# Windows 7 Ultimate and Vista Ultimate



## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

I have made no secret that I was generally less than enthusiastic about the announced Windows 7 pricing structure.

One of my biggest concerns was Microsoft's failure to address the Vista Ultimate situation.

Vista Ultimate was a broken promise.

People who invested in Vista Ultimate got a great OS, no question, but what they didn't get was the Ultimate Extras that were promised.

Even the Vista Update system on an Ultimate machine had a separate "Utlimate Extras Update" section. Only thing was, all we got was an extra game and some video desktops. 

I suppose the game had some value, but the video desktops (Dreamscenes) were pretty much a failure. They placed an enormous hit on system resources.

So the truth is, the Vista Ultimate buyer got nothing for his money.

As a TechNet subscriber this didn't affect me directly but all the regular Vista Ultimate buyers were left with a broken promise.

Microsoft needs to address this failure. Why should anyone invest $219 in a Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade? Even if they actually come up with some extras in Windows 7 do they not owe the Vista Ultimate buyer some consideration? 

I would think that at least a 90 day window of half price upgrade Ultimate to Ultimate would be appropriate or, failing that, an Upgrade method that would allow Vista Ultimate users to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional without doing a clean install.

I'm just saying...

Larry


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I did pay the extra money for Vista Ultimate, and did pay for the extra bells and whistles. And, yes, I was disappointed. In my opinion, those who paid to get the Vista Ultimate should get the WIndows 7 upgrade for free. 

Having said that, the only difference between Windows 7 professional and WIndows 7 Ultimate that I can see is the bitlocker technology and the additional 35 languages. So, getting the Windows 7 Pro upgrade isn't really a downgrade for most users. My plan is to purchase a 1 TB hard drive in October, and install Windows 7 onto that hard drive. 

Maybe I should write Microsoft...


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## fluffybear (Jun 19, 2004)

Mark Holtz said:


> I did pay the extra money for Vista Ultimate, and did pay for the extra bells and whistles. And, yes, I was disappointed. In my opinion, those who paid to get the Vista Ultimate should get the WIndows 7 upgrade for free.
> 
> Having said that, the only difference between Windows 7 professional and WIndows 7 Ultimate that I can see is the bitlocker technology and the additional 35 languages. So, getting the Windows 7 Pro upgrade isn't really a downgrade for most users. My plan is to purchase a 1 TB hard drive in October, and install Windows 7 onto that hard drive.
> 
> Maybe I should write Microsoft...


I'll second that! Vista Ultimate was a major disappointment for me.

While I would prefer to see Microsoft upgrade all us Vista Ultimate owners to Windows 7 Ultimate for free, I'd be willing to pay a greatly reduced price (say $49) as well.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

Before testing the beta I had purchased Vista Ultimate 64 Bit for my new machine. Comparing it to Vista Home Premium which was on Mrs. Smiddy's machine, I was sorely disappointed that I spent more moeny for very little in return. The value was lacking for me. Now, since I went to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, I was again further disappointed and am serisouly considering moving to Home Premium instead since there is nothing in the RC that attracts me to it. $49.00 for Home Premium is a sweet deal...


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Mark Holtz said:


> My plan is to purchase a 1 TB hard drive in October, and install Windows 7 onto that hard drive.


Given the performance of most 1TB drives, I would recommend going with a much smaller and higher performance drive for the OS installation and then adding a large drive for your storage needs.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Hmmmm.... if I was purchasing the 1 TB hard drive today, I would consider getting the Western Digital Black drive offered by NewEgg for $99. I am avoiding the so-called "Green" drives for active OS, although I may consider one for archival storage.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Folks, Windows 7 Home Premium would probably be adequate for most home needs... with one caveat.. if you need to interface with you workplace or would work from home on the PC in question, stay with Windows 7 Professional.. you might run into some issues, especially as companies start making use of the Windows 2008 Server Systems.

There are some unique properties that only come into play with a Windows 7 PC and Windows 2008 Server, not the least of which is the ability to do VPN connections without all of the effort it now takes to accomplish that.

