Microsoft releases new versions of Windows at regular intervals. Each new version has a core set of features and security updates. For Windows 11, those new versions come out once a year, in the second half of the year. 

So far, Microsoft has released four versions of Windows 11: 21H2, 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2. You can probably decode the naming scheme without too much effort: the release date (displayed as the year by two digits), followed by the letters H2 (to represent the second half of the year).

Each version of Windows is released in multiple editions at different price points. For retail customers, the two most common editions are Home and Pro. All editions share common features, but they are sold and distributed differently depending on the type of device and market for which they're intended. Higher-priced editions have features that aren't available in the lower-priced editions.

You will often hear the terms edition and SKU used interchangeably. That's a common shorthand, and good enough for a casual discussion, but there are some important distinctions between the two terms. The short version? An edition is a general description. A SKU is an extremely specific description encompassing the product name, version, channel, licensing method, and more.

SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit, which is the part number a manufacturer assigns to specific items it sells. A single product, like Windows 11 Pro, is sold in many different physical and digital packages, each with its own part number, or SKU. 

The full list of SKUs for Windows 11 goes on for page after page, but unless you're in the purchasing office for a Fortune 500 company, you don't need to pay attention to those identifiers.

This isn't unusual in the computing industry. Apple, for example, has a different SKU for every combination of storage, color, and carrier for every iPhone. You will rarely see them because whoever you buy your phone from will filter that list to show only the ones relevant to you.

If you visit any Microsoft-centric message board, sooner or later you will hear someone ask, "Why doesn't Microsoft just sell one single edition of Windows?"

If you took an entry-level Economics course, you got the answer in the first week, when the professor talked about market segmentation. If you missed that lesson, here's how it applies to Windows.

Different markets place different values on products:

• OEMs get Windows 11 Home at a rock-bottom price, which keeps the price of consumer and SMB PCs low. This edition has the core Windows feature set.
• Enterprise administrators are willing to pay hundreds of dollars per PC per year to add management features, including the capability to join Windows domains, manage devices, and enforce security policies.
• Consumers and small business owners who aren't part of a corporate network have no need for those enterprise features and no desire to pay extra. They might or might not be willing to pay extra for full-disk encryption, remote access software, and other "professional" features.
• K-12 educators don't have big budgets or centralized networks, but they need PCs that they can hand to students without worrying that kids will use them to play games when they should be studying, or whether they'll visit unsavory websites or install unauthorized software, including malware. Parents with school-aged kids might want the same features.

So, most people get the basic Home edition to start with. Businesses pay extra for Windows 11 Pro licenses, and large organizations pay still more for Windows 11 Enterprise upgrades, both of which unlock features not available in lesser-priced editions. (More on that shortly.) Students, teachers, and school administrators get Windows 11 Education, which has many of the features of the Enterprise edition at a discounted price. 

The Home and Pro editions are currently available to large OEMs and small PC makers (who typically purchase the OEM System Builder SKUs). These editions can be installed on any PC design, including desktops, laptops, Surface-style tablets, all-in-ones, hybrids, and 2-in-1s.

Windows 10 Home is the cheaper option. It includes the entire Windows 10 feature set, minus some features reserved for the Pro edition. OEMs commonly install this edition on devices aimed at the price-conscious consumer and small business markets.

Windows 10 Pro is typically found on higher-quality, higher-spec business-class devices. It costs more and includes a group of features that enthusiasts, professionals, and anyone on a Windows business network might be willing to pay extra: key ones are Hyper-V virtualization, BitLocker encryption, the ability to set up a PC as a Remote Desktop server, and the ability to join a Windows domain.

Unless you need to use one of these features, there is no need to pay for the Pro upgrade.

An OEM cannot install a Windows Enterprise edition on a new PC. That edition is an upgrade only.

The Enterprise upgrade gives the business several additional features and licensing rights that are important in large organizations on managed Windows networks.  

Businesses must purchase an underlying Pro license (usually as part of the price of a new PC) to qualify for the Windows 10 Enterprise upgrade. A Home license does not qualify for an Enterprise upgrade. Yes, that means a business has to pay for two fairly expensive licenses for a PC running Windows Enterprise edition. I'll buy a drink for the first one of my friends in the tech press who mentions this distinction between the Home and Pro editions the next time they write about this topic.

Large organizations with Volume License contracts with Microsoft, including businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and nonprofits, can install Windows 10 Enterprise on devices that already have a qualifying license for a Windows Pro edition. Enterprise upgrades are also available on a subscription basis through Microsoft Cloud Service Provider partners.

Large educational institutions have their own Volume License edition of Windows, called Windows Education, with a set of management features that correspond to those in Windows Enterprise edition. 

These customers typically pay much less than their business counterparts, while still getting the same Enterprise features and rights. Another crucial difference: Windows Home editions qualify for Volume License upgrades at educational institutions, which helps keep overall costs down.

A separate edition, Windows 11 SE, is designed for use in schools. Windows SE runs on low-cost "web-first" devices and can only be purchased preinstalled on those devices. Users are restricted from using anything except "essential education apps," a category that, naturally, includes Microsoft Office apps, which require a separate subscription.

Microsoft supports several versions of Windows specifically designed for customers who need an operating system that never changes. That's the idea behind the Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC), which installs the most basic version of Windows imaginable, with only the most minimal collection of apps. The LTSC editions receive monthly security updates, but they don't get annual feature updates.

That's an alluring pitch to Windows enthusiasts who want to avoid any kind of disruption in their workflow. Alas, most people who fall into that category are ineligible to install the LTSC edition, which can be purchased only by Volume License customers. There are, of course, ways to work around those restrictions, but it's almost certain that you'll be in violation of a licensing agreement if you do. So tread carefully.

Microsoft also offers Windows IoT Enterprise editions designed for use on ATMs, point-of-sale devices, and industrial robots. You, as a consumer, will not care that your bank's ATM runs some weird embedded edition of Windows. You will only notice when it crashes (rarely, one hopes) and someone is there to snap a picture of the error message and post it to their favorite social media platform.

And that's everything you need to know about Windows editions.

Any questions?