Home Basic vs Home Premium vs Professional?

[Seth]

My understanding is that the application-by-application basis is a
matter of configuring the VM to be invisible except for the application
you are running.

Yes, the VM runs invisible and applications are presented to the host
desktop via an RDP connection to the guest.

As anecdotal evidence(?), when I tried to run an application that way,
the program took nearly as long to start as if I had booted the VM first
and then started the program

Depends on how the VM is configured. Default behavior, when no applications
are running, is to hibernate. So launching an application will include the
time it takes to boot the VM up from hibernation. If you have the system
resources you can configure it to stay running so apps will launch quicker
but it will slow down shutting the host down as it will first have to send a
shutdown\hibernate command to the VM and wait for that to complete before
the host finishes its shutdown process.

 

[Char Jackson]

Basic is primarily intended for emerging market countries and
correspondingly has less geographical availability which also means
geographical restrictions on activation.

Home Basic is only capable of joining a network. Home Premium is able to
create and join a network.

I believe you mean to replace 'network' with 'Homegroup', right? As
in, "Home Basic is only capable of joining a Homegroup. Home Premium
is able to create and join a Homegroup."

Since most people don't use the Homegroup feature, (in my experience),
this isn't a serious limitation.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Depends on how the VM is configured. Default behavior, when no applications
are running, is to hibernate. So launching an application will include the
time it takes to boot the VM up from hibernation. If you have the system
resources you can configure it to stay running so apps will launch quicker
but it will slow down shutting the host down as it will first have to send a
shutdown\hibernate command to the VM and wait for that to complete before
the host finishes its shutdown process.

The VM was not running - or hibernating - until I explicitly started it
(or an XP-Mode application), since I always closed the VM when I was
finished.

 

[...winston]

I use Win7 Pro not Premium since it provides XP Mode and Presentation Mode.
- you can Google or Bingle for explanations for both of those Pro (or
higher) options.
--
....winston
msft mvp mail


"(PeteCresswell)" wrote in message

Per ...winston:

Imo. Home Premium based on the info you've provided would probably be
sufficient (if those are your only needs) and possibly a better choice.
Personally I prefer the Pro version.

Ok, you've talked me out of Basic.

What does Premium do for you that I might want done for me?

 

[...winston]

Correct.

I've seen both. Users with Homegroups and those without. If only one pc,
then Homegroup isn't really a variable.



--
....winston
msft mvp mail


"Char Jackson" wrote in message

On Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:54:09 -0400, "...winston"
I believe you mean to replace 'network' with 'Homegroup', right? As
in, "Home Basic is only capable of joining a Homegroup. Home Premium
is able to create and join a Homegroup."

Since most people don't use the Homegroup feature, (in my experience),
this isn't a serious limitation.

 

[Mortimer]

Correct.

I've seen both. Users with Homegroups and those without. If only one pc,
then Homegroup isn't really a variable.



--
...winston
msft mvp mail


"Char Jackson" wrote in message

On Wed, 25 Jul 2012 12:54:09 -0400, "...winston"
I believe you mean to replace 'network' with 'Homegroup', right? As
in, "Home Basic is only capable of joining a Homegroup. Home Premium
is able to create and join a Homegroup."

Since most people don't use the Homegroup feature, (in my experience),
this isn't a serious limitation.

I've found Homegroups to be a major retrograde step and I've set up my
networked PCs to use "old fashioned" XP/Vista style networking, with
servernames and sharenames (\\servername\sharename\folder1\folder2 etc).

One thing to be aware of is that, certainly for Vista, Professional didn't
include Windows Media Centre which Home Premium did. I *think* the same
distinction is true of Win 7 as well, but I've not tried Win 7 Pro so I
can't be certain.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per ...winston:

I've seen both. Users with Homegroups and those without. If only one pc,
then Homegroup isn't really a variable.

Has MS moved the furniture around again, and "HomeGroup" is
really what "WorkGroup" is under XP?

 

[Char Jackson]

I've found Homegroups to be a major retrograde step and I've set up my
networked PCs to use "old fashioned" XP/Vista style networking, with
servernames and sharenames (\\servername\sharename\folder1\folder2 etc).

I tried the Homegroups feature with a couple of Win 7 machines and it
worked perfectly. Very easy to set up and use. Absolutely no problems
at all. Of course, the trouble comes if you want to add an XP machine,
so you're right back at 'old school' networking. You can do both, of
course, but I figured why bother.

 

[Char Jackson]

Per ...winston:

Has MS moved the furniture around again, and "HomeGroup" is
really what "WorkGroup" is under XP?

No, Homegroup is a new networking feature that exists in addition to
Workgroup, not instead of it. You can ignore it if you like.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Char Jackson:

No, Homegroup is a new networking feature that exists in addition to
Workgroup, not instead of it. You can ignore it if you like.

It's sounding more-and-more like Basic is the one.

Having said that, my gut says there's about a 97% chance I'll be
sorry if I go with Basic.... There's probably something behind
Winston's general assertion that's going to bite me.

But so far, I have not seen any specifics - in fact, the closest
thing to a specific is the thought that it is designed for
less-powerful machines and, by implication, may be less
resource-intensive.

I guess now I'm trolling for somebody who has both (or even all
3: Basic, Premium, and Pro...)

 

[Sam Hill]

Per Char Jackson:

It's sounding more-and-more like Basic is the one.

