class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/windows7logo.jpg" border="0" alt="windows 7 editions" />Since the late 20th century the market for personal computers has been growing and developing rapidly. The sudden diversity among customers and their increasingly differential demands created a need for specialized operating systems. During the late 1990’s, Microsoft developed Windows versions specifically targeted at businesses or home PC users.

With its introduction of Windows 2000, Microsoft started to release its operating systems in multiple editions. On the one hand this united previously diverse products under one hat and simplified marketing. On the other hand different groups of users were accommodated.

id="more-51764"> /> Windows 7 comes in six different flavors. In this article I have briefly reviewed the features of each edition. I have also made recommendations as to which version you should get, depending on the user group you belong to.

Starter

This is the most basic Windows 7 edition. Since Windows 7 Starter supports less features than any other edition, it requires less system resources. It is typically found pre-installed on netbooks.

• limit: three concurrent applications, home group join only, Backup and Restore Center manual to local HDD or DVD only
• not included: Aero theme
• not changeable: desktop wallpaper and visual style
• not supported: .NET Framework and 64-bit

If your computer has a weak CPU (minimum 1GHz) and no more than 1GB of RAM, you should go with Windows 7 Starter to avoid a slow system.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Windows7Editions03.png" border="0" alt="windows 7 editions" width="580" height="281" />

Home Basic

This edition is not available in ‘first world’ countries. It was designed for emerging markets and forms an intermediate between Starter and Home Premium. Due to a geographical activation restriction, it can only be activated in countries where it is sold.

• included: Desktop Window Manager, Windows Mobility Center
• unlimited: concurrent applications
• supported: 64-bit, multiple monitors, fast user switching, change of desktop wallpaper
• limit: home group join only, partial Aero theme

You should use this edition as a budget alternative to Home Premium, if it is sold in your country.

Home Premium

This is the standard edition of Windows 7. It was specifically outfitted to satisfy home users.

• included: Windows Aero theme, Windows Media Center, premium games
• unlimited: create and join home group
• supported: multi-touch

Home Premium provides all the functionality required on a daily basis. It puts minor limits on networking and lacks backup and security features, which can however be complemented by additional software.

There is no need to spend extra cash on one of the following editions, unless you must have one of its additional features.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Windows7Editions01.png" border="0" alt="windows 7 editions" width="580" height="283" />

Professional

The Professional edition was designed to be used in a work environment. Its additional features compared to Home Premium are not typically required in a home environment. The Professional Backup and Restore Center for example supports backup to a home or business network. Features like Location Aware Printing and Remote Desktop Host recognizes the mobility involved in today’s (professional) life.

• included: Backup and Restore Center, Encrypting File System, Windows Server Domain, Windows XP Mode
• supported: Location Aware Printing, Remote Desktop Host, Presentation Mode

You should invest in Windows 7 Professional if you frequently work from your laptop in different locations, use your computer to give presentations, must access your home computer via remote desktop, have multiple computers, or need to manage a network.

Enterprise

The Enterprise edition is not available to home users. It is exclusively sold to companies that have a Software Assurance (SA) for Volume Licensing contract with Microsoft. This edition comes with several SA-only benefits, including license rights for network booting of Windows or running up to four additional Windows copies on virtual machines. Microsoft support for this product will continue until 2020.

• included: AppLocker, BitLocker Drive Encryption, Subsystem for Unix-based applications, Multilingual User Interface Pack
• supported: BranchCache Distributed Cache, DirectAccess, Virtual Hard Disk Booting

The additional features of Enterprise compared to Professional are relevant for computers running in a corporate environment. They can decrease the freedom each user has, while on the other hand making it easier to work from anywhere in the world.

AppLocker for example is a tool through which an administrator can specify which software is allowed to run on centrally managed user PCs. DirectAccess replaces the need to log into your company network via VPN. A full review of these additional Enterprise and Ultimate features can be found in this Microsoft article: class="vt-p" title="Windows 7 Enterprise Features" href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/windows-7/features.aspx">Unique technology for enterprise customers.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Windows7Editions02.png" border="0" alt="compare windows 7 editions" width="580" height="213" />

Ultimate

Windows 7 Ultimate has all the features of the Enterprise edition and no benefits or further extras. The difference is that individual licenses are available to home users. Windows Anytime Upgrade from Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional is possible. Microsoft support for this edition is scheduled to expire in 2015.

