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Microsoft Posts, Yanks List of Windows Vista Edition Names

After appearing to release official names for the editions of Windows Vista over the weekend, Microsoft now says the Web page where the names appeared was posted prematurely and the names are not final.

Sharp-eyed observers at the Windows enthusiast site ActiveWin on Saturday posted an article about a Microsoft Help page on the company site that provided the official names of the editions of Windows Vista, Microsoft's next client operating system that is scheduled to be available at the end of the year.

The Microsoft page listed Windows Starter 2007, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate. In addition to those six editions, the page also listed two versions for the European Union, which requires an edition without Windows Media Player. Those were called Windows Vista Home Basic N and Windows Vista Business N on the page.

However, the page was removed from the Microsoft Web site sometime between then and now. (It's still cached on Google.)

“Microsoft recently posted a web page designed to test the Windows Vista help system that included incomplete information about the Windows Vista product line up. This page has since been removed as it was posted prematurely and was for testing purposes only. We will share more information about the Windows Vista line up in the coming weeks,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a prepared e-mail statement.

Microsoft has discussed Windows Vista Enterprise Edition previously as an exclusive version of the client OS for business customers who sign up for Microsoft's Software Assurance licensing program. Windows Vista Ultimate has also been publicly mentioned by Microsoft as a superset of the business and consumer features of Windows. Notably missing from the unofficial list is any reference to a Media Center Edition or Tablet PC Edition. The specialized feature sets of those products are now being pulled into the more general releases of Windows Vista.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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