Windows 8 SKUs Announced: MS Makes Things Even More Confusing

[Ichinisan]

Disappointing that Pro doesn't include Media Center. I like being able to open-up MCE on any of my systems and watch TV from my HDHR Prime network tuner.

It means a Win7 Pro --> Win8 Pro "upgrade" is really a downgrade

 

[WelshBloke]

Disappointing that Pro doesn't include Media Center. I like being able to open-up MCE on any of my systems and watch TV from my HDHR Prime network tuner.

It means a Win7 Pro --> Win8 Pro "upgrade" is really a downgrade

Depends on how much they charge for the WMC DLC.

 

[Zargon]

There is no sensationalism here. Microsoft is going back to the bad old days of Windows Vista style naming, and throwing in a few additional curveballs in the process. There are 5 SKUs of Windows; you may not be able to buy all of them but you sure as heck have to support all of them.

pro and enterprise are likely going to be indistinguishable.

the emerging market ones arent an issue unless you are in that market


the sky isnt falling, though WMC going DLC is horrid. WTF

 

[Chiropteran]

List of Windows 8 Versions I will buy:

 

[WelshBloke]

pro and enterprise are likely going to be indistinguishable.

the emerging market ones arent an issue unless you are in that market


the sky isnt falling, though WMC going DLC is horrid. WTF

I thought that first but it wouldnt be bad if they released a cheap base version and let you install the bits you want.

List of Windows 8 Versions I will buy:

Yeah I'm not mad keen myself either.

 

[Ichinisan]

Depends on how much they charge for the WMC DLC.

Win 7 Pro --> Win 8 Pro still loses WMC, so it's a downgrade to some.

 

[WelshBloke]

Win 7 Pro --> Win 8 Pro still loses WMC, so it's a downgrade to some.

If the price of Win 7 Pro = Win 8 Pro+WMC then theres no difference.

Unless your talking more generally about your opinion of Win 8?

 

[Anteaus]

WMC is meant for HTPC use. The group of people that require their HTPC join a domain are most likely statistically insignificant. WMP is still fully functional with Pro and can provide multimedia functionality as needed in a business environment.

I think some are making a bigger deal out of this than need be but thats my 0.02. There is always a few people who have nonstandard setups, but that surely isn't the rule.

 

[Zargon]

oh duh, I was thinking WMC > WMP.

dur.

 

[ViRGE]

WMP is still fully functional with Pro

Actually it may not be. There are two theories here;

1) Removing WMC is a cost-cutting move. MS will remove some of the multimedia features from Pro in order to keep their costs down by not having to pay royalties and license fees to add those features to an OS where they're unlikely to be used. In which case it's assumed that Win8 Pro will be unable to play some multimedia formats that Win8 Home can, perhaps stripping out MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 ASP support while leaving in H.264.

2) WMC is getting Blu-Ray support, which is very expensive to license, and MS has to continually update it. Hence the reason it's sold separately.

 

[Ichinisan]

If the price of Win 7 Pro = Win 8 Pro+WMC then theres no difference.

Unless your talking more generally about your opinion of Win 8?

I'm saying I updated from 95 --> 98 to gain features, not lose them. In this case, I would lose a feature I actually use.

WMC is meant for HTPC use. The group of people that require their HTPC join a domain are most likely statistically insignificant. WMP is still fully functional with Pro and can provide multimedia functionality as needed in a business environment.

I think some are making a bigger deal out of this than need be but thats my 0.02. There is always a few people who have nonstandard setups, but that surely isn't the rule.

My sticking point is NOT the ability to join a domain. It's Remote Desktop. I use VNC and RDC, but RDC works much better in most cases when I need to get some serious work done remotely.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

This says WMC will not be available on Win8 Home at all:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/tech-manager/ms-windows-8-when-simplify-means-multiply/7706

 

[Pia]

Inexplicable. Home users will by and large have the non-Pro version of Windows; why would Microsoft block them from being able to buy Media Center?

 

[Anteaus]

I think we should stop speculating about this. Everything I've seen so far is suspect in one way or another. Microsoft will be releasing something official soon enough. We are basing our opinions on sources that we presume to be correct, yet could well in fact be completely wrong.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

That chart is from MS.

Edit: Maybe it's not directly, can't find the original host.