I read somewhere that with Basic, you can only run a couple of apps at a
time. If'n I was you, I'd look into that. I think you should get at least
Home Premium. After all, it's only a few bucks more than Home Basic. Skip
your latte for a day.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Sam Hill:

I think you should get at least
Home Premium. After all, it's only a few bucks more than Home Basic. Skip
your latte for a day.

Point taken.

But then I'm on to obsessing about the OEM versions - which are a
good hundred bucks less.....

 

[Joe Morris]

Per ...winston:

Ok, you've talked me out of Basic.

What does Premium do for you that I might want done for me?

Wikipedia has a concise summary of the differences between the various
editions of Windows 7:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

Joe

 

[Wolf K]

Per Char Jackson:

It's sounding more-and-more like Basic is the one.

Having said that, my gut says there's about a 97% chance I'll be
sorry if I go with Basic.... There's probably something behind
Winston's general assertion that's going to bite me.

But so far, I have not seen any specifics - in fact, the closest
thing to a specific is the thought that it is designed for
less-powerful machines and, by implication, may be less
resource-intensive.

I guess now I'm trolling for somebody who has both (or even all
3: Basic, Premium, and Pro...)

Here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_versions#Comparison_chart

 

[Char Jackson]

Per Sam Hill:

Point taken.

But then I'm on to obsessing about the OEM versions - which are a
good hundred bucks less.....

But only $10 less than Upgrade versions, according to Newegg.

(I don't buy the argument some make about an Upgrade version requiring
a previous valid license. IMO, an Upgrade version qualifies by itself,
its name notwithstanding.)

 

[Dave-UK]

Per Char Jackson:

I guess now I'm trolling for somebody who has both (or even all
3: Basic, Premium, and Pro...)

If you get hold of a Windows dvd you can delete the efi.cfg file and re-burn
the iso image, then when you go to install Windows 7 you'll be offered the
choice of Starter, Premium, Professional or Ultimate.

http://www.neowin.net/news/make-a-universal-windows-7-disc-with-ease

As you can install any version without a key you can try each one for
thirty days and see what works for you.
You only need a key to activate any version you install after 30 days.
During the thirty day grace period Windows will behave as if it is activated
and will download all updates etc.
(Also there are hacks around to increase the 30 day limit to 120 days.)

 

[Tim Slattery]

I read somewhere that with Basic, you can only run a couple of apps at a
time. If'n I was you, I'd look into that. I think you should get at least
Home Premium. After all, it's only a few bucks more than Home Basic. Skip
your latte for a day.

The three simultaneous apps restriction was in Win7 Starter. According
to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions), MS has
given up on that (ridiculous) restriction.

Win7 basic 64-bits will allow a max of 8GB, 64-bit Home Basic will
take 16GB. There's also a difference in simultaneous file and printer
sharing connections allowed. Scroll down to the bottom of the
Wikipedia article for a comparison table.

 

[Sam Hill]

The three simultaneous apps restriction was in Win7 Starter.

Ah, okay. So many versions, so little time...

So many $$$...

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Joe Morris:

Wikipedia has a concise summary of the differences between the various
editions of Windows 7:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions

That was informative. Thanks.

Noting that premium includes "Windows Aero" and Basic does not I
had to wonder what Aero was.... so I went to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Aero and found:

"Windows Aero is a set of interface and design guidelines used in
most editions of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating
systems released by Microsoft. ...

The Aero look was designed to take advantage of the new
capabilities of the Windows operating system, featuring a new
modern look primarily using glass and aluminum appearances with
greater uses of translucency, animations, and eye candy."

"The Aero interface was unveiled for Windows Vista as a complete
redesign of the Windows interface."

'Complete Redesign' ????

Per below, I guess Basic is out of the question... but whatever I
wind up with I think I'm looking for or maybe a way to suppress
all the Aero BS. I think there's some sort of add-on that does
this.

Basic sounds out of the question bco the stuff about restrictions
vis-a-vis country that it is used in. "Emerging Countries" in a
nutshell...

This from
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/82542-all-windows-7-versionswhat-you-need-to-know
way back in Feb of 2009:

"Consumers will only be able to buy either Windows 7 Home Premium
or Windows 7 Professional at retail—and deliberately so;
Microsoft wants to try and limit consumer confusion by only
putting the two versions in front of consumers."

"Limit consumer confusion..." Riiiiiight...



But wait... There's more.... and this isn't even a Ginsu cutlery
ad...

Per
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions#cite_note-How_to_Tell-9

- It looks like Premium does not support multiple CPUs....
My boxes have 2 CPUs... but I don't know enough to tell for
sure if that's a deal-breaker. Sounds like one on the
surface though...

- Professional supports Dynamic Discs. If the implementation is
like the old WHS (dissimilar discs allowed, individual discs
readable on other machines) that sounds pretty good to me
for, say, media center use. Gotta look into that one...

 

[Wolf K]

On 26/07/2012 9:48 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
[...]

Per below, I guess Basic is out of the question... but whatever I
wind up with I think I'm looking for or maybe a way to suppress
all the Aero BS. I think there's some sort of add-on that does
this.

[...]
Click on Desktop >> Personalize. Choose a Basic theme for the XP-style
desktop, and adjust colours, fonts, etc to suit yourself. Save with some
name for future use.

For a more traditional Start menu, Explorer look, and Control Panel, use
Classic Shell (free).

HTH