Which Windows version?

Windows arrives in four versions, the free braindead starter version, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. Some versions have advantages. Which versions have something useful? Which versions are value for money? Which versions beat Linux and Mac?

Quick history

There once was Windows and NT. NT merged into Windows to form Windows 2000 Pro. Linux was better than Windows but not as good at NT. Macs had, or were about to get, yet another different operating system, making a comparison useless. Windows 2000 Pro kept Microsoft ahead of Linux and Mac.

Microsoft added a new feature to Windows 2000, USB, and sold the result as XP, making a huge profit in the process. Linux added USB for free and Mac added USB for a lower operating system upgrade price than Microsoft but the matching hardware upgrade was where Apple made their huge profit.

Microsoft flicked a software switch and compiled a 64 bit version of XP. We had to pay hundreds of dollars for another upgrade that cost Microsoft almost nothing. Linux users received the upgrade for free.

Microsoft Vista arrived with much publicity and no hardware capable of running the monster.

Windows 7 is here, works almost the same as XP, and has more versions to buy. People with experience of XP are happy with Windows 7 for everything except the brain dead starter version.

The versions

Windows 7 Starter

I do not know when you would use this version. You cannot do half the things you normally do on a computer. I tried to use Windows 7 Starter on several computers and was unable to complete anything. Not only was I unable do to useful things, I was not able to find anything to help me find what I wanted. On one computer, I wiped windows 7 Starter and installed the most basic Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu Linux made the computer many times more useful.

If you visit the Microsoft Web site and look at their Windows 7 version feature comparison, Windows 7 Starter has all the decorative features of Windows 7 and some of the entertainment features but nothing else. I note a comparison to what Mac users said about early versions of the Mac, it looks good but you cannot do anything without buying an upgrade.

Windows 7 Home Premium

This version costs, in Australia, between $100 and $259 depending on the package. $100 is the OEM version sold with hardware and $259 is the retail version. There is an upgrade in the middle. You can buy the OEM version when you buy a new motherboard or hard disk. Some packs have only the 32 bit disk or only the 64 bit disk while the retail version has both disks.

The Linux equivalent is free to download and people will post you a CD for $10 if your download speed is too low or unreliable. You can download Linux as 32 bit or 64 bit. You can download lots of different Linux distributions. The Ubuntu desktop version is closest to Windows 7 Home Premium.

Windows 7 Home Premium does not have XP compatibility and requires a new version of some useful XP programs. If you upgrade from XP to Windows 7 Home Premium, you might have to spend heaps of money on upgrading applications. For a few extra dollars you could upgrade to Windows 7 Professional and have XP compatibility. Windows 7 Home Premium appears to be a serious waste of money if you are upgrading from XP.

Windows 7 Home Premium does not have file system encryption. Never use Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Starter on a notebook or a netbook. Pay the few extra dollars for Windows 7 Professional or switch to Linux where encryption is standard and free. Mac probably has encryption because Mac OS is Unix with a pretty face. Unix has the same file systems and encryption as Linux.

Windows 7 Professional

This is the minimum version of Windows for almost all uses and is a close match to Linux for use on desktops, notebooks, and netbooks. You get encryption and 64 bit. You get the NTFS file system which is similar to the Ext4 file system recently added to Linux. You can run all the major applications on both Windows and Linux in similar ways at similar speeds on similar hardware. You can run your old XP applications on Windows 7 Professional without buying a new version.

In Australia, the Windows 7 Professional retail pack is $100 dearer than the Windows 7 Home Premium equivalent, less than the cost of one XP application upgrade and cheap compared to the cost of someone stealing your data from a lost notebook. The $369 cost looks expensive compared to $10 to buy a Linux CD or free to download if you have broadband. The $369 includes some support and is comparable to the total cost of the Mac OS where you buy the operating system and the support as separate packages.

The main reason to buy Windows 7 Professional is to run your old Windows XP applications. If you want corporate connections to Windows servers, you have to buy the more expensive Windows 7 Ultimate. For everything else, you can move to Linux.

What would the Linux move require? I suggest you change to compatible applications first. You would stay on XP for a little while longer and replace Internet Explorer with Firefox, Microsoft Outlook with Thunderbird, etc. Change one application per month. When everything is Linux compatible, upgrade to Ubuntu Linux instead of Windows 7.

Windows 7 Ultimate

Windows 7 Ultimate is Windows 7 Professional with some fancy corporate stuff added. The main differences are connections to Microsoft Exchange and similar enterprise level applications. There are open source equivalents to all the fancy corporate stuff but the time required to re-educate everyone makes the upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate easier.

Could you change to Linux instead of Windows 7 Ultimate? No, not if you are using the features that make Windows 7 Ultimate different to the Windows 7 Professional edition. You have to start at the corporate servers and change everything there first. You can then work outwards.

Could you switch to Mac? Mac does exactly the same as Linux and emulates some Microsoft enterprise software but may be less than 100% compatible. You still need to start at the server end and replace some of the server based applications with open standards based software.

32 or 64 bit

The best Windows prior to Windows 7 was XP and few people had 64 bit processors when XP arrived. Today all the processors in desktops are are 64 bit. Most notebooks are 64 bit. Some netbooks might be 64 bit but many have smaller processors that are only 32 bit. 32 bit will work on a 64 bit processor making 32 bit the safe choice if you do not know which version you should use. There is no different between 32 bit and 64 bit on a 64 bit processor with 4 GB or less of RAM, they both use the same amount of memory.

The reality is that a desktop, notebook, or netbook can rarely use more than a couple of GBs of memory because the other parts of the computer cannot feed enough data to run the types of applications that use more data. The only common use of large amounts of memory are professional video editing applications. I build desktop computers with at least 8 GB and they rarely reach 3 GB. Using more than 4 Gb of RAM is to make a new computer suitable for future applications.

The 32 bit version of Windows gives applications 3 GB, not 4 GB. When you hit the limit, paging occurs and everything slows down. Paging is a painfully slow experience. Do anything to avoid hitting that 3 GB limit.

You probably do not need 64 bit today but what happens if you create a 32 bit computer today then receive a new video camera for Christmas? You suddenly need 64 bit. We are right on the edge of using 64 bit and 64 bit is important on desktop computers to allow for expansion during the life of the computer.

RAID

RAID is common on the desktop for high end processing, video editing, scientific research, and data analysis. Microsoft stupidly do not let you have RAID in Windows unless you buy the server edition or buy some fake hardware with fake software RAID. RAID is free in Linux and totally without restriction. This is a major reason to switch to Linux.

Conclusion

Windows 7 Professional 64 bit is the minimum level for almost everything and is the closest equivalent to the very popular XP. The ultimate edition is needed only if your corporation uses certain Microsoft server based software. Linux is an easy replacement for Windows 7 Professional 64 bit but not the corporate stuff forcing some people to use Windows 7 Ultimate.