AL RI Part I MA TE Surviving Setup Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version D Chapter 2: Installing or Upgrading to Windows Vista CO PY RI GH TE Chapter 3: Hardware and Software Compatibility
Chapter Selecting the Right Vista Version 1 In This Chapter Basic differences between the Vista versions Which Vista versions you can safely avoid Differences between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Vista Determining the best Vista version for you Choosing between the home and business editions Choosing between Home Basic and Home Premium Choosing between Vista Business and Vista Enterprise Features available in all Vista versions Choosing Vista Ultimate
34 Part I: Surviving Setup I f you haven’t purchased Vista yet—or you’d like to know whether or not it’s worth upgrading to a more capable version of Vista—this chapter is for you. A step-by-step procedure leads you through the ins and outs of selecting the right version of Vista for you. An Overview of All the Vista Versions Back in 2001, life was easy: Microsoft released Windows XP in just two product editions, Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition.
Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version 35 ♦ Windows XP Home Edition ♦ Windows XP Home Edition N (European Union only) ♦ Windows XP Media Center Edition ♦ Windows XP Tablet Edition ♦ Windows XP Professional Edition ♦ Windows XP Professional Edition N (European Union only) ♦ Windows XP Professional Edition K (South Korea only) ♦ Windows XP Professional x64 Edition ♦ Windows XP for Itanium-based Systems All Windows XP product versions, except Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, were available only in
36 Part I: Surviving Setup Microsoft originally planned an Itanium version of Windows Vista, which would run on high-end workstations. However, the company canceled this project during the beta process due to a lack of customer interest. Thus, the mainstream PC platform of the future is now secure: It will be 64 bits, and it will be x64, not Itanium. Notice anything else missing in that product lineup? That’s right: There’s no Embedded version of Windows Vista. Yet.
Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version 37 This is a much more manageable list, but how did I arrive at it? After all, there were 18 product editions in the original list. It’s time to take one more look, hopefully for the last time, at all those missing options. Windows Vista Starter You don’t need or want Windows Vista Starter. It’s that simple. Windows Vista Starter is limited to 32-bit processors, supports only the basic Vista user interface, and addresses a limited amount of RAM.
38 Part I: Surviving Setup 64-Bit Versions of Windows Vista The differences between 32-bit (x86) versions of Windows Vista and 64-bit (x64) versions are more complex. But here’s the weird bit: Though virtually every single PC sold today is x64-compatible, virtually every single copy of Windows Vista that goes out the door on those new PCs is a 32-bit x86 version.
39 Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED There are plenty of good reasons to consider Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED, as this version is part of the (PRODUCT) RED series of products, which helps the Global Fund combat AIDS in Africa. When you buy a (PRODUCT) RED product, you’re helping others in need.
40 Part I: Surviving Setup Table 1-2: Security Features Home Basic Home Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate User Account Control (UAC) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Security Center Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Defender Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Firewall Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Internet Explorer 7 Protected Mode Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Phishing Filter (IE7 and Windows Mail) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Update (can access Microsoft Update) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Parental C
41 Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version Table 1-4: (continued) Home Basic Home Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Automatic backup Yes, but not to a network location Yes Yes Yes Yes Shadow Copies — — Yes Yes Yes System image backup and recovery — — Yes Yes Yes Encrypting File System (EFS) — — Yes Yes Yes Windows BitLocker Full Drive Encryption — — — Yes Yes Windows SuperFetch Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Automatic hard disk defragmentation Yes Yes Yes Yes Y
42 Part I: Surviving Setup Table 1-7: Digital Media Features Home Basic Home Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Windows Photo Gallery Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Themed photo slide shows Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Media Player 11 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Media Center — Yes — — Yes Windows Media Center HDTV and CableCard support — Yes — — Yes Xbox 360 Media Center Extender compatibility — Yes — — Yes Windows Movie Maker Yes Yes — — Yes Windows Movie Maker HD for
43 Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version Table 1-8: (continued) Home Basic Home Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Join domain (Windows Server/SBS) — — Yes Yes Yes Offline files and folder support — — Yes Yes Yes IIS Web Server — — Yes Yes Yes Home Basic Home Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Windows Mobility Center Partial Partial Yes Yes Yes Sync Center Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Tablet PC functionality — Yes Yes Yes Yes Touch-screen support — Yes
44 Part I: Surviving Setup One big feature you don’t get with Windows Vista Home Basic is the beautiful Windows Aero user interface, described in detail later in the book. If you want the absolute best graphical experience, don’t pick Home Basic. That said, you might be surprised that the default Windows Vista Home Basic UI, called Windows Vista Standard, is pretty decent. You can find out more about this and other Vista UIs in Chapter 4.
