Floppyhead – Digital Media and Streaming

Lots of websites have been talking about Extremetech’s breakdown of the 25 versions of Microsoft’s Vista. So which version is right for the HTPC community? It appears that Home Premium will be the version of choice for most home media centers. For $239, Windows Vista Home Premium offers most needed tools for HTPCs, primarily Windows Media Center. I was afraid that I would need to Get Vista Ultimate, which costs a whopping $399, which is crazy talk if you ask me. You will also be able to connect Windows Vista Home Premium to your Microsoft Xbox 360 to extend your Media Center experience to multiple rooms in your home.

From Microsoft’s website:

Windows Vista Home Premium will improve every aspect of your digital entertainment experiences including viewing and sharing photos, video, TV, movies, music, games, and more. For example, Windows Vista Home Premium enables you to create your own DVDs and edit your own high-definition movies. Most significantly, Windows Vista Home Premium includes all of the Windows Media Center capabilities for turning your PC into an all-in-one home entertainment center.

To me, the only drawback of using the Home Premium edition is the limited functionality of Remote Desktop, though it can be replaced with Open Source software like UltraVNC. I also do not think that most media centers will need IIS either. In total, you are not giving up much by avoiding Windows Ultimate. If you look at Windows Vista Home Premium as two separate pieces of software, an OS and a media center, and compare it to buying Windows XP and BeyondTV, it suddenly does not look so expensive, especially if you consider that Vista will have native DVD authoring built in.

As a side note, what is Microsoft thinking with all these different versions of Vista? The average, non-geek person will be totally confused by all of these versions. Most people I know are confused by Windows XP Home and Professional editions. Shouldn’t every version of Vista have as many features as possible? Shouldn’t every version of Vista be Vista Ultimate?