Windows Vista Packaging Set
Windows will come with a lot of new names in the Vista generation.
Microsoft formally unveiled this week what had been rumored for
months and inadvertently mostly confirmed by an errant Microsoft
page posting last week. When Windows Vista ships at the end of this
year, the versions will be called:
- Windows Vista Home Basic
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Windows Vista Business
- Windows Vista Enterprise
- Windows Vista Ultimate
- Windows Vista Starter
Stuart Johnston has the full scoop here.
Pricing isn't public yet. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft
offers consumers a cheaper way to get bare-bones functionality with
Home Basic, or if Microsoft will just leverage the entry-level version
to ratchet up prices for the whole lineup. What do you think about
the new editions? Am I crazy to hope a cheaper version of Windows
could be made available outside "emerging markets" to
match the ever lower costs of home PCs? E-mail me at [email protected].
Partner-based Upgrade Promotion Kicks Off
for SBS 2003 R2
With Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 around the corner, Microsoft
is working to drum up excitement for the product with an upgrade
promotion. Starting today, customers who buy Windows Small Business
Server 2003 will get a free upgrade to R2 when it ships in the next
few months. There will be a fee to cover shipping, handling and
taxes for the R2 media. The promotion runs through July 31.
Click here
for more information about the promotion, which is available when
customers buy from OEMs or system builder partners.
The March issue of Redmond Channel Partner magazine, now
available on RCPmag.com, includes a preview of SBS 2003 R2. You
can read about it here.
Windows Servers Catch Up With Unix
While Windows clients have dominated the market forever, Windows
server-based systems faced tougher competition. The scalability
requirements and severe costs of downtime made Windows a tough sell
in the data center for years. Once Windows finally started making
real progress against Unix, Linux emerged and sapped some of the
momentum.
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Nonetheless, Microsoft continued the long, steady slog, and in
2005 -- for the first time ever -- factory revenues of Windows-based
server systems pulled
ahead of Unix-based systems. According to new figures from Microsoft
researchers at IDC, Windows edged Unix in full-year revenues: $17.7
billion to $17.5 billion. While Linux scored its 14th consecutive
quarter of double-digit sales growth, revenues of Linux-based systems
still lag far behind those of Windows and Unix.
Stuff We Like
As Microsoft partners, you're pretty sophisticated about the differences
in marketing styles between Apple and Microsoft. Which is why I
think you may enjoy this tongue-in-cheek video
about what would happen if Microsoft tried to rebrand the Apple
iPod. It's obviously pushed to an extreme, but I got a good chuckle
out of it.
Fair warnings: This link is outside of RCPmag's control,
so I can't vouch for the browsing safety (it's on a site called
YouTube.) Also, there's music, which really heightens the effect,
so don't fire this link up from your laptop during a board meeting.
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 01, 2006