Vista Home Basic: Of Lemons and Lemonade
Ars has their take on the fact that Vista will be released in four different versions and what it all means to the consumer, specifically where the most basic version is concerned. Many people have wondered how viable of a product it will be, so Ars is trying to answer that question.
Back in 1998 there was one consumer Windows OS release tier, just like in 1995. Come 2001, there were two: Home and Professional. In 2007, there will be four: Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate, and Business (I've left out Enterprise since it is a volume licensing product).
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061028-8097.html