So instead of bundling the software together to match common use cases, put the burden on the shopper to know what every single part of windows does and whether they need it?
That would be fine for geeks but the vast majority of the population would not appreciate that at all.
I think the idea is that the "Home" functionality is built-in, but say media center is an option, domain/security permissions is an option, and maybe "server" is an option (to transform into Windows 7 Server).
It's stupid that they have like 9 (home, pro, server, server small business, etc.) versions of a very similar solution (an operating system). They're all fundamentally similar.
While it's true that there are a lot of versions, there aren't 9 boxes side by side on a shelf in a store. I think home, pro and server is all that should be in a best buy or equivalent.
More specialized but very real and useful cases such as enterprise, unlimited, small business, etc should still be available but only through a vendor or website.
That would be fine for geeks but the vast majority of the population would not appreciate that at all.