The "Ultimate" Extra

Dear Microsoft, please let me trade in my Windows Vista Ultimate key for a Windows 7 Ultimate key when the time comes.  I'd really appreciate it.


 What do you guys think?  Great idea, right?

I t hink it isn't going to happen. This Ultimate thing is stupid. One Home, One Business. What is wrong with that.

intelman said:

I t hink it isn't going to happen. This Ultimate thing is stupid. One Home, One Business. What is wrong with that.

Ultimate  is the intersection of both home and business... it's no compromises.  But that's beside the point.

It would be good publicity.  "Here's our greatest Vista Ultimate Extra yet: Windows 7!"

If not for free, than Microsoft could offer a big discount for Windows 7 Ultimate keys for Vista Ultimate users.

Heh, depending on how the numbers work out it could also encourage a last-minute surge of Vista sales.

alwaysmc2 said:

intelman said:

*snip*

Ultimate  is the intersection of both home and business... it's no compromises.  But that's beside the point.

It would be good publicity.  "Here's our greatest Vista Ultimate Extra yet: Windows 7!"

If not for free, than Microsoft could offer a big discount for Windows 7 Ultimate keys for Vista Ultimate users.

Heh, depending on how the numbers work out it could also encourage a last-minute surge of Vista sales.

Emmm... regrading last minute surge of sales, I think if you buy OEM version of Vista after the release of Windows 7 RTM date is finalized, they'll offer free upgrade to Windows 7.

They did that when Vista is released, no reason why they won't for Windows 7.

alwaysmc2 said:

intelman said:

*snip*

Ultimate  is the intersection of both home and business... it's no compromises.  But that's beside the point.

It would be good publicity.  "Here's our greatest Vista Ultimate Extra yet: Windows 7!"

If not for free, than Microsoft could offer a big discount for Windows 7 Ultimate keys for Vista Ultimate users.

Heh, depending on how the numbers work out it could also encourage a last-minute surge of Vista sales.

Shouldn't the whole package be "Windows 7 Professional"?

Not going to happen.

joechung said:

Not going to happen.

Good luck with that, I doubt that will happen.

intelman said:

I t hink it isn't going to happen. This Ultimate thing is stupid. One Home, One Business. What is wrong with that.

What if you wanted features from Home and Business?

I bought ultimate just incase i needed something as it was only slightly more expensive than business (which I did need). The Ultimate Extras thing was pretty pointless in the end, hopefully they have a slimmed down and more sensible set of versions for Windows 7.

Never, ever going to happen.

I wonder what they'll do with Ultimate Extra's in Windows 7. Removing them is basically an admission that the whole thing was basically a big lie, but leaving them in is going to bring a whole new world of pain.

Bas said:

Never, ever going to happen.

I wonder what they'll do with Ultimate Extra's in Windows 7. Removing them is basically an admission that the whole thing was basically a big lie, but leaving them in is going to bring a whole new world of pain.

I don't see how taking them out would be an admission of "it being a lie."  A mistake or bad idea, maybe, but not a lie.

*sigh* I know that this probably will not happen, but a boy can dream, right?  I would also like to see Microsoft do away with all of these skews,  but that argument is nothing new.  I understand why all of the different editions exist, but at the very least Microsoft should market the versions that aren't Ultimate as incomplete or inferior, but still a valid choice if you want to save some money.

alwaysmc2 said:

Bas said:

*snip*

I don't see how taking them out would be an admission of "it being a lie."  A mistake or bad idea, maybe, but not a lie.

*sigh* I know that this probably will not happen, but a boy can dream, right?  I would also like to see Microsoft do away with all of these skews,  but that argument is nothing new.  I understand why all of the different editions exist, but at the very least Microsoft should market the versions that aren't Ultimate as incomplete or inferior, but still a valid choice if you want to save some money.

I don't know. They said they'd do something, then didn't. That doesn't sound very truthy to me.

I don't understand this whole uproar about Ultimate extras personally.

I mean they were never publicised as the main feature of Ultimate has always been Home (MCE) + Pro.

rhm said:

intelman said:

*snip*

What if you wanted features from Home and Business?

I bought ultimate just incase i needed something as it was only slightly more expensive than business (which I did need). The Ultimate Extras thing was pretty pointless in the end, hopefully they have a slimmed down and more sensible set of versions for Windows 7.

Then put all the features in a "Professional Edition"; if businesses don't want WMC or other 'home' features they can always disable them with Group Policy. The "Ultimate" edition was intended to milk people with too much money, simple (and I was put off by the names anyway).

W3bbo said:

rhm said:

*snip*

Then put all the features in a "Professional Edition"; if businesses don't want WMC or other 'home' features they can always disable them with Group Policy. The "Ultimate" edition was intended to milk people with too much money, simple (and I was put off by the names anyway).

Haha, by "[putting] all the features in a 'Professional Edition'" Microsoft would just be creating an Ultimate under a different name.  Seems to me that you just don't want it to be called "Ultimate."

W3bbo said:

rhm said:

*snip*

Then put all the features in a "Professional Edition"; if businesses don't want WMC or other 'home' features they can always disable them with Group Policy. The "Ultimate" edition was intended to milk people with too much money, simple (and I was put off by the names anyway).

Why should I pay 5000 times over for the the DVD playback codecs and the development time of Windows Media Center in my organisation, when I will never use them? Why should I have to patch systems because Purble Place gets installed by default when my business has absolutely no need for them? Why should I have to mess around with individual product keys when the VA 2.0 KMS arrangement is much more appropriate?

Why does my home machine need to be able to join a domain? Why is my hard disk taken up by the Group Policy client-side extensions and admx templates? Why should I have to pay for all this stuff I don't want or need?

W3bbo said:

rhm said:

*snip*

Then put all the features in a "Professional Edition"; if businesses don't want WMC or other 'home' features they can always disable them with Group Policy. The "Ultimate" edition was intended to milk people with too much money, simple (and I was put off by the names anyway).

But then they still have to pay for anything they don't want.

AndyC said:

W3bbo said:

*snip*

Why should I pay 5000 times over for the the DVD playback codecs and the development time of Windows Media Center in my organisation, when I will never use them? Why should I have to patch systems because Purble Place gets installed by default when my business has absolutely no need for them? Why should I have to mess around with individual product keys when the VA 2.0 KMS arrangement is much more appropriate?

Why does my home machine need to be able to join a domain? Why is my hard disk taken up by the Group Policy client-side extensions and admx templates? Why should I have to pay for all this stuff I don't want or need?

The point stands that business users are home users too.  I never understood the argument of "If I don't want to use the feature, I don't even want it to be available to me."

alwaysmc2 said:

AndyC said:

*snip*

The point stands that business users are home users too.  I never understood the argument of "If I don't want to use the feature, I don't even want it to be available to me."

I'm not spending money on laptops for my workers just so they can set them up as Media Center's at home. Being able to integrate to some degree with their home network (thus allowing them to work at home) is fine (hence HomeGroup) though I'd very much like to be able to manage those systems when offsite (hence DirectAccess). If they want PC's for watching movies and playing the kids games they can jolly well buy their own.

"If I don't want to use the feature, I don't even want it to be available to my employees."