July 10, 2009
Microsoft has set a date of October 22, 2009 for the official release of Windows 7. Microsoft recently announced discounts on pre-ordered Windows 7 upgrade licenses, however the Microsoft Campus agreement allows all Case faculty, staff and students the option to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate free of charge on Case owned/leased equipment (faculty and staff) and personally owned equipment (students). Windows 7 upgrade licenses will be available in November of 2009 off the Case Software Center. Though there are six versions of Windows 7 targeted for release, the Case Software Center will be offering the Professional and Ultimate versions to the campus. Those considering taking advantage of any discount offerings for personally owned devices may want to consider upgrading to these versions. Here is a brief glimpse at the Windows 7 versions.
Microsoft is marketing Windows 7 in four retail editions (Starter, Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate), one corporate edition (Enterprise) and an OEM edition for computer manufacturers.
Windows 7 Starter Edition is a lightweight version aimed mainly at small notebook PCs.
Windows 7 Home Premium is comparable to Vista Home Premium in that it contains many multimedia and entertainment features but the networking features are geared to home networks, the Home Premium edition lacks business networking features such as Domain Join.
Windows 7 Professional has all of the multimedia features of Home Premium in addition to business features such as Windows XP mode, Domain Join and Automatic Backup.
Windows 7 Ultimate has all of the features of Professional and adds BitLocker and support for 35 languages.
Windows 7 Enterprise is a software assurance only product and is designed with extra features to work well in an environment with centrally managed group policies. Added features include:
• BranchCache: Decrease time branch office users spend waiting to download files across the network.
• DirectAccess: Give mobile users seamless access to corporate networks without a need to VPN.
• Enterprise Search Scopes: Find information on network locations including SharePoint sites with a simple user interface.
• BitLocker To Go: Help protect data on PCs and removable drives, with manageability to enforce encryption and backup of recovery keys.
• Applocker: Specify what software is allowed to run on user's PCs through centrally managed, but flexible, Group Policies.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Optimizations: Improved user experience for VDI with multimon and microphone support. Plus the ability to reuse virtual machine (VHD) images to boot a physical PC.
• Multi Lingual User Interface: Create a single operating system (OS) image for deployment to users worldwide.
Other Windows 7 Enterprise benefits include subsystem for UNIX-based applications (SUA), license rights to run up to four additional copies of Windows in virtual machines, and license rights for network booting of Windows.
Windows 7 OEM is the version shipped to computer manufacturers to preload on machines, this version is not available to individuals unless they buy a computer with the OS preinstalled.
Visit the Software Center at http://softwarecenter.case.edu
Posted by pab at 03:27 PM
