates is great news for Mac users who continue to need to run Windows applications. If you are running your Windows applications in a virtaul machine environment such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop, we recommend you ditch Windows Vista and choose Windows XP as it is the most compatible Windows operating system with the smallest resource footprint.

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