Pre-Activated
Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly three years earlier. It remained an operating system for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs and media center PCs, and itself was replaced in November 2012 by Windows 8, the name spanning more than three years of the product.
Windows 7 Starter:
Windows 7 Starter is the edition of Windows 7 that contains the fewest features. It is only available in a 32-bit version and does not include the Windows Aero theme. The desktop wallpaper and visual styles (Windows 7 Basic) are not user-changeable. In the release candidate versions of Windows 7, Microsoft intended to restrict users of this edition to running three simultaneous programs, but this limitation was dropped in the final release. This edition does not support more than 2 GB of RAM.
This edition was available pre-installed on computers, especially netbooks or Windows Tablets, through system integrators or computer manufacturers using OEM licenses.
Windows 7 Home Basic:
Windows 7 Home Basic was available in "emerging markets", in 141 countries. Some Windows Aero options are excluded along with several new features. This edition is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions and supports up to 8 GB of RAM. Home Basic, along with other editions sold in emerging markets, includes geographical activation restriction, which requires users to activate Windows within a certain region or country.
Windows 7 Home Premium:
This edition contains features aimed at the home market segment, such as Windows Media Center, Windows Aero and multi-touch support. It was available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Windows 7 Professional:
This edition is targeted towards enthusiasts, small-business users, and schools. It includes all the features of Windows 7 Home Premium, and adds the ability to participate in a Windows Server domain. Additional features include support for up to 192 GB of RAM (increased from 16 GB), operating as a Remote Desktop server, location aware printing, backup to a network location, Encrypting File System, Presentation Mode, Software Restriction Policies (but not the extra management features of AppLocker) and Windows XP Mode. It was available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Windows 7 Enterprise:
This edition targeted the enterprise segment of the market and was sold through volume licensing to companies which have a Software Assurance (SA) contract with Microsoft. Additional features include support for Multilingual User Interface (MUI) packages, BitLocker Drive Encryption, and UNIX application support. Not available through retail or OEM channels, this edition is distributed through SA. As a result, it includes several SA-only benefits, including a license allowing the operating of diskless nodes (diskless PCs) and activation via Volume License Key (VLK).
Windows 7 Ultimate:
Windows 7 Ultimate contains the same features as Windows 7 Enterprise, but this edition was available to home users on an individual license basis. For a while, Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional users were able to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate for a fee using Windows Anytime Upgrade if they wished to do so, this service is still available if users want to upgrade to Ultimate from Home Premium or Professional.