4 ms·
Windows 7 will ship as Version 6.1
- KevBurnsJr 18y agoWhat happens when they make Version 7.0? Windows 7 will be a different piece of software from Windows Version 7.0 It's easy to see how something like this could cost MSFT thousands of man-hours of confusion and disambiguation.
- mdasen 18y agoApple has been doing 10.x for a while now. Most FOSS stuff (well, at least the stuff I program for) doesn't change the number before the dot unless there's an API incompatibility. I'm sure there's lots of Microsoft detractors that would just want to say, Windows 7 really is just Vista (and therefore just as bad) because the number has changed so little. Please. While I'm not a Windows user and definitely not an MS fan, arguing the merits of software based on the version number is just silly.
- jwilliams 18y agoI thought it was more interesting from the change control perspective.
- wayne 18y agoSeems like a no-brainer from an engineering perspective. - They use 7: It says "7.0" when you look at the version number on the About Windows dialog, which nearly no users look at anyway. - They use 6.1: All the programs that have a hard-coded check for "6" keep working and you can claim complete application compatibility with Vista. Windows XP was 5.1 to Windows 2000's 5.0 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows#Timeline_of_releases http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows#Timeline_of_r...) yet few would claim that Windows XP was not a significant release.
- gabrielroth 18y agoI agree. But if, as you suggest, it's an "engineering no-brainer" to retain the leading digit even on a major new release, something about the versioning system is broken.
- wmf 18y agoWindows culture is so full of wrong assumptions that any OS change breaks apps. Versioning looks like a very small problem.
- nanexcool 18y agowinver.exe says Version 6.1 (Build 7000), that's the About Windows dialog. I'm using the Beta version.
- gojomo 18y agoDid MSFT pick up some insane executives who previously cut their teeth on Java's numbering scheme(s)?
- bonaldi 18y ago"Following Windows 3.0 was Windows NT which was code versioned as Windows 3.1. Then came Windows 95" Wait, what about Windows 3.1 (ie the 16-bit one, the upgrade from 3.0)? Did they have two different products that were both Windows version 3.1, or did "Windows 3.1" get a different version number? These people are nuts.
- cubicle67 18y agoWin 95 wasn't a follow on from NT. There used to be two separate paths for Windows: 95 -> 98 -> 98SE -> ME [end of line], and NT -> 2000 -> XP -> Vista -> 7