What features are available in Windows 8 Single Language? [closed]

I am purchasing a laptop for home use, and most laptops that I see in my price range come with Windows 8 Single Language Edition.

I'm trying to find a feature matrix which will tell me what all features I get in this edition, and which features are missing when compared to the Windows 8 Pro Edition.

I have not be able to find an authoritative source for these details. Can you please point me to some documentation which details this information?

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3 Answers

The Single Language Edition has the same features like the Core/Basic edition. The only difference is that only 1 language can be used. By default MS now allows all editions (this is changed compared to Vista/7) to change the display language.

<sl:policyInt name="Kernel-MUI-Number-Allowed" attributes="reboot-required, override-only">1</sl:policyInt>

The return code of GetProductInfo on the Single Edition is PRODUCT_CORE_SINGLELANGUAGE, this also shows that it is the Core edition.

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According to my research it is Windows 8 only. This article, although not explicit, does seem to confirm this.

Additional: the Single Language (also referred to as SL) was designed to help reduce piracy, spurred on by the level of piracy in China although aimed at 'emerging markets' but only allowing 1 language to be used (and no ability add other languages) but reducing the price of the OS. This would obviously make shipping to other languages more difficult.

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Windows 8 single language will not have the Hyper-V package, which is only available in Windows 8 Pro and Enterprise Editions. Hyper-V can be used for Windows Phone 8 app development, i.e. running the Windows Phone emulator. It can also be used for virtualization and a lot of other stuff.