Microsoft Considering Country Specific Editions Of Windows 7

November 24th, 2008

Source: http://windows7news.com/2008/11/24/microsoft-considering-country-specific-editions-of-windows-7/


Many Windows Vista users feel that Microsoft did release to many different editions of the operating system which made it harder for consumers to pick the right product. Even though not all editions were available to anyone it still meant that consumers had the choice among several Windows Vista editions from Windows Vista Basic to Windows Vista Ultimate.

Microsoft on the other hand does not seem to be bothered as much as the consumers are. German news mag Winfuture is reporting that Microsoft is considering to sell country specific editions of Windows 7 in order to make it easier for them to pick the right product. A customer from Germany or France would then buy Windows 7 editions that have been translated to his language. According to the magazine this is just one possible line of thought.

First reactions are quite negative though because it would increase the Windows 7 editions tremendously. The computer magazine is also reporting that Microsoft is having plans to rename some of the editions of Windows 7 to make it easier for consumers to distinguish between the editions. A strong rumor is the reintroduction of a professional edition of Windows 7.

Oh come on MS, really

I sure hope not.

Yes it does sound as if it may get even more confusing for less knowledgable among us.

















Later Ted

This is such a bad idea.

Come on Microsoft, keep things simple.

Seems their 'think tank' needs a think tank.

It might be a way of stopping people from being able to activate pirated copies off the net, if the versions are regional maybe they can not be activated outside of that region and maybe there might even be a different set of activation keys for each region.

Although this might be confusing to allot people who want to download pirated copies, it wont have as much of a impact on the normal consumer who will only see the relevant issues available to purchase.

The different versions of Vista have now been established and if they keep to the same sort of labeling that should reduce confusion even more, I know what I will be getting Ultimate x64.

IMO I think that having regional versions may be a good way to ensure that more people will actually be purchasing their software through legitimate outlets, so in Microsoft's eyes this would be a good thing, I am sure we are all very aware how bad piracy is on the net these days and they need to control it or at least reduce it somehow.

This is ridiculous.

That is quite a lot of one liner attacks! What are you guys finding so hard in the concept. Mr. Grim comes up favoutably and with a good theory, although mayb a little off thread.
In the country where I live, Denmark. the use of the native language is quite strongly felt, and is quite alien to most other Words languages. Ultimat, for example, bears nu resemblance in Danish. I see no harm, if that is where Microsoft wish to go, in their idea.
As the editions are already available in those various, and multitudinous, world languages, I presume they are only talking about the packaging and the titles thereon.

While it does seem ridiculous to begin with, I think it would be easier to have the OS ask which languages you want available at install time an then install those language packs only - of example, when I first installed Ultimate, and performed my very first Windows Update, there were something like 20+ language packs available to download as optional downloads. I foolishly attempted to DL one of them and install it - and 4 hours later killed the machine and formatted and reinstalled.

Either they are gonna have to put it on a couple of Blu-Ray discs to accommodate the different languages, or else they are going to have to figure out another way of easily manipulating translations....

You gotta remember, not only English speaking, reading and writing folks use computers. That, in and of itself, presents the problem.

I believe, John, you are only offered those language packs via update, on the Betas, but could be wrong. The computer business is, in general, dominated by the english language. But maybe you are unaware, for example, if I buy a copy of Windows in a shop here, it would only be the Danish edition. Ditto in Germany. etc.. Unless I choose to go to the Microsoft download site, I would never be offered another language. But even the alternative language editions are packaged, in most cases, with the English titles (Ultimate etc). The various badges which appear throughout, such as on the "System" window, also show the english names. I am sure it is only these small changes to which Microsoft refer. (If it is from a genuine MS source)
In the link given, there is no source. I could not find,by a quick browse, any original source either, as it loops around to the same unsourced comments. I can see that either the author is not native English, or has made a poor translation of something he has read. I would certainly like to be corrected on this assumption, but fail to understand the context of what the link referes to, bearing in mind what I have stated, as a fact, in this post. Maybe there are many countries where it is impossible to purchase the package in the native language??

Great!! ..... that will put an end to my state side OS purchases, like us Brits don't get exploited enough :sarc:

that's not pleasing news AT ALL.

SK

As someone living both sides of the channel, I must agree with you. Denmark is acknowledged as the most expensive country in the world but, for some unexplained reason, this does not apply to computer gear. Software and hardware are, generally, about 10 to 15 % cheaper here than in the UK.
But I don't think it will be an issue for you. I could't see them changing an American english pack for a Uk one.

I have only 3 words- keep it simple.

Here's 3 back...

















But it's Micro$oft!

OK first time here, just to be nosey and keep up with how things are going really

Been trying to get my head round this thread, at the moment I thought that any of the OS's could be bought in a particular countries language so I don't see what the difference is, although even getting English in the UK it is still quite American

Different versions, well yes we started to get into that, my thoughts Windows 98 then we had 98SE which to my mind was just like having a service pack added, WinME was just that, I believe it was supposed to be the forerunner to XP so had a few of that OS's features namely System Restore, NT was as far as I'm aware always the business edition. Along came XP in Home and Pro versions which was easy to understand, then Vista which had several versions and of course several price ranges with it

Now me, would love to have had Ultimate as that came with it's own imaging program which I think is something that all home users should have but sadly that was put at the top of the price range and beyond me.

Sorry for rambling on but just trying to follow things and to me I think they should keep it simple but give the home user the type of system that will give them the most usefulness and people are always going on about backup so I think that should be part of the OS for the average user, joining domains and really high end security should be kept for the business editions, although the introduction of UAC into Vista was a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

OK I've said enough and you probably think I've been talking a load of rubbish but I've just put my 2 pence worth in