Why is it Windows *7*?

C

Charles Lavin

Hi --

The only Windows 7 ng I can find is an Italian one, so I guess I'll post
this here ... :)

I'm sure I'm not the first one to wonder about this, but I can't find an
answer anywhere. Maybe someone here can enlighten me:

Why is the new Windows OS named Windows 7? It's not the seventh version of
the Windows desktop family:

Windows 3
Windows 95 = Windows 4
Windows 98 = Windows 5
Windows Me = Windows 6 (or maybe 5.5, or maybe 0 ... but still ...)
Windows 2000 desktop = Windows 7
Windows XP = Windows 8
Windows Vista = Windows 9 (or maybe another 0 ... but still ...)

That would make Windows 7 the 10th desktop version of Windows.

Even eliminating Windows Me and Windows Vista from the list would make
Windows 7 the 8th desktop version of Windows ...

So what's the reason for this name?
 
B

Bill Yanaire

Charles Lavin said:
Hi --

The only Windows 7 ng I can find is an Italian one, so I guess I'll post
this here ... :)

I'm sure I'm not the first one to wonder about this, but I can't find an
answer anywhere. Maybe someone here can enlighten me:

Why is the new Windows OS named Windows 7? It's not the seventh version of
the Windows desktop family:
Click to expand...

Because the marketing WEENIES at Microsoft decided that Windows 7 would look
cool on the box.
Windows 3
Windows 95 = Windows 4
Windows 98 = Windows 5
Windows Me = Windows 6 (or maybe 5.5, or maybe 0 ... but still ...)
Windows 2000 desktop = Windows 7
Windows XP = Windows 8
Windows Vista = Windows 9 (or maybe another 0 ... but still ...)

That would make Windows 7 the 10th desktop version of Windows.

Even eliminating Windows Me and Windows Vista from the list would make
Windows 7 the 8th desktop version of Windows ...

So what's the reason for this name?
Click to expand...
Because the marketing WEENIES at Microsoft decided that Windows 7 would look
cool on the box.

Any questions?
 
K

KEVIN JOHN PANZKE

WRONG!

WINDOWS 95/WINDOWS 98/WINDOWS ME = W4.XX

WINDOWS 2000 = WINDOWS 5.0

WINDOWS XP = WINDOWS 5.1

WINDOWS SERVER 2003 = WINDOWS 5.2

WINDOWS VISTA/WINDOWS SERVER 2008 = WINDOWS 6.0

WINDOWS 7/WINDOWS SERVER 2008 R2 = WINDOWS 6.1.7600!
 
S

Saucy

IMHO:

It was the code name. Windows Vista had the 6.0 of the kernel version. I
guess they originally planned a number 7 kernel. But it turned out to be
version 6.1. Anyway, the beta version was codenamed "7". Usually they would
later change it to something else, but the feedback on the name "Windows 7"
during beta was so positive that they just stuck with it.

Saucy
 
J

Jim

It is the seventh version of Windows NT.
Windows 1, 2, 3, 95, 98, and ME are not based on Windows NT. Hence,
whatever their internal name may be, they don't count.

NT 1, 2, 3, and 4 were never available to the general public for use on a
PC.
Windows NT5 was called Windows 2000
Windows NT5.1 was called Windows XP
Windows NT6 is called Windows Vista
Windows NT7 is called Windows 7.
Jim
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

Hi --

The only Windows 7 ng I can find is an Italian one, so I guess I'll post
this here ... :)

I'm sure I'm not the first one to wonder about this, but I can't find an
answer anywhere. Maybe someone here can enlighten me:

Why is the new Windows OS named Windows 7? It's not the seventh version of
the Windows desktop family:

Windows 3
Windows 95 = Windows 4
Windows 98 = Windows 5
Windows Me = Windows 6 (or maybe 5.5, or maybe 0 ... but still ...)
Windows 2000 desktop = Windows 7
Windows XP = Windows 8
Windows Vista = Windows 9 (or maybe another 0 ... but still ...)

That would make Windows 7 the 10th desktop version of Windows.

Even eliminating Windows Me and Windows Vista from the list would make
Windows 7 the 8th desktop version of Windows ...

So what's the reason for this name?
Click to expand...

All those other replies are wrong. The real reason is that "7" is
hexadecimal for 10.

Seriousness aside, maybe they just did it because 7 is a lucky number.
 
C

Charles Lavin

That makes sense ... since Windows 98 and earlier are technically not
operating systems.

Thanks
 
C

Charles Lavin

LOL --- almost ...

If it had been Windows 8, you could have claimed that 8 is 10 in octal ...
 
K

Ken Blake, MVP

It is the seventh version of Windows NT.
Windows 1, 2, 3, 95, 98, and ME are not based on Windows NT. Hence,
whatever their internal name may be, they don't count.

NT 1, 2, 3, and 4 were never available to the general public for use on a
PC.
Windows NT5 was called Windows 2000

Yes.


Windows NT5.1 was called Windows XP

Yes.


Windows NT6 is called Windows Vista

Yes.


Windows NT7 is called Windows 7.
Click to expand...


Big surprise perhaps, but no! Check the under-the-hood name by issuing
the VER command from a command Window. Windows 7 is Windows 6.1, not
7.0
 
A

Alias

Big surprise perhaps, but no! Check the under-the-hood name by issuing
the VER command from a command Window. Windows 7 is Windows 6.1, not
7.0
Click to expand...

Veeeeeeeeery interesting.

Alias
 
S

Spanky de Monkey

Alias said:
Veeeeeeeeery interesting.

Alias
Click to expand...

One thing for sure, Ubuntu is a piece of SHIT that NOBODY needs or wants.
Ubuntu is worth exactly what you pay for it: NOTHING
 
S

STAN STARINSKI

Because first was 3.0, quickly replaced with 3.1 as 3.0 bombed itself out;
then was Win95 (4th generation), then Win98/ME (5th), famed Windows2000/XP
(6th), and now Windows7.

You're too young to remember Windows3.1, but I was already 19 years old by
then and have used it for several years before WIn98 (I skipped WIn85).

And in most countries people have better engineering brains and use numbers,
only in late 1990's suddenly technical things began to be labeled with
catchy/cute labels like 'Windows XP", or "Nissan Altima"
Numberin system was before that and now we're returning to it somewhat, and
that's great.
The number 7 tells me "generation 7, after generation 6" and it's more
technical instead of ever increasing vocabulary of catchy labels I don't
want to waste cognitive capacity to recognize.

What does Vista mean? That is far more senseless than naming that OS
"Windows 6", but now it's engineer speaking in me.
For you 'Vista" may sound nicer!
 

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