Windows Editions

The Windows operating system has a long history dating back to 1985, and currently, it is the dominant operating system in both home use and corporate networks. Because of this, Windows has always been targeted by hackers & malware writers.

Windows XP was a popular version of Windows and had a long-running. Microsoft announced Windows Vista, which was a complete overhaul of the Windows operating system. There were many issues with Windows Vista. It wasn't received well by Windows users, and it was quickly phased out.

When Microsoft announced the end-of-life date for Windows XP, many customers panicked. Corporations, hospitals, etc., scrambled and tested the next viable Windows version, which was Windows 7, against many other hardware and devices. Vendors had to work against the clock to ensure their products worked with Windows 7 for their customers. If they couldn't, their customers had to break their agreement and find another vendor that upgraded their products to work with Windows 7. It was a nightmare for many, and Microsoft took note of it.

Windows 7, as quickly as it was released soon after, was marked with an end of support date. Windows 8.x came and left and it was short-lived, like Vista.

Then arrived Windows 10, which is the current Windows operating system version for desktop computers.

Windows 10 comes in 2 flavors, Home and Pro. You can read the difference between the Home and Pro here.

Even though we didn't talk about servers, the current version of the Windows operating system for servers is Windows Server 2019.

Many critics like to bash on Microsoft, but they have made long strides to improve the usability and security with each new version of Windows.

Note: The Windows edition for the attached VM is Windows Server 2019 Standard, as seen in System Information.

Update: As of June 2021, Microsoft announced the retirement dates for Windows 10 here.

"Microsoft will continue to support at least one Windows 10 Semi-Annual Channel until October 14, 2025".

As of October 5th, 2021 - Windows 11 now is the current Windows operating system for end-users. Read more about Windows 11 here.

Answer the questions below

What encryption can you enable on Pro that you can't enable in Home?

Answer : BitLocker