ZDNet Source
Original Source

List of Editions:
Microsoft Windows 8 32 Edition
Microsoft Windows 8 64 Edition
Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise 32 Edition
Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise 64 Edition
Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 32 Edition
Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64 Edition

If the information is correct, Windows 8 will keep two edition names -Professional and Enterprise-, and change a third. Windows 7 Home Premium turns in Windows 8.

Windows 7 Home Premium –> Windows 8
Windows 7 Professional –> Windows 8 Professional
Windows 7 Enterprise –> Windows 8 Enterprise

What about the Ultimate, Starter and Home Basic editions? Microsoft could have made the decision to drop some of the editions to reduce customer confusion. It could also be that the HP product is just not compatible with those editions, or that Microsoft has not yet told HP about those editions.

Just placeholders - nothing more telling then when Windows Vista Beta 1 contained info on the "Home" and "Professional" SKUs, which obviously turned out to be totally wrong.

just clicked on the link to the original source and it looks like thay have removed them lines from the document as I didn't see them

I doubt Ultimate was selling that many editions compared with the others since I imagine most copies of Windows are sold with computers and most people won't use the extra features of Ultimate. Starter edition was pointless since netbooks can run the full Windows 7 just fine, and with increasing competition from tablets it makes no sense to have this edition besides cheaper licensing costs.

The 3 SKUs above would be enough IMO. The regular edition would be for home users. Professional would target small businesses with remote desktop host, etc. And Enterprise is for large businesses and schools that use VLKs.

What computer nowadays can't run Aero? Almost every computer sold now is capable of running Aero, so Home Basic isn't really needed anymore, unless you ABSOLUTELY insist on running 8 on your 10 year old computer.

Home Basic was the cheap version....You can turn off Aero in any version.

What about Windows 7 Ultimate?

Windows 7 Ultimate has the same functionalities as Windows 7 Enterprise.

Exactly. The only difference between them is that Enterprise comes on a separate disc, is only available for companies and has extended support.

Yes most most do run Aero fine but not all people want Aero and just want a simple OS and cheap so Home Basic would still have it's use unless Microsoft say otherwise

You can disable Aero in every edition. And remove unneeded components. So HB is completely unneeded in my opinion.

So, what will Windows 7 Ultimate users upgrade to?

Yes but what i am trying to say is why would people pay more money for programes they wont use.
Thats the idear in home basic it's the bear bones of windows and it's cheaper so your not paying for programs you wont use.

Well, you got a point there... :/

I like that the "Normal version" is not labeled.

I assume if you have Windows 7 Ultimate you'll be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Ultimate. The other edition's seem to work that way.

I believe Microsoft are not going to sell Ultimate Edition because not many computers had it preinstalled.

Ultimate Edition wasn't liked by many users because they found it was undeniably a lot more expensive than Professional, but offered few more features. I've been happy with Windows 7 Professional, personally. Obviously, some power users require the features of Ultimate, and that's where its appeal usually lies.

Perhaps the 'Professional' edition listed here, placeholder or not, is the equivalent of Ultimate (it contains everything), and they've scrapped the old Professional, which was really Ultimate with a few features removed.

Meh, that's my understanding/interpretation, anyway.