PCSC

Departmental purchases

Deciding which version of Windows Vista to buy

This page is a preliminary attempt to provide guidelines for BU departments that wish to purchase Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system and must decide between Vista Business ($58) and Vista Enterprise ($104). For most people, the decision will hinge on whether they plan to use the new BitLocker drive encryption feature, available only in Vista Enterprise. BitLocker can play an important and valuable role in securing your computer, especially your notebook computer, but using it requires you to take a few extra steps. If you are installing Vista fresh, you should take these steps, which involve creating a small secondary disk partition, just before you install Vista. If your computer already has Vista installed, you can still create the required partition, following slightly different steps. Details are provided below, and will be updated and expanded as we gain more experience with Vista.

Difference in price

Microsoft offers departmental purchasers a choice between two versions of Windows Vista: Business and Enterprise.

If you purchased Microsoft's Software Assurance (SA) for your current Windows XP Professional OS and that SA is current, you are entitled to receive Vista Enterprise at no additional charge.

If you are not covered by SA, you can purchase the Business version from University Computers under our Microsoft Select agreement for $58.

For an additional $46 you can purchase SA for that license, which entitles you to receive Vista Enterprise instead of Vista Business. That SA will expire on 31 May 2008 so its real value is simply to get Vista Enterprise. (Upon expiration you could purchase an additional 3 years of SA, extending through May 2011, but even that is likely to expire before Microsoft comes out with a successor to Vista.)

Product Choice
Total Price
If you purchased Microsoft's Software Assurance (SA) for your current Windows XP OS and that SA is current, you are entitled to receive Vista Enterprise for no additional charge.
No charge
If you are not covered by SA, you can purchase Vista Business Edition ...
$58
or, for an additional $46, you can add SA to get Vista Enterprise Edition, instead.
$104

Who should choose Vista Enterprise over Business?

According to Microsoft, Vista Enterprise includes four features that Vista Business lacks:

  • BitLocker, which allows you to encrypt the entire C: drive (or other drive containing your OS), requiring a key to boot the computer.
  • Multi-language support, which allows you to communicate with the operating system in a language other than English, much like using a foreign language version of the OS. It allows you to choose the language you see in the Windows Start menu, in the help system, in built-in management tools, and in Windows dialog boxes. (Note that this is NOT required if you simply want to use a foreign language in an application, e.g., to compose foreign language documents in Microsoft Word.)
  • Four virtual OS licenses, which allow you to run four virtual copies of Vista (or another Windows OS) under your main copy of Vista. (Beta version of Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 available at https://connect.microsoft.com/programdetails.aspx?ProgramDetailsID=874.)
  • A subsystem for UNIX applications (SUA). Microsoft states that this "enables you to run UNIX applications unchanged on a Windows Vista Enterprise-based PC. Whereas today a UNIX database administrator or system administrator needs to have a UNIX workstation in addition to a Windows-based PC, Windows Vista Enterprise enables you to consolidate both functions into a single Windows Vista-based PC."

For most people, the choice between Vista Business and Enterprise will depend on whether they plan to use BitLocker to protect their PC (see What is BitLocker, and Who Should Use It?). The multi-language feature will be of interest primarily to system administrators who wish to develop and deploy a single OS image for use throughout the world; it may also be of interest to people who otherwise would have purchased a foreign language copy of Windows. The virtual OS licenses and SUA will be of interest primarily to software developers and some system support staff.

If you don't plan to use any of the four capabilities described above, you can choose Vista Business Edition and save $46.

Resources

Here is a list of resources where you can read about Vista in more detail.