ActiveWin.com: Microsoft Windows 7 (32 & 64-bit)

Improved Look, Windows 7 is about building on the fundamentals of Windows Vista while introducing new experiences that will make using Windows simpler, faster and friendlier.

Windows 7 will be available in 6 editions, but primary emphasis is being put towards Home Premium and Professional for mainstream markets.

Edition	Features
Starter	Broad app and device compatibility, unlimited application support, Safe, reliable, and supported. Ability to join a Home Group, Improved taskbar and Jump Lists.
Home Basic	Starter features, Unlimited applications, Live Thumbnail Previews & enhanced visual experience, Advanced networking support (ad-hoc wireless networks and internet connection sharing), Mobility Center
Home Premium	Home Basic features, Unlimited applications Aero Glass & advanced windows navigation, Easy networking & sharing across all your PCs & devices, Improved media format support, enhancements to Windows Media Center and media streaming, including Play To, Multi-touch and improved handwriting recognition.
Professional	Professional features, Unlimited applications , Ability to join a managed network with Domain Join, Protect data with advanced network backup and Encrypting File System, Print to the right printer at home or work with Location Aware Printing.
Enterprise	Windows 7 Enterprise is available only through Microsoft Volume Licensing.
Ultimate	Professional and Consumer, Unlimited applications, BitLocker data protection on internal and external drives, DirectAccess provides seamless connectivity to your corporate network. (requires Windows Server 2008 R2), Decrease time branch office workers wait to open file across the network with BranchCache. (requires Windows Server 2008 R2), Prevent unauthorized software from running with AppLocker Note: Ultimate includes all Enterprise and all Home Premium features, including multi-language packs.

Windows 7 Ultimate which is the edition Microsoft made available for testing incorporates all the features from the consumer and business editions. Some of the features users will find in this edition include Media Center, integration with devices such as the XBOX 360, Media Extenders, Complete PC Backup (now System Image), business networking, Group Policy support, BitLocker to Go, Windows Touch, Tablet PC and advanced window management features.

Pricing

SKU	Full Package	Upgrade Package
*Windows 7 Starter	OEM only	OEM only
*Windows 7 Home Basic	OEM only	OEM only
Windows 7 Home Premium	$199.99	$119.99
Windows 7 Professional	$299.99	$199.99
Windows 7 Enterprise	Volume License Only	Volume License Only
Windows 7 Ultimate	$319.99	$219.99

Windows Anytime Upgrade From:	Pricing
Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium	$79.99
Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Professional	$115
Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Ultimate	$165
Windows 7 Home Basic to Windows 7 Home Premium	$80
Windows 7 Home Basic to Windows 7 Ultimate	$165
Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional	$89.99
Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate	$139.99
Windows 7 Professional to Windows 7 Ultimate	$140

Windows Family Pack licensing	Pricing
Windows 7 Home Premium Family License for 3 PCs	$149.99

Windows 7 Starter – Entry-level OEM SKU in all markets for cost conscious consumers.
Windows 7 Home Basic – Value SKU in emerging markets for cost conscious consumers on value PC’s.

System Requirements

Minimum system requirements for Windows 7 call for a 1 GHz PC 32/64 bit or better, 1 GB RAM (2 GBs for 64-bit), DirectX 9 compliant video card with 128 MBs of Video RAM, 18 GBs free hard disk space, Plug and Play monitor, keyboard, mouse, a DVD-ROM drive, a network or wireless adapter for networking capabilities and Internet Access. What is particularly interesting about the system requirements this time around, they are about the same as Vista while being realistic where minimum recommendations are concerned. Many consumers will be pleased to know, they won’t have to do any significant upgrades to run Windows 7. I was quite surprised to discover how much performance has improved over Windows Vista running Windows 7 on the same hardware. For instance, I have Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit running on an AMD Sempron 1.6 GHz with 512 MBs of RAM and a nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MB AGP card, a very bare bones system I built back in February of 2006. Boot time is significantly faster in addition to the time it takes to load the desktop with Gadgets and invoke the Start menu.

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