Larry


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

I too am surprised that MS is not cutting some slack for Vista Ultimate owners to get into Windows 7 Ultimate at a very good (big discount) price but has instead been silent on the issue. Very odd and a poor approach by MS. Candidly, given Vista Ultimate's failure and reputation, I'm surprised that MS even labeled a version of Windows 7 as Ultimate. I would have thought they would have distanced themselves from that name and the associated fiasco...especially since there are just some minor differences (at least right now in the RC) between Windows 7 Ultimate and Professional. They should have just tossed those Ulimate extras into the Professional version and sold that as the highest version for the excellent price of $99 they are doing now. Assuming the current pricing/sku lineup is the final word on this issue by MS, then I think, as pointed out by others, that Professional is the way to go if you need the extra features not contained in Home premium and Professional is indeed an excellent bargain at $99. I wouldn't be surprised if MS shifts directions on the cost for Vista Ultimate users to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

Mark Holtz said:


> Hmmmm.... if I was purchasing the 1 TB hard drive today, I would consider getting the Western Digital Black drive offered by
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What's the deal with that link going to *jdoqocy.com* before redirecting to NEWEGG? 

The direct link to Newegg is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Drew2k said:


> What's the deal with that link going to *jdoqocy.com* before redirecting to NEWEGG?
> 
> The direct link to Newegg is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284


 WHAT?!?!?  And what is this jdogocy.com? 

*THIS IS NOT ME!* I took the link DIRECTLY from NewEgg and pasted it into my reply. I do not have a affiliate account, and my purpose was to show the specs and price of the hard drive that I was considering for Windows 7. I did not embed any link to Commission Junction or whatever it is.

Sigh....

:backtotop


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

Guys.. I have it on pretty good authority that we may not have heard the last about Windows 7 Pricing.......

More to follow

Larry


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

LarryFlowers said:


> Guys.. I have it on pretty good authority that we may not have heard the last about Windows 7 Pricing.......
> 
> More to follow
> 
> Larry


I would tend to believe that....

Have 2 unopened, uninstalled copies of Vista Ultimate sitting right here...just ready to trade in...:lol:


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## johnck78 (Feb 19, 2007)

Drew2k said:


> I don't want to take this off-topic but I'll ask everyone's indulgence so I can attempt to ascertain if I have some issues here...
> 
> When I hover the link in Mark's post, my Firefox browser shows jdoqcy.com, and I see that fully spelled out when I quote the post. I also just checked in WIndows IE 8, and see the same.
> 
> ...


Same here FF 3.5


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## kocuba (Dec 29, 2006)

Drew2k said:


> I don't want to take this off-topic but I'll ask everyone's indulgence so I can attempt to ascertain if I have some issues here...
> 
> When I hover the link in Mark's post, my Firefox browser shows jdoqcy.com, and I see that fully spelled out when I quote the post. I also just checked in WIndows IE 8, and see the same.
> 
> ...


I do see the link to jdoqcy.com. But if i click it it does go to the item on newegg


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## FHSPSU67 (Jan 12, 2007)

Drew2k said:


> I don't want to take this off-topic but I'll ask everyone's indulgence so I can attempt to ascertain if I have some issues here...
> 
> When I hover the link in Mark's post, my Firefox browser shows jdoqcy.com, and I see that fully spelled out when I quote the post. I also just checked in WIndows IE 8, and see the same.
> 
> ...


I see the same thing, but don't think it's any problem.


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## swaff (Feb 15, 2009)

kocuba said:


> I do see the link to jdoqcy.com. But if i click it it does go to the item on newegg


Same thing here - XP - IE6


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

FHSPSU67 said:


> I see the same thing, but don't think it's any problem.


Thanks. I'm still leery of a link to a site that deals with commissions, but will remove my posts so Larry can have his thread back. * Can everyone else please do the same and delete the off-topic posts about the links? Thanks for checking for me.*


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

I really hope there is a new pricing structure announced, and many others are taking Microsoft to task for their Win7 plans.

