The following will be the actual new SKUs for the OS:

• Windows 7 Starter: up to 3 concurrent applications, ability to join a Home Group, improved taskbar and JumpLists;
• Windows 7 Home Basic: unlimited applications, live thumbnail previews & enhanced visual experience, advanced networking support (ad-hoc wireless networks and internet connection sharing), and Mobility Center;
• Windows 7 Home Premium: Aero Glass & advanced windows navigation, improved media format support, enhancements to Windows Media Center and media streaming, including Play To, and multi-touch and improved handwriting recognition;
• Windows 7 Professional: ability to join a managed network with Domain Join, data protection with advanced network backup and Encrypting File System, and print to the right printer at home or work with Location Aware Printing;
• Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate: bitLocker data protection on internal and external drives, DirectAccess for seamless connectivity to corporate networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2, BranchCache support when on networks based on Windows Server 2008 R2, and lock unauthorized software from running with AppLocker.

This information has been confirmed by Microsoft…

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Three concurrent applications? you gotta be kidding me…at the end, people only need:

• Windows 7 Home: standard user
• Windows 7 Enterprise: business user
• Windows 7 Ultimate: power / gamer / multimedia user

Don’t know but it seems that MS has not learned from Vista marketing nightmares and everything’s pointing that they will continue to overlook consumers needs by making the same mistakes once again. IMHO, not a good marketing strategy for a company trying to regain consumer acceptance and confidence on their flag desktop OS. The good news is that most people will only ever see two of them.

Tags: Windows7 Sku, Windows 7, Microsoft, Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional