Generic guide to software editions

The last few years we have seen an increased proliferation of software product "editions": the same version aimed at different user segments. A somewhat recent example is the latest version of Microsoft's operating system, Windows Vista, which comes in no less than six different editions.

People often ask me what differentiates editions of particular products. I could direct them to the manufacturer's web site, which invariably offers "comparison matrices" outlining the differences, but there's really no need to do so once you understand the general pattern. The names of editions for specific products may differ, but the following should serve as a useful guide whenever you are faced with a choice of editions:

The Home edition

This relatively affordable edition is for people who have no idea how to use the software and have no intention of ever learning. It's functionally identical to last year's version of the product but features a colorful and horribly user-unfriendly interface with big shiny buttons to push and "wizards" that helps you do the wrong things fairly quickly.

The Professional edition

The Pro edition is for people that will actually use the software. It is expensive enough to make professionals and small businesses think twice before investing in it, but at least it has a semi-usable user interface and includes all features that matter. This is the edition trade magazines will review and the one always meant when a particular product is recommended.

The Standard edition

The edition for people who want to use the software but can't afford the Professional edition. Basically the same as the Home edition except that you can turn off some of the more obnoxious elements of the user interface, which unfortunately only serve to make its severe limitations all the more obvious. The price point is somewhere between Home and Pro.

The Premium edition

This edition is for people who probably should have bought the Home edition but have more money than common sense. It combines the user interface of Standard with the features of Professional and includes five additional "multimedia" applications, none of which have any practical use. This edition costs a bit more than Professional.

The Enterprise edition

This edition has a price tag one or two magnitudes over that of the Pro edition. It is similar to Professional but has a number of nebulous enterprise features, most notably a suite of poorly designed and buggy multi-user programs and support for machines with ridiculous amounts of RAM and CPUs. Presumably for scalability reasons, it's performance while doing common tasks is considerably lower than any other edition so you really need such a machine to run it.

5 May, 2007