MS: Six versions of Windows 7 for sake of PC makers, users

04.02.2009
While it plans to focus on marketing two versions of , will offer six editions of its next operating system to better satisfy PC makers and end users, an executive said Tuesday.

"We did a lot of research and talked to a lot of [hardware] partners and customers," said Mike Ybarra, general manager for Windows, told Computerworld following the announcement that .

"Our biggest challenge is that we have over 1 billion customers," Ybarra said. "It's hard to satisfy all of them [with a single version]. There are vocal customers who want every feature, and more regular consumers who say 'I want a version that can grow with me.'"

Microsoft said today that it will aim Windows 7 Home Premium at the majority of consumers and Windows 7 Professional at businesses. That harks back to , which had two main SKUs: Home and Professional.

However, Microsoft will maintain all of the four other versions it offered with , including the controversial Home Basic, the Starter Edition that was until now restricted to developing countries, Enterprise and Ultimate. That and corporate customers.

Apple releases a single version of with every new release. It does have far fewer users than Windows, with some estimates worldwide today.