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This is correct - there are 6 Windows 10 SKUs[1]. 4 if you exclude the mobile SKUs. The "only 2 SKUs" was just a rumour/wish.

I'm echoing speculation I read elsewhere: the reason for the numerous versions is Federal Money. The US government demands that it pays the lowest price the vendors offers an item for. Since Microsoft likes to offer discounts to universities, the government would be entitled to the lowest discounted price on the SKU. Their solution is to make Education & Enterprise versions and maintain the price disparity. Money trumps simplicity.

https://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/05/13/introdu...

(edited for clarity)

> The "only 2 SKUs" was just a rumour/wish.

Its only two consumer-facing desktop SKUs, but that's the same as Win 8.1. Its still down from Win 7, though.

The versions are all pretty reasonable and not significantly different outside of the one thing that defines their SKU.

Enterprise is understandable - businesses may prefer not to use Pro. I don't believe that you can count Windows 10 Mobile/Mobile Enterprise against the count as they are merely part of Microsoft's effort to combine all their platforms under one operating system.