What edition(s) of Vista will be needed throughout your organization?

Q: What edition(s) of Vista will be needed throughout your organization?

About the author J. Peter Bruzzese is an independent consultant and has worked for and with Goldman Sachs, CommVault Systems and Microsoft, among other clients. He focuses on corporate training and travels frequently to speak at conferences. Peter is the author of Tricks of the Windows Vista Masters and writes for Redmond Magazine. Listen to his supplemental podcast on Vista deployment to hear more information about compatibility problems and Vista vs. XP.

The Ultimate edition of Vista has every feature that Vista has to offer. But it is also the most expensive. When determining the cost of deploying Vista, you have to consider the arrangement that your customer might already have with Microsoft (for instance, if it is part of the Microsoft Partner Program or has an Enterprise Agreement for volume licensing). (Download the Volume Licensing Programs Comparison Chart from Microsoft.) But beyond the licensing issue, it's important to know what features a business wants to incorporate. For instance, a company may decide it needs the new Bitlocker technology on all of its laptops to protect against thieves accessing the data on a stolen laptop; that feature exists only in the Ultimate edition of Vista, not the Business edition. Another prime example is Remote Desktop Connection support. If that is a feature your customer needs, Vista Basic and Vista Premium editions do not offer it -- only Vista Business and Ultimate editions do. It's important to decide early in the project planning process what features the customer expects. (Click here to find a chart of all features in the different editions of Vista.)

Return to the Vista deployment services FAQ guide and read the rest of Peter's expert responses.