45 Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version media functionality but not some of the more technically advanced reliability features, such as system image backup and recovery, EFS support, and domain support. ♦ The business-oriented versions of Windows Vista, including Windows Vista Business and Enterprise, include all of the business, reliability, and security features but are light in the digital-media arena (e.g., there’s no Media Center, DVD Maker, Movie Maker, or so forth).
46 Part I: Surviving Setup Table 1-11: (continued) Home Basic Home Premium Support for Media Center Extenders, including Xbox 360 — Yes Windows DVD Maker — Yes Windows Aero user interface — Yes Windows Tablet PC with touch-screen support — Yes Windows SideShow — Yes Windows Movie Maker HD — Yes Backup of user files to a network device — Yes Scheduled backup of user files — Yes Network Projection — Yes Presentation settings — Yes New premium games — Yes Windows Meeting
Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version Table 1-12: (continued) Business Enterprise Encrypting File System Yes Yes Desktop deployment tools for managed networks Yes Yes Policy-based quality of service for networking Yes Yes Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) client Yes Yes Control over installation of device drivers Yes Yes Network Access Protection Client Agent Yes Yes Pluggable logon authentication architecture Yes Yes Integrated smart card management Yes Yes Wirele
48 Part I: Surviving Setup Windows Vista Enterprise was originally going to include a unique feature called Virtual PC Express. However, before Windows Vista was finalized, Microsoft decided to make its entire Virtual PC product line, which lets you run operating systems and applications in virtualized environments under a host OS, available free. Therefore, now you can download Virtual PC without cost, regardless of which version of Windows Vista you have.
Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version 49 quite a bit more, around $100 to $130. The upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate is about $125 to $150. (These additional costs are all based on a core system running Windows Vista Home Basic and can, of course, change over time.) For example, Figure 1-1 shows Dell’s “configurator” for a typical home PC. Figure 1-1: When you’re buying a new PC, be sure to get the Vista version you really want.
50 Part I: Surviving Setup Figure 1-2: The retail packaging for Windows Vista includes a cool pull-out case. Figure 1-3: Note the prominent sticker on the Upgrade packaging.
Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version 51 Make sure you’’re getting the latest version of Windows Vista when you purchase at retail. At the time of this writing that means a version that includes Service Pack 1, but I expect Microsoft to update its Vista retail packaging at least a few more times over the years. That’s the rub.
52 Part I: Surviving Setup Those Who Do Qualify for an Upgrade Version of Windows Vista and an In-Place Upgrade (Sometimes) If you’re running any version of Windows XP except for x64 and you want to upgrade in place to Windows Vista, you can do so in some cases. The trick is understanding how different versions of Windows XP map to different versions of Windows Vista. For example, Microsoft will not let you upgrade from Windows XP Professional to Windows Vista Home Basic.
Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version Table 1-14: 53 (continued) Windows Vista Business Windows Vista Business Full $299.00 Windows Vista Business Upgrade $199.00 Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Ultimate Full $349.00 Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade $219.00 Adding to the complexity here is that all retail versions of Windows Vista, except for Windows Vista Ultimate, are available only in 32-bit versions.
54 Part I: Surviving Setup Figure 1-4: Windows Vista OEM packaging is pretty bare-bones. OEM versions of Windows Vista differ from retail versions in some important ways: They are dramatically cheaper than retail versions. As shown in Table 1-15, the OEM versions of Windows Vista are much cheaper than comparable retail versions. Note, however, that OEM pricing fluctuates somewhat, so the prices you see online could be a bit different. They do not come with any support from Microsoft.
Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version 55 Table 1-15: U.S. List Prices for Different Vista OEM Product Editions Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Basic Full $90.99 Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Home Premium Full $99.99 Windows Vista Business Windows Vista Business Full $139.99 Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Ultimate Full $169.99 Depending on which version you’re looking at, the savings are usually substantial.
56 Part I: Surviving Setup Figure 1-5: Windows Anytime Upgrade enables you to upgrade from certain Vista versions to other, more powerful versions. Note that you cannot upgrade Vista Home Basic or Premium to Windows Vista Business or Enterprise. Likewise, there’s no upgrade path from Vista Enterprise to Vista Ultimate. Purchasing a more capable version of Vista (Upgrade version) at retail and installing it over a lesser version is the only way to migrate in these cases.
Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version 57 Summary Windows Vista clearly offers a lot of options when it comes to picking a product version, but with a little know-how you will be able to make the right choice, one that matches both your needs and your budget. This chapter has provided what you need to know to match a Windows Vista version to your needs. Now you just need to figure out how much the upgrade is going to cost.