From BetaNews:



> *Why would Windows 7 customers spend $120 more for BitLocker?*
> For pre-orders from now until July 11, Microsoft is offering the Windows 7 Professional SKU for a very steep discount. So why invest in Ultimate?


The article includes a reply from Microsoft to this question, but it doesn't make complete sense to me. Why not just offer the Pro package and let the "niche" users purchas the "extras" as add-ons?



"Microsoft" said:


> "For customers who 'want it all' and customers who want enhanced security features such as BitLocker that are in Windows 7 Enterprise Edition, we offer the Ultimate SKU," a company spokesperson responded to us today. "An important thing to keep in mind with Ultimate is that it is a very niche SKU," the spokesperson remarked to Betanews, "and Microsoft anticipates most consumers will run Home Premium -- which is why this is the SKU that is the most discounted compared with Windows Vista pricing...That said, when you have a customer base of more than one billion, two SKU options can't satisfy all of their varied needs."


The article also out that Microsoft's comparison points out the only differences between Pro and Ultimate are the language pack and Bitlocker, but there are a few other differences that for me still won't make Ultimate the package I'd chose:



BetaNews(reformatted) said:


> *AppLocker* is designed to provide administrators with a group policy tool for specifying explicit rules for which applications can be run in the OS environment and which cannot.
> *BranchCache* enables users of corporate intranets to retrieve files and other data from locally stored caches that are nearer to the client, in networks managed by Windows Server 2008 R2.
> *DirectAccess* is a phenomenal new feature that enables a Windows client to access a company network directly (again using WS2K8 R2), by way of a secure IPsec connection, without having to rely on anyone's VPN scheme, without any tunneling, and without having to sacrifice the client's own local network or homegroup connection.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Mark Holtz said:


> Having said that, the only difference between Windows 7 professional and WIndows 7 Ultimate that I can see is the bitlocker technology and the additional 35 languages. So, getting the Windows 7 Pro upgrade isn't really a downgrade for most users. My plan is to purchase a 1 TB hard drive in October, and install Windows 7 onto that hard drive.


Sigh... new plan....

Currently, I have 2 1-TB drives for backup purposes. (one is on-site, one is offsite). I'm hoping that a few more 1.5TB drives hit the market by Windows 7 release date. That way I can move my backups to the 1.5TB drives, and use the 1 TB drives for Windows 7.

Slight problem... according to NewEgg, there are only TWO 1.5 TB drives available. One is a Seagate which has potential firmware issues (but hopefully, it's fixed by now). The other is a Western Digital "Green" drive which, in my eyes, may be slower performance when it comes to making actual backups when using Ghost.

Opinions?


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## Zellio (Mar 8, 2009)

If applocker is ultimate only I am going ultimate.

You guys aren't aware of applocker? Applocker lets you tell apps what they can and cannot install. You can basically install a program with a virus and not let it insall the virus, or install a game with starforce and not let it install starforce.

This certainly isn't totally true, esp. if the virus is in the file itself. But if the files need to connect online to download crap you can stop it by not giving it permission.


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Mark Holtz said:


> Slight problem... according to NewEgg, there are only TWO 1.5 TB drives available. One is a Seagate which has potential firmware issues (but hopefully, it's fixed by now). The other is a Western Digital "Green" drive which, in my eyes, may be slower performance when it comes to making actual backups when using Ghost.
> 
> Opinions?


My understanding is that the firmware issue for Seagate's drives has been completely cleared up and there should be no more affected drives being sold as new. In fact, I purchased a Seagate 1.5 TB drive in March and it had the new firmware already on it. Works great.


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

Zellio said:


> This certainly isn't totally true, esp. if the virus is in the file itself. But if the files need to connect online to download crap you can stop it by not giving it permission.


Sounds a bit more like what UAC is suppose to do.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Mark Holtz said:


> Opinions?


I remain of the opinion that you should keep your O/S and data separate. 500GB and up drives are not your friends when it comes to speed and speed is what's going to make it all worthwhile.


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