PC World has created a thorough class="vt-p" title="PC World Windows 7 Editions Chart" href="http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=167444&page=1&zoomIdx=1">graphical chart comparing all editions of Windows 7.

You may also want to check out this article by Mahendra: title="Windows 7 32-bit vs. 64-bit" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-choose-between-32-bit-64-bit-windows-7-operating-systems/">How To Choose Between 32-bit & 64-bit Windows 7 Operating Systems

I hope you now have a better idea of what each Windows 7 edition was designed for and which one is right for you. Have you had the chance to work with different Windows 7 editions already? What are your experiences so far with them? />
/>Do you like MakeUseOf articles? Don’t forget to target="_blank" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/share-share-share-spread-word/">share our articles with others! It’s really important to us.

/>

 

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Calling Wolfram Alpha a computational knowledge engine surely puts off a lot of people who are mathematically and statistically challenged. I am one of them, so it took me a fair amount of time to get around to using Wolfram Alpha and the way it takes a query and spits out factual data.

If you are still drunk on Google and other traditional ways of doing search, take a sober pill and give Wolfram Alpha a look.

Yes, Wolfram Alpha still doesn’t have a handle on the entire human knowledge, but it has its unique take on answering questions, comparing keywords, and projecting data.

After understanding the true power of Wolfram Alpha, you will appreciate it as one of the most powerful search engines out there. But is Wolfram Alpha too daunting for a layman? Looking at all the mathematical equations and statistical graphs that the search tool drums out, it seems so.

But even an Average Joe like me can sometimes throw everyday problems at it. And come out with answers easy enough to read. So here are ten of those search queries.

Which Website Is More Popular

Instead of individually looking up figures, you can do a quick comparison of websites to see which is more popular. Computational comparisons are a nifty feature of Wolfram Alpha. You can also lookup website data of any web address.

(Wolfram Alpha pulls in the data from Alexa.com’s database. Some SEO experts do have a problem with the way Alexa draws its data however).

My IP Is?

Wolfram Alpha comes with location awareness. So it can used just like an IP tracker. Type in ‘Where Am I?’ and you get your exact geo-located co-ordinates.

Alternatively, you can find the souls behind an IP number or an URL by putting it as a search string.

As The Crow Flies

You can get the direct travel times and the distance between two cities. Average figures are calculated for ships, cars, and airplanes. Other information like local times at both locations is also attached.

Get To Know Your Kissing Cousins

Wolfram Alpha has a Genealogy engine that can trace your family relationships. To make it easier, you also get a ‘tree’ diagram. Just the thing to find out the right introductions at family dos.

What We Speak & Write

Wolfram Alpha has a host of tools or ‘converters’ which are of real use. For instance, you can figure the number of words needed to fill up the right number of pages (and the typing time to finish a book).

Then the search engine extends a ‘cheating’ hand with its puzzle solvers along with the usual dictionary help. Here’s what the Words & Linguistics features can do:

The Time In Timbuktu

You can get the time information of any place, compare local times of several places, and also convert a time in any city to your time.

Following the Date & Time calculations, you can do a host of things like printing out calendars, find out how many days till Christmas, or get the dates of holidays for a given year. The results are as per your location.

Switch On The Weather Channel

Wolfram Alpha can be your personal weather search engine. It covers a host of ways to get specific weather information and forecasts for your city or one of your choice.

Watch What You Are Eating

Wolfram Alpha can be used as an online calorie counter. You can not only get nutritional information on a food, you can also get it for those that end up as packaged brands on our kitchen shelves. Yes, some of the information goes into the actual mineral and molecular composition, but you can pick out the calorie information for the serving and the percentage of daily intake. And export is all as a PDF.

Again, let’s put a food (or beverage) through a comparison. It tells me that drinking vodka would be the quicker way to get the beer belly.

Hit The Gym…Or Climb The Stairs

You know how many calories you are picking up. So use the same search box to find out how many you can burn with a specific activity. There are a few ways you can compute the physical exercises needed to burn the fat.

When you do this calculation, also scroll down and check out the Equivalent Activities section. Mine tells me that I can repair an airplane for two hours or conduct an orchestra for three to burn the same amount of calories.

