Why do colleges recommend Vista Ultimate?

I noticed that most colleges out there recommend Vista Business or Ultimate. I understand these versions include some networking features not found in the home editions of Vista. But I don't see any reason why you would have a problem connecting to their network with any other version of Windows.

Is it just that they want to make money off of you purchasing a Vista license from them or is there really something more behind this?

 

Could be because the university has a domain set up. Vista Home Basic and Premium cannot be joined to a domain (I believe). Thats about the only thing I can think of, besides networking and maybe some additional security features

 

I don't know. I occasionally screw up the system and the complete pc restore (Vista Ultimate only) really helps to bring my pc back into condition within just 30 minutes (better than 1-2 full days to reformat, reinstall, and update). If you don't have that problem, I don't really see the point of getting Vista Ultimate. But maybe they really get some commision out of it for advertisement.

 

Well I do have Vista Ultimate on my desktop, it's just my laptop that doesn't. The laptop I only ordered Home Premium with it, as I did not want to pay for Ultimate (again).

I researched this issue on various university websites just now and I haven't seen a convincing reason why Home Premium can not be used on their networks. One university recommended "at least Home Premium". The college I will be attending does not recommend Windows Vista at all and so did not mention anything about particular versions. They don't seem to be a fan of new software, as they also do not fully recommend Leopard or Office 2007 yet either.

 

Nope... Complete PC Backup/Restore is in Vista Business too.

Previous Versions can also be a useful feature IMO. That is also in only the Business and Ultimate editions.

But I don't think either of those is why they recommend Biz/Ult. I suspect it's because Biz and Ultimate have the ability to join a Windows domain. I'm not sure how useful/necessary this is in practice in a university environment.

Personally, I'd just show up with whatever OS I wanted, and if it ends up being a real problem (rather than just a theoretical one), then deal with it at that time. When I was in college they had all sorts of recommendations that were mostly B.S. -- or at least, there were really easy workarounds.

 

If they requiere XP pro/Vista business, it probably has a domain. The college I'm going next year used to be on LEAP so they requiered XP Pro. They still recommand XP Pro but they switched to WPA2 Enterprise. (Because LEAP is so bad that Microsoft intentionally blocked it in Vista)

 

This makes no sense to me at all. What Home Premium feature would be necessary? Media Center? DVD Maker? Aero eye candy? The automated backups could be useful I guess... but not something that really needs to be in a college's recommendations.

I think that's a good example of how recommendations can often be based on some random IT worker's personal whims and prejudices... and not necessarily anything you really need.

Not too long ago, there was a rule (here in the U.S.) where if a college "required" something, then you (well, parents usually) could deduct it from their taxes. So colleges were requiring all sorts of ridiculous fancy decked-out computer setups. I think congress closed that loophole eventually.

 

Ultimate isint that bad...

 

He's not saying it's bad, but it's kind of an expensive expectation for people to meet.

 

It's the ability to join a domain. XP Pro would work too.

 

You should check to see if your school has cheap upgrades - I got a Vista ultimate upgrade for $20, and Vista Business free from my school.

 

Since the computers that you will work with in classes are these versions, they recommend them so there won't be much variance. HP would be fine for your personal use. They just try to keep things homogeneous between your setup and theirs. My school used to sell only XP Corp and now they sell Ultimate and Business.

 

what do you guys mean by "joining a domain"??

 

Was about to say that.

MSDNA sells Vista Business for 17$.

 

Its just the networking abilities they want and Ultimate has all the networking bells and whistles.

 

Vista Ultimate is the way to go. Come on, you don't want to play Texas Hold 'em during class?

 

It means that the school (or maybe some individual departments) possibly has an Active Directory infrastructure set up for security. This means that there may be a requirement to log in to a central server or group of servers (known as a domain controllers) using specific credentials in order to access resources. Only Vista Business and Vista Ultimate have the ability to join as domain members. Just like XP Pro vs XP Home.

The OP should find out whether interfacing with AD is a requirement. If s, then he definitely needs Business or Ultimate. Or at least XP Pro.

 

I got Vista Business 32-bit and 64-bit free from my University in the UK. If your college subscribes to the MSDN Academic Alliance scheme you will get it for free aswell.

I just finished a 3yr computer science degree and we used XP Pro for all of it.

 

The domain thing is definetly something to consider: I asked one school specifically-they said that Vista Business/Ultimate or XP Pro was required and there was no way around it. Another school pretty much couldn't care less.

It wouldn't hurt to just E-Mail your school's tech department or "resnet" just to be sure, they are there to help you.

 

I know it's nice to think that there's some legitimate reason that my or your university "recommends" Vista Ultimate, but the simple truth is that it's a requirement of the MSDNAA program, much like how Dell, Gateway, and HP are required to "recommend" Vista Ultimate (and not to advertise anything else) in order to get the steep OEM discounts they do.

Also:

Uh...sure they are. But it certainly has been my experience that these people (a) have no earthly idea what they're talking about and (b) really don't care. Perhaps Case's IT department was just especially bad, and state schools should probably be expected to have miserable IT departments. YMMV?