 

[Anteaus]

Even the author of that article linked above suspects that the information is questionable. It's possible the chart was correct at the time it was made, but it could be work product and not for public consumption therefore unlikely to accurately reflect the final product. Either way, there is definitely not enough confirmed information to make an informed opinion on the matter.

 

[JackMDS]

AFAIK users that use the WMC on Windows amount only to 6% of the users.

The trend seems to be that people incline to use the X-Box as a media center.

In any case this is the post about Win 8 versions on the official Windows Blog.

Quote: "Windows 8 Pro is designed to help tech enthusiasts and business/technical professionals obtain a broader set of Windows 8 technologies. It includes all the features in Windows 8 plus features for encryption, visualization, PC management and domain connectivity. Windows Media Center will be available as an economical “media pack” add-on to Windows 8 Pro. If you are an enthusiast or you want to use your PC in a business environment, you will want Windows 8 Pro".

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/.../04/16/announcing-the-windows-8-editions.aspx

I would not be surprise if most of these 6% using WMC are people that are using Pro version of Windows to begin with.

In the table of features there is no mention of this issue, with might indicate that it is not yet a close case (my personal view).

 

[bruceb]

Windows 8 Pro should include Media Center ... If anything, leave it out of the Enterprise edition which would be targeted to corporate users.

 

[darkewaffle]

I think WMC getting blu-ray support is about the most interesting thing in this thread lol. Do we know if that will be retroactive to users who have WMC on Win7 boxes by default or if you'll have to pay for an upgrade? I'd love to have a player for blu-ray that doesn't suck (here's looking at you PowerDVD).

 

[Ichinisan]

I think WMC getting blu-ray support is about the most interesting thing in this thread lol. Do we know if that will be retroactive to users who have WMC on Win7 boxes by default or if you'll have to pay for an upgrade? I'd love to have a player for blu-ray that doesn't suck (here's looking at you PowerDVD).

Yeah...BD playback will be a welcome addition that I was originally told to expect with Win7. Still, I like to consolodate my BD collection on a network drive and I bet Cinavia protection will cause BIG problems.

 

[Subyman]

That chart is from MS.

Edit: Maybe it's not directly, can't find the original host.

That chart looks like it was on Wikipedia. It is no longer there, but the formatting exactly matches wiki, even the [1] reference.

 

[KLC]

I really like WMC in conjunction with my silicon dust HDHomerun tuner. Live TV and DVR on every PC on the network. It's one of the main reasons I just upgraded an XP Pro PC. And it looks like I'll be holding on to Win 7 as long as I held on to XP.

 

[WelshBloke]

AFAIK users that use the WMC on Windows amount only to 6% of the users.

The trend seems to be that people incline to use the X-Box as a media center.

In any case this is the post about Win 8 versions on the official Windows Blog.

Quote: "Windows 8 Pro is designed to help tech enthusiasts and business/technical professionals obtain a broader set of Windows 8 technologies. It includes all the features in Windows 8 plus features for encryption, visualization, PC management and domain connectivity. Windows Media Center will be available as an economical “media pack” add-on to Windows 8 Pro. If you are an enthusiast or you want to use your PC in a business environment, you will want Windows 8 Pro".

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/.../04/16/announcing-the-windows-8-editions.aspx

I would not be surprise if most of these 6% using WMC are people that are using Pro version of Windows to begin with.

In the table of features there is no mention of this issue, with might indicate that it is not yet a close case (my personal view).

Ive always used and liked WMC and Ive always used home editions.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Inexplicable. Home users will by and large have the non-Pro version of Windows; why would Microsoft block them from being able to buy Media Center?

Because MS are greedy SOBs, and they want all the users that already purchased the "home" edition of Window 8, to have to go out and not only purchase the "Pro" edition at retail to upgrade, but also then to have to go out and purchase WMC as an add-on from MS.

Talk about profit margin! Making users pay more than once for their basic Windows OS. Now from MS.

 

[Anteaus]

Unlike the chart earlier, the link most recently posted by JackMDS DOES NOT have WMC listed in the chart at all. In fact, the only mention of WMC is that Win8 Pro will have the option to buy it seperately if needed. I could be wrong, but I think it is a reasonable assumption that, as written, the article implies that WMC will be included with Win8 Vanilla.