Microsoft is gradually giving us all of the pieces we need to put together the Windows 10 puzzle before it officially launches, and this most recent piece shows us how many SKUs the company plans to release. SKUs more or less mean different Windows 10 editions, of which there will be seven releasing this year: Education, Enterprise, Home, IoT, Mobile, Mobile Enterprise, and Pro. Microsoft is clearly trying to cover all of the bases.
Microsoft is going public with its list of planned SKUs, or editions, that it will make available for Windows 10 PCs, tablets, phones and embedded devices ahead of this summer’s planned launch of the operating system. Not counting the three embedded/Internet of Things (IoT) versions, there will be six Windows 10 SKUs: Home, Mobile, Pro, Enterprise, Education and Mobile Enterprise, according to a May 13 blog post from Windows Marketing chief Tony Prophet. When Microsoft introduced Windows 8 in 2012, there were four main Windows 8 SKUs: The Windows 8 consumer SKU; Windows 8 Pro SKU for tech enthusiasts and business professionals; Windows RT, the version of Windows designed to run on ARM-based hardware; and Windows 8 Enterprise. Microsoft subsequently added a Windows 8.1 for Education SKU. Microsoft is not yet disclosing the standalone pricing or the detailed feature set and licensing specifics of its Windows 10 SKUs.
