I will be testing an application that claims to run on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. I know that I have to test the application for each of those on 32-bit and 64-bit (if it exists), but I’m not sure if it’s necessary to test each edition of each operating system.
For example, do I really need to test for Windows 7 Starter if I already tested Windows 7 Ultimate or Home? Do I need to test Windows Vista Business if I already tested Windows Vista Home Premium? And so on …
It would be very time-consuming to test each and every edition of each of the three flavors that are supposed to be supported:
- Windows XP Home w/ SP2
-
Windows XP Professional w/ SP2
-
Windows Vista Starter
- Windows Vista Home Basic
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Windows Vista Business
- Windows Vista Enterprise
-
Windows Vista Ultimate
-
Windows 7 Starter
- Windows 7 Home Basic
- Windows 7 Home Premium
- Windows 7 Professional
- Windows 7 Enterprise
- Windows 7 Ultimate
Let me know what you think.
In our workflow we test each platform and architecture, not every edition.
For example, test on XP, Vista, and 7, and 32- and 64- bit architectures. There is no need to test both XP Home and Professional on the same architecture unless some feature of your software depends on a functionality only present in Professional.