First they were, and then they weren't, but now BBC News is reporting that, Microsoft has really, officially confirmed that it will be shipping Windows Vista, to quote our own Victor Agreda, Jr., in "a rainbow of flavors." Ready? Start counting:

• Vista Business
• Vista Enterprise
• Vista Home Basic
• Vista Home Premium
• Vista Ultimate
• Vista Starter

You can head over to BBC News for all the deets, but here's the gist: It's pretty much what we've been expecting. Vista Business and Enterprise are pretty much what you'd expect. Home Premium does everything Home Basic does but tosses in the Aero GUI that we've seen in all the screenshots and "will also be able to connect their machine to an Xbox 360 gaming console"--expect it to be the version that ships on most OEM PCs. Vista Ultimate combines the features of all the other versions and, finally, Vista Starter is intended for low-end PCs in developing nations. Additionally there will be "versions made specifically for Europe that, in accordance with an EU mandate, remove the Windows media player," which are analagous to the "N" versions previously rumored. So that adds up to... yep, a rainbow of flavors.