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According to Microsoft (click here to see the original web page) The only differences between Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade and Windows 7 Professional Upgrade are:
1. US$80.00
2. Windows XP mode (a copy of the already free Microsoft Virtual PC software plus a crippled version of Windows XP).
3. Use Domain Join to connect to company networks.
4. The ability to use Windows Backup to backup to a network drive.
Ok, the $80 price difference is obvious. The XP mode is certainly BS and of limited use IMHO. Especially if you already own a virtualization product like Parallels for Windows, VMWare Workstation, Virtuabox, etc. and an xp license.) Backing up across a network is integral to just about every backup application available in the past decade, expect Microsoft Backup. So that's easy to replace.
The kicker though is #3... Domain Join. Lots of big networks use Domain Controllers. This has nothing to do with internet domain names but rather with centralized local network username & password storage and network policies. I've never personally seen any network with less than a few thousand users, use a domain controller.
In fact, here's what Microsoft says on that page about Domain Join:
Domain Join
Plan to use your PC at the office—or for telecommuting? Then you might need to connect to a domain. A domain is a type of computer network commonly found in the workplace. (In technical-speak, it's a collection of computers that's centrally administered and operates under common rules.)
The Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate editions are designed to join a domain quickly and more securely. Just follow the easy-to-use wizard, which prompts you to enter your network credentials. A few moments later you're in business.
That they DON'T tell you for some reason is that you need Windows 7 Professional or above if you want to network to more than just another Windows 7 machine. Something like your older XP machine. Perhaps your Mac or even Linux computer... how about your PS3 or xBox 360? Maybe your TiVO or any of the zillions of other devices that use SMB networking protocol.
Actually I don't know what devices SMB networking (pretty much originally known as Windows or Microsoft Network/Lan Manager.)
But I do know that your Windows 7 "Premium" computer will "see" all the XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows computers on your home network. But won't talk to any of them except perhaps Vista and Windows 7.
And why is this? Well obviously if you haven't (or can't) upgrade all of your computers to Windows 7, then you must be a Professional user!
So Microsoft left the Group Policy Editor out of the Home Premium edition of Vista and Windows 7. (I didn't that about Vista as I only ran it few times and in a virtual machine.)
Now... as I understand it, when you make a change in the Group Policy Editor to let it network with non Windows 7 machines, only three changes are made to the Windows Registry.
I'm going to track those down and will be posting them later, just saving us all US$80! This makes me wonder what other little gotchas Microsoft has snuck into Windows 7 Home "Premium" and what other necessary features were left out.
