Oh no, they didn’t – or the many versions of Windows 7

I have long been of the opinion that where Microsoft have gone very, very badly wrong indeed when it comes to Windows is that they release multiple versions. The argument could be made that this is how it has been since NT4.0/98, but that argument doesn’t hold, because they ditched the Windows 98 line of development in favor of the NT line of development with the release of Windows XP.
 
XP, of course, was released in two versions, Home and Professional. More recently, Vista was launched with no less than six different versions. With the recent launch of the public beta of Windows 7, we see no less than five versions, with a possible sixth reserved for volume licence customers.
 
In my opinion, what any version of Linux, as well as what Mac OS have going for them is a simplicity of choice: choose distribution. You are done. With Windows, you first need to choose Windows, then choose which version you want. I think it is time that no matter your needs, your should be able to get all of the features, provided your hardware can handle them.
 
The division between XP Home and Professional was a mistake. Understandable, but a mistake. Why do Microsoft keep making the same rutting mistakes???