The new version of windows is out, and surprisingly Microsoft skipped a number and instead of naming it Windows 9 its Windows 10.
The reason? As per this ars technica article
Terry Myerson, executive vice president for the Operating System Group, said that the new release represented such a shift in Microsoft’s approach to delivering Windows and in what Windows will be—able to span everything from an Internet-of-Things gizmo to a phone to a tablet to a PC to a server—that calling it Windows 9 wouldn’t be big enough to capture the differences.
Hmm. Windows 10 looks a lot like Windows 7 to me – maybe they are just trying to distance themselves further from Windows 8. But I think the real reason was more technical than marketing. This article exposes the real answer based on a dev post on reddit. Apparently Microsoft is aware that Microsoft and lots of third party code have compatibility checks that check which version you are running, and Windows 9 would cause huge problems. The example snippet:
I think Microsoft did the right thing here – I have no doubt there is a bunch of code in use with this logic – and this would have wreaked havoc on people upgrading old applications to Windows 9. I think they really dodged a disaster – kudos to the technical guys who convinced Microsoft to skip Windows 9. I only think Microsoft should of been more forthcoming and spared us the BS.
I must admit however, that I would of enjoyed if the marketing department settled on Windows X instead – following the Apple roman numeral convention. Because they probably would of then run into likely compatibility checks for Windows XP…
Microsoft will be the laughing stock of future generations. The difficultly posed by all these ‘new’ versions of operating systems and new versions of other software is a disaster. I am running into problems with a Microsoft Access application originally written 10 years ago and updated every year. Each release of a new version of Office and operating systems has brought nothing but pain. I never could get the application to work in Access 2007 which forced jus those computers to remain on Access 2003 while all others in the system were upgraded. At least I been able to make it work in Office 2010 but it has not been without problems including formatting of some WORD documents written in any version before WORD 2010. Some may say ‘oh…well you are using a product that is obsolete’. But it is not just me and my application. Examples: Our main school system that we ran on until last year would not work on any version of Internet Explorer after Explorer 7, our current school system doesn’t work right on any version of Explorer and we must use Firefox, our VPN system doesn’t work on Windows 8. All of these examples are in ONE corporate-type entity. I’m sure Microsoft is making a lot of money making everyone’s life a misery and I predict the day will come when this madness will have to end. If Microsoft is willing to be part of the solution by sticking with Windows 10 then it will be a pleasure to convert to it…but I am not going to hold my breath.
It is surprising to me that Office is still a big moneymaker when most Power Office users dislike the office upgrades (myself included). Windows 7 was actually a nice upgrade from XP, but Vista and Windows 8 were an embarrassment in my book. I do have hope for Windows 10 as Nadella seems to be acknowledging ‘mistakes have been made’ by the previous administration.