In my opinion, one of the things that Microsoft screwed up on with Vista is the release of different flavors of the operating system. They include:

• Vista Basic
• Vista Home Premium
• Vista Business
• Vista Ultimate

I think this is stupid and introduces unnecessary complexity. It seems to me a better move would be to have a single version of the operating system. Simplicity is powerful in the world of technology. Multiple versions is one of the reasons the world of Linux is intimidating to most computer users. I don’t see any reason why Microsoft had to do it with Windows.

But, they did. And what’s the difference?

Vista Basic

Vista Basic is just that - basic. The pretty screenshots you see of Vista probably show you what is called the Aero interface. Aero is the name given to the new eye candy contained in Vista. But, the Basic version does not include it. So, essentially, Vista Basic is a Windows upgrade which is going to look much more like the older Windows XP. Basic is usually what comes on newer PCs that are not all that powerful. The Aero interface requires some computer horsepower to run, so weaker machines using Vista will typically be running Vista Basic.

Vista Home Premium

Take Vista Basic and add Aero and a bunch of other crap and you have Vista Home Premium. Home Premium has the following additions over Basic:

• Aero interface
• Vista Sideshow - allows you to use secondary displays that can display data when Windows is not running
• Media Center
• Scheduled Backup (although you can do this with other utilities so you don’t need Microsoft’s version)
• DVD Maker
• More Games

Of all of this, the only thing that is cool is the Aero interface. Everything else is not that useful and/or could be done with third-party software.

Vista Business

Take Vista Home Premium, remove Media Center, and add remote desktop, scheduled backup, and fax capabilities, and you pretty much have Vista Business. In short, they have taken the multimedia stuff OUT of Vista, included stuff they thought would be useful to a business, and released it as a Vista flavor. You do not need Vista Business in order to have web serving capability. I am using Home Premium and could easily install IIS7 web server from the disc.

But, again, you can do everything that is “new” with Vista Business easily using third-party software.

Vista Ultimate

OK, essentially throw in everything and you have Ultimate. It’s Home Premium and Business all in one.

Which Vista For You?

If you are going to switch to Windows Vista, I recommend Home Premium. This will give you the Aero interface, which is the only perk worth having beyond Windows Vista Basic. All of the other add-ons can be handled by third-party software, often better than the way Microsoft does it. Make sure you have a powerful computer before trying to run Home Premium. I would recommend 2 GB of RAM to get decent performance using Vista with Aero enabled.

Vista Business is a waste of money. The business “features” of this version are easily done using other software.

Vista Ultimate is equally a waste. The only thing Ultimate about it is the price tag. The word “ultimate” is nice marketing, but it really isn’t that “ultimate”.

If your computer is old enough that you think Vista Basic is all you can run, then I recommend sticking with XP. You can do everything with XP you can do with Vista, but with more stability and faster. There is really no reason to upgrade to Vista unless you have a powerful computer and are willing to put up with some of the annoyances of early adoption.