Color Swatch From A Search Box

We know ‘bittersweet’ as a feeling, but do you know what it looks like? Wolfram Alpha tells us that it’s a color that’s a shade closer to salmon and Indian red. Complementary colors are also given which tell us which colors can be matched. If you are looking for a three color scheme, pick up the swatch on the color triad. Designers can also quickly pick up the hexadecimal and RGB color codes.

From top to bottom, Wolfram Alpha is a search engine. Just like any other search engine, it depends on third party sources for the information and its accuracy. Also, results will hit the target or miss the spot depending on the search query you feed it. It is not a magic oracle but a work in progress. But the work done so far is impressive.

Let us know if and how you are thinking of using Wolfram Alpha every day.

Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on MakeUseOf Answers!

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-50 Most Dangerous Search Terms- Mcafee’s 50 Most dangerous search Engine terms.

In this easy-to-follow video, I show you how an Anti-Virus Program really works, in simplified terms! Website: www.vincebognot.com Twitter: www.twitter.com Contact: vince@vincebognot.com Save 25% Off Your New Domain Name With Hover: www.hover.com

Freeware is not always free. Certainly, it is not free to reverse engineer, change, or redistribute freeware, but there is also the form of freeware that is masked as adware or even as spyware. The latter has induced quite some worries in the past.

Recall from roughly 5 years ago when Gator created a storm of protest. Its GAIN Publishing End User License Agreement (EULA, also known as software license) declared the user was automatically agreeing in also setting up the GAIN AdServer software when swallowing the EULA. So, the software license handed the company permission to install software that collected certain identifiable information about web browsing and computer usance. This software came right away along with the freeware and was installed in the same process. At the final stage, this resulted in a display of all types of ads on the users computer.

Either way, people do not scan the EULA. When downloading and setting up programs, we are usually inquisitive about what the new software will bring. That EULA is just one more thing to spend time because it is normally not clear in a short quantity of time, hence not read at all. Only so, the following thought that then develops is: what have you accorded to when you clicked I agree?

Hence, if all is specified in the software license, then that is also what can aid decide about what you wish to have installed, or not! Indeed, especially the software balancing at the border of legitimate limits will attempt to neaten what is not completely good. And you guessed it right: that is most often discovered in the EULA.

So far, all may seem quite normal, however, the software license is infamous for bearing obscure articles maintaining insane restrictions on the behaviour of software users whilst supplying the software developer or vendor with highly intrusive powers. For instance, Microsoft software licenses afford the company the right to accumulate info about the user’s system and its use and to furnish this info to other organisations. They also allot Microsoft the right to do alterations to the user’s computer without requesting permission. Now, don’t be incorrect by reasoning this is a Microsoft-only matter, software licenses often have a clause that grants sellers to make alterations to users’ systems without involving or notifying the user.

One might have the feeling that little can be done to combat a lousy EULA or TOS. Well, that is not totally true, lately there have been cases where best-selling services have changed their terms of service because of the user’s aversion for a couple too gross terms within them. So, complaining works!

An exemplar is Googles Chrome browsers terms of service which handed Google a non-exclusive right to display and distribute all substance channeled over their web browser.

Lately, the tendency to take on more and more limitations on what users can do with the software they pay for becomes quite troubling. Certain license agreements now disallow users from releasing info about the functioning of the software package. That effectively prevents reviewers as well as software surety experts from coverage about their experiences with a specified piece of software. Such determinations are way past security against illegitimate practices.

It is attorney stuff but you may wonder whether these licenses are legitimate. According to attorneys though, most of them do hold up in court, the exception being if the text is not somewhat understandable. Another exception has to do with children who are more often than not freed for the agreements established this way.

The fact that a EULA might not be legally enforceable – for whatever ground – is of little solace because it is being imposed on you whether you like it or not. Once the program is installed on your machine, the damage is done and it doesn’t even matter if the subscribed contract were legally invalid. Already only by using the computer, the user is validating his share of the contract.

The elementary idea behind the software license – creating a clear legitimate defense against illegal software piracy – has long been bypassed indeed. Well, be warned, a click of the computer mouse could bring on a good share of trouble. So, only one advice can be given: shake off that blindfold, do study the EULA, and that does not apply for freeware alone!