
Windows 7 will ship as Version 6.1 - jwilliams
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/14/why-7.aspx
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mdasen
Apple 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.

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jwilliams
I thought it was more interesting from the change control perspective.

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wayne
Seems 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_r...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows#Timeline_of_releases))
yet few would claim that Windows XP was not a significant release.

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gabrielroth
I 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.

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wmf
Windows culture is so full of wrong assumptions that any OS change breaks
apps. Versioning looks like a very small problem.

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bonaldi
"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.

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cubicle67
Win 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

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KevBurnsJr
What 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.

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gojomo
Did MSFT pick up some insane executives who previously cut their teeth on
Java's numbering scheme(s)?

