[silvestrov]

This reminds me of when Steve Balmer became the CEO of Microsoft.

He sold Windows in so many versions that even a developer like me had no idea of what the difference was between them. I could not figure out from the packaging which version I needed.

[retired]

Had to use an LLM to generate this list:

Windows Vista was available in Starter (32-bit only, Retail and OEM), Home Basic (32-bit and 64-bit, Retail, OEM, and Volume License, plus Home Basic N 32/64-bit, Retail/OEM/Volume, in multiple languages), Home Premium (32/64-bit, Retail/OEM/Volume, Home Premium N 32/64-bit, Retail/OEM/Volume, in multiple languages), Business (32/64-bit, Retail/OEM/Volume, Business N 32/64-bit, Retail/OEM/Volume, in multiple languages), Enterprise (32/64-bit, Volume License only, Enterprise N 32/64-bit, in multiple languages), Ultimate (32/64-bit, Retail/OEM, Ultimate N 32/64-bit, Retail/OEM, in multiple languages), and the Korean-market versions Home Basic K, Home Premium K, Business K, Enterprise K, Ultimate K (all 32/64-bit, Retail/OEM/Volume, in multiple languages), plus Tablet PC editions, Media Center pre-bundled versions, and Embedded/IoT variants, each with additional 32/64-bit and N/K distinctions, creating a combinatorial explosion of literally hundreds of distinct SKUs when factoring in architecture, licensing type, language packs, and region-specific requirements.

[fmajid]

Leading to Jeff Atwood's memorable rant:

https://blog.codinghorror.com/oh-you-wanted-awesome-edition/

"Open source software only comes in one edition: awesome."

[r_lee]

You listed the K/N etc. ones as well, they're still a thing to this day...

And the situation was pretty much the same thing for Windows 7

[OhMeadhbh]

preach your truth, brother.