Windows 7 (RC) setup secrets

Paul, just out of curiosity, you've said you hate using XP now. Considering that most home users were using Windows XP Home Edition, how would you feel about using Windows Vista/7 Home Basic on a day-to-day basis instead of Home Premium? Vista/7 Home Premium is akin to XP Media Center Edition moreso than to XP Home Edition, but most users never saw that version of XP. So could you find yourself letting go of Aero, DVD burning support (in DVD Maker as well as in the shell), and Media Center for any considerable amount of time?

"Windows XP Home Edition is not akin to Windows Vista/7 Home Basic. It is akin to Windows Vista Home Premium" Sorry but you're wrong. Windows Vista Home Premium is akin to Windows XP Media Center Edition because it (XP MCE) includes a) Media Center, and b) an integrated (but optional for the OEM) DVD burning solution provided by Sonic Solutions. Microsoft is pushing people to use Media Center in Home Premium though, just like how they were pushing OEM's to preload XP Media Center 2005 on systems in place of XP Home. It never caught on with XP though, so they bundled Aero exclusively in Vista Home Premium, which is what really differentiated it from Vista Home Basic (at least in most consumers' eyes). What they are doing is offering exclusive functionality (Aero) to get people to upgrade to the next level up. You can claim otherwise all you want, but they've been pushing Media Center to OEM's and System Builders since XP MCE 2005, just that consumers never saw that (I did because I'm a system builder). What you are arguing is market penetration. As far as the level of functionality, Vista Home Premium is the direct upgrade of XP Media Center, not XP Home Edition. Microsoft just has a higher expectation of consumers to choose an edition of Windows which features Media Center now. If they never opened up XP Media Center to all system builders in 2005 (previous versions were only for major OEM's like HP) they probably wouldn't have shifted their stance, and we'd all be using Home Basic (and probably with Aero) right now.

"The unlocking of hidden versions is useless if you do not have the proper product key to activate, right?" You can still use a 30-day trial.

"...so they bundled Aero exclusively in Vista Home Premium, which is what really differentiated it from Vista Home Basic..." ...and resulted in an embarrassing (for Microsoft) lawsuit.

Features in Vista Home Premium that aren't in Vista Home Basic (clearing it up for those who misread the comments to think the only difference is Windows Aero): Scheduled backup of user files Backup of user files to a networked PC or device Incremental backup Automatic backup scheduling Windows Aero Maximum RAM with 64-bit system (8GB vs 16GB) Themed slide shows Native DVD playback Windows Media Center Windows Media Center TV Recording and HDTV (US & S. Korea only) Cable card support Support for Media Center Extenders including XBox 360 Windows Movie Maker HD Windows DVD Maker Premium Games Simultaneous SMB peer network connections (5 vs 10) Tablet PC support Windows SideShow Windows Meeting Space (View-only vs Full)

Hey Waethorn, I agree with your linux posting, and would like to add that his pdf makes little sense. Anyways, I think a huge factor for 'normal' folk to move to linux is just the degraded look of the OS. A lot of it looks like something from pre - XP days. It 'feels' cheap. I don't know how to explain it. But it looks like robertsjoe agrees with everyone here: the apple tax is greater than the MS tax, and since robertsjoe says the MS tax is enormous, then the Apple tax is rediculous. Good job joe!

@mike: The most obvious features from that list that consumers usually notice the difference with is the DVD support (burning and playback), Movie Maker HD, Media Center and Aero. Although there are the other options, I can confidently say that those are the ones that the majority of consumers will focus on. I still stand by the point that I made that Microsoft has higher expectations from the average consumer than in the pre-2005 days of XP. You can see that in the broad shift in marketing towards the higher-level media-centric SKU's of XP and Vista. Call it "responding to demand" or whatever, but it's there regardless. "the Apple tax is rediculous" Although often pronounced that way, it's actually spelled "ridiculous", as in "something worth ridiculing". And robertsjoe certainly is that. BTW: Keith's argument about capitalism makes no sense whatsoever. With the FOSS movement, FSF, and **RICHARD STALLMAN** pushing the mantra of: "It's ok to get paid for work - you just can't sell the final product" is totally against the idea of capitalism altogether. In fact, that's Communism at its finest.

Waethorn Actually, communism would say you work as your contribution to society and you get a share of that society's output as the benefit of being a member of that society. Think of society as one giant corporation where everyone's an equal shareholder and instead of a salary you get a weekly dividend check and you get a reasonably close approximation.

tayme I'd say nothing. But I also figure when Paul does another pass to get rid of Wae's off-topic post, he can get rid of my off-topic clarification. (and your off-topic inquiry about it being off-topic :-) )