Windows 10

[a_unique_person]

It was some similar schematic when he showed me for windows vista and 7. If you viewed the properties for the OS, vista was 6.0, and 7 was "6.1".

Whatever, just thought it was amusing more than anything

Yes. They made you pay to fix their mess with Vista. Win 7 should have been free. In Server world, Vista was the consumer name for Server 2008, Win 7 was the consumer name for Server 2008 R2.

 

[Cl1mh4224rd]

It was some similar schematic when he showed me for windows vista and 7. If you viewed the properties for the OS, vista was 6.0, and 7 was "6.1".

I suspected as much. Those numbers represent the version of NT, the kernel that modern releases of Windows are running. "Windows 8.1", for example, is technically the marketing name.

Still, adding the major and minor revision number together to get the "true" version number is nonsensical. Using that method, both Windows XP (5.1) and Windows Vista (6.0) are "version 6". Slap your friend on the back of the head for me.

 

[LondonJohn]

As reported by this site http://ss64.com/nt/ver.html.

Name | Version
Vista|6.0
7|6.1
8|6.2
8.1|6.3
10|6.4

7, 8 & 10 do line up as adding major + minor, so maybe there is more to the idea of 8.1 really being 9 than numerology.

FWIW, a friend of mine who works for Microsoft (though not in Windows) told me a few months ago that it was commonly understood within MS that 8.1 was effectively 9. There was a huge re-engineering of the code after all the problems with 8 started coming to light, but an executive decision was made to stick to a near-identical GUI and brand it as 8.1. The (pretty obvious) reason for this was to head off accusations that the company had ditched 8 very fast and had rush-released 9 in what would have been an unprecedented speed of evolution of Windows release numbers/names. So it was decided to present the new OS as merely a regular iteration of 8. That way, MS could claim that 8.1 was nothing more than a tweaking of an already-great OS.

Meanwhile, a number of the 8/8.1 senior managers were "repositioned" within the company and a task force was immediately set up to work on Windows 10 (with a significant resource being devoted to marketing and branding).

 

[Rrose Selavy]

FWIW, a friend of mine who works for Microsoft (though not in Windows) told me a few months ago that it was commonly understood within MS that 8.1 was effectively 9. There was a huge re-engineering of the code after all the problems with 8 started coming to light, but an executive decision was made to stick to a near-identical GUI and brand it as 8.1. The (pretty obvious) reason for this was to head off accusations that the company had ditched 8 very fast and had rush-released 9 in what would have been an unprecedented speed of evolution of Windows release numbers/names. So it was decided to present the new OS as merely a regular iteration of 8. That way, MS could claim that 8.1 was nothing more than a tweaking of an already-great OS.

Wasn't the emphasis made from MS , in online tech news sites quite a few years ago, that the days of the big updates to Windows and the long gaps would be passed over for a more gradual and faster update?
5 years between XP and Vista, 3/4 years between Vista and 8? However the poor reception for 8 also seemed to suggest it had still been rushed.

 

[paulhutch]

Windows XP October 2001 to Vista January 2007 = 5.25 Years
Vista January 2007 to Windows 8 October 2012 = 5.8 Years

 

[Rrose Selavy]

Windows XP October 2001 to Vista January 2007 = 5.25 Years
Vista January 2007 to Windows 8 October 2012 = 5.8 Years

Yes, I meant the period between 7 and 8.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Microsoft_Windows

 

[zooterkin]

FWIW, a friend of mine who works for Microsoft (though not in Windows) told me a few months ago that it was commonly understood within MS that 8.1 was effectively 9. There was a huge re-engineering of the code after all the problems with 8 started coming to light, but an executive decision was made to stick to a near-identical GUI and brand it as 8.1.

I thought most of the complaints about Windows 8 were about the UI.