Windows 8 Could Have Nine Different Editions

The full list (which definitely may change before the final release, if Microsoft decides so) goes as follows:

• Windows 8 Enterprise Edition
• Windows 8 Enterprise Eval edition
• Windows 8 Home Basic Edition
• Windows 8 Home Premium edition
• Windows 8 ARM edition
• Windows 8 Professional edition
• Windows 8 Professional Plus edition
• Windows 8 Starter edition
• Windows 8 Ultimate edition

For comparison, Windows 7 came in six different editions: Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate.

The difference is in Windows 8′s Enterprise Eval edition, which sounds like an evaluation sub-edition for enterprises (and thus not very important for consumers) and Professional Plus as well as the ARM edition. 

When the Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) was introduced, Apple threw little jabs at Microsoft’s multi-flavored approach, claiming that with Mac OS X you only need one version which works for everyone. Many tech journalists criticized the increasing number of editions, and now, the upcoming Windows 8 seemingly comes in even more flavors.