Overall, I think the Home Premium version is the one I would need... the "extras" on Pro and Ultimate seem like kind of pointless upgrades for a computer-literate user. (Correct me if I'm wrong).
The only thing that bothers me is the line on Ultimate that says, "Work in the language of your choice and switch between any of 35 languages." As a bilingual person, the ability to work in different languages seems kind of like a basic requirement for a computer to have. Does anyone know what this actually translates to?
I absolutely have to have the ability to input in at least English and Japanese. On XP, it is easy to install and use an IME. Do I need Ultimate for this? Surely not?
Also on XP, occasionally you run into imported software that will not run (or will run, but will not display characters correctly) on my English version of Windows unless you set the language for non-Unicode programs to whatever language the software originated in. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience on whether settings like this are needed or available on Windows 7? If I import an expensive game and it fails to run on my computer because this setting is missing from Home, that's kind of a jerk move from Windows.
I'm not particularly concerned about which language the system is running overall, as long as I can input text and run software from different countries. It seems like it would be kind of a harsh move for Microsoft to include something this basic on Ultimate, but is that what they're doing? Or are they merely referring to the ability to change the system language frequently?
If I had to choose only one language for Home to run in, I would pick Japanese.. but that would be more expensive than being able to buy a pre-made computer with English Home installed for "free". Does an installation key from English Home work on a Japanese version of Home?