Gartner's position in relation to the BitLocker in Windows Vista is that Microsoft is excluding customers from one of the major security features of the operating system. The Redmond Company has made BitLocker available only for Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate editions. BitLocker will also be a part of the security offer of Windows Server Longhorn.

Jeffrey Wheatman, Gartner Research Director revealed Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's answer to a question asking him to quantify the importance of BitLocker for Vista users. With little hesitation, Ballmer answered that BitLocker is "hugely important."

"This is a particularly interesting response in light of the fact that BitLocker is only available via Microsoft's Software Assurance (SA) program aimed at large enterprises and the Ultimate version. Ultimate carries a pricing premium of 66% over the Home Premium version, includes every option of both home and business versions and is not targeted at typical home or SMB users," commented Wheatman.

Users of Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium and Business will not be able to enjoy the benefits of BitLocker's disk-wide encryption. The sales trends following the commercial availability of Windows Vista revealed that Windows Vista Home Premium is the most popular edition. In this context, Wheatman asks what is the reason why Microsoft is excluding clients from BitLocker, as only Microsoft's Software Assurance, and Vista Ultimate customers can benefit from the operating system's disk encryption.

"Are there pieces missing which would be required for the tool to work with home or small and midsize business users (such as Web-based key recovery), or is it part of Microsoft's attempt to sell up to SA across the board, locking more users in for the long term?"