"Windows 10"?

[Ctrl-Opt-Del]

Seriously? That's what Microsoft's calling the next version of Windows?

So... 1, 2, 3, 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, 98SE, Me, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10...

...and I thought Apple's iPhone numbering system was messed-up!

 

[chscag]

Apparently Microsoft decided that Windows 8.1 was in reality the 9th iteration of Windows and thus renamed Windows 9 to 10. See the following article.

 

[vansmith]

Numbering doesn't really mean anything. Slackware, a (used to be) popular Linux distribution jumped from v. 4 to v. 7 for, if I remember correctly, marketing reasons (everyone was inflating their numbers quicker than Slackware was so Volkdering, the maintainer of Slackware, jumped the version number). There was a debate in the Linux kernel community about this too when Linus designated one of the releases v. 3.

Browser makers do this as well (especially Mozilla and Google). Apple's done the same with iOS. I was reading something the other day about Apple's versioning of iOS. In the 4.x series, Apple released 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3, a pattern of minor version number bumps not seen since (this article speculated that Apple will that with the 8.x line and given that Apple has released 8.1 beta to developers, it looks like that might be the case).

 

[dtravis7]

Van, I remember that version number jumping with Slackware. It was my favorite Linux back in the day.

Mozilla really started jumping numbers with Firefox!

 

[vansmith]

I had to check that Slackware was still around which, apparently, is very much the case (although they're a little behind).

I sort of get why browser developers increment major version numbers quickly. Web development moves a million miles an hour and so I suppose, to stay on top of things, you release often. People are pushing more on to the web (Google is really the biggest culprit here for better or worse) so I can see why this is happening.

 

[dtravis7]

Glad you checked. I am glad old Slack is still around. I miss playing with it.

 

[chas_m]

The numbers (from 7 on up, anyway) have never meant anything. Windows 7 was not the seventh major release of Windows (that would be Windows 98 or Windows Me, depending on how you count). It's feel-good marketing, sort of like when Apple discovered that people preferred to call the OS releases by their code names and adopted them as official names (though at least they've actually stuck with the numbering as well).

I imagine the next one will be called whatever Marketing decides is the hot and sexy number of the moment -- or maybe they'll give it a name to a trendy, hipster town like Windows Portland.

 

[harryb2448]

Spot on chas m. Would have liked Mavericks to continue the cats with Cougar but I guess Hollywood fixed that for us! And Ctrl-Opt-Del it is the first law of psychology - what people do makes sense to them so obviosuly Microsoft Marketing thinks '10' is the hot way to go to match OS X.10.

 

[dbm]

The sensible money is on avoiding compatibility issues with code which checks for the the version of windows assuming anything starting with a "9" is 95 or 98:

Why is it called Windows 10 not Windows 9? | ExtremeTech

 

[chas_m]

vansmith: Apple appears to be going back to the v4 update styling with iOS 8. The next update is called iOS 8.1, and the two in development after that are called 8.2 and 8.3.

I approve of this. Emergency bug fixes should have numbers like x.x.1 (and so far in iOS 8, they have!), regular feature refinement/updates should be x.1, x.2 etc.

 

[MYmacROX]

The sensible money is on avoiding compatibility issues with code which checks for the the version of windows assuming anything starting with a "9" is 95 or 98:

Why is it called Windows 10 not Windows 9? | ExtremeTech

I read something about this yesterday. Apparently, using "9" caused confusion with "95" and "98". Technical stuff over my head, but that's the gist of it.

 

[vansmith]

I read something about this yesterday. Apparently, using "9" caused confusion with "95" and "98". Technical stuff over my head, but that's the gist of it.

I'll take a stab at explaining this.

Essentially, programmers had put check in their applications to see if code was running on Windows 95 and eventually Windows 98. They did this by requesting the name of the operating system in their code which would have returned "Windows 95" or "Windows 98." The common denominator there is the "Windows 9" part so code would check to see if the name of the OS contained the phrase "Windows 9."

 

[howieho]

Apparently Microsoft decided that Windows 8.1 was in reality the 9th iteration of Windows and thus renamed Windows 9 to 10. See the following article.

Is that like John Hurt's War Doctor who actually preceded Chris Eccleston's time line who was the 9th Doctor, but In reality is the 10th Doctor, but we don't count the War Doctor so he is still keeps the title of the 9th doctor? And, David Tenet had a second regeneration meaning he was the 10 & 11th Doctor but actually the 11th & 12th Doctor if you count the War Doctor or something like that?

Couldn't resist.

 

[chscag]

@howieho:

Thank you for making that perfectly clear! ;P

 

[chas_m]

Is that like John Hurt's War Doctor who actually preceded Chris Eccleston's time line who was the 9th Doctor, but In reality is the 10th Doctor, but we don't count the War Doctor so he is still keeps the title of the 9th doctor? And, David Tenet had a second regeneration meaning he was the 10 & 11th Doctor but actually the 11th & 12th Doctor if you count the War Doctor or something like that?

Couldn't resist.

NOW you are ready for your new job at Microsoft Marketing!!

 

[howieho]

You can always count on the Doctor to put some perspective on something that makes no sense.

 

[Exodist]

Van, I remember that version number jumping with Slackware. It was my favorite Linux back in the day.
...........

Dear lord I remember Slack7.. I learned SO much having to compile and configure everything. Todays so called Linux users have it soo easy.. I remember taking a whole weekend just to write mode lines for my 14" monitor to just 1024x768 at the write refresh rate working. .LOL....

 

[vansmith]

I remember having to configure X manually. The good ol days...wait, no, not the good ol days.

 

[Exodist]

I remember having to configure X manually. The good ol days...wait, no, not the good ol days.

LOL I know you right...


I honeslty feel I enjoyed using linux the most before GNOME went to version 3.0.. I just loved GNOME 2 so much..

Here is what my desktop looked like.. hehe

 

[vansmith]

I'm actually one of the few who prefers GNOME 3 (I'll just go and hide now)...