Editions
On February 26, 2006, Microsoft announced that Windows Vista will ship in six editions.[45] All versions will be available in both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x86-64) architectures, except Windows Vista Starter which will only be available for 32-bit architectures. A partial table of the features planned for each edition is also available at Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows[46]. Digi Times has also reported that buyers of Windows XP Media Center Edition during the last quarter of 2006 will have a free upgrade to Windows Vista.[47]
Windows Vista Starter
Much like the Windows XP Starter Edition, this edition will be limited to emerging markets such as India, China, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, and Indonesia, mainly to offer a legal alternative to using unauthorized copies. It will not be available in the United States or Europe.[48] It will have many significant limitations, such as only allowing a user to launch three applications with a user interface at once, not accepting incoming network connections, a physical memory limit of 256 MB, and will run only in 32-bit mode.[49] Additionally, only Celeron and Pentium III processors from Intel, and AMD's Duron, Sempron and Geode processors are supported.
Windows Vista Home Basic
Similar to Windows XP Home Edition, Home Basic is intended for budget users not requiring advanced media support for home use. The Windows Aero theme with translucent effects will not be included with this edition. Home Basic will support up to 8 GB of physical memory.
Windows Vista Home Premium
Containing all features from Home Basic, this edition will additionally support more advanced features aimed for the home market segment, such as HDTV support and DVD authoring. Extra games, mobile and tablet computer support, file system encryption, and a photo management application are also included. This edition is comparable to Windows XP Media Center Edition and Tablet PC Edition. Home Premium will support up to 16 GB of physical memory.
Windows Vista Business
Comparable to Windows XP Professional, and aimed at the business market. Does not include the Media Center features of Home Premium, but does include the IIS web server, fax support, offline files, dual physical processor support, Remote Desktop, ad-hoc P2P collaboration capabilities, Previous Versions, and support for 128 GB of memory. Product activation is not present in this edition.[citation needed]
Windows Vista Enterprise
This edition is aimed at the enterprise segment of the market, and is a superset of the Business edition. Additional features include a single-session version of Virtual PC, multilingual user interface support, BitLocker Drive Encryption, and UNIX application support. This edition will not be available through retail or OEM channels, but through Microsoft Software Assurance.[50]
Windows Vista Ultimate
This edition combines all the features of the Home Premium and Enterprise editions, and additionally comes with podcast creation support, a game performance tweaker (WinSAT), DVD ripping capabilities, and special online services for downloadable media, as well as additional customer service options. The Ultimate edition is aimed to be the most impressive edition of Vista, aimed at high-end PC users, gamers, multimedia professionals, and PC enthusiasts.
"Home Basic N" and "Business N" editions of Windows Vista will additionally be available in the European Union. These editions will ship without Windows Media Player, as required by EU sanctions brought against Microsoft for violating anti-trust laws.[51]
The three retail editions (Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate) of Windows Vista will ship on the same DVD. It is the license key purchased that determines which version will be installed. The features of the Home Premium and Ultimate editions may be "unlocked" at any time by purchasing a one-time upgrade license through a Control Panel tool called Windows Anytime Upgrade. The Business edition will also be upgradable to Ultimate. Such licenses will be sold by Microsoft's partners and OEMs, but not directly by Microsoft.
On August 28, 2006, Amazon.com started taking pre-orders for retail editions of Windows Vista, with a projected release date of January 30, 2007. On September 5, 2006, Microsoft confirmed the pricing as follows (in US$).[52]