Windows 7 Editions

Although Windows 7 is available in six editions, only Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise are viable for deployment by most organizations.

The various editions of Windows 7 are packaged in a “Russian nesting doll” fashion, with each higher edition’s features being a superset of the lower edition. Windows 7 Starter, which has the fewest features, is a special edition preinstalled on hardware by OEMs for sale in emerging markets. Windows 7 Home Basic is the minimal edition for PCs in developed markets. Windows 7 Home Premium contains all of the features of Windows 7 Home Basic and adds additional features, such as DVD playback and recording and multitouch support. Both Home Basic and Home Premium are not suitable for business use because they lack basic management features, such as the ability to join an Active Directory domain.

Windows 7 Professional is the entry-level edition of Windows 7 for businesses and organizations and supports joining a PC to an Active Directory domain, the use of XP Mode to support older applications that are not compatible with Windows 7, and Remote Desktop.