Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

Waethorn — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:04:24 GMT

Um, ok, so has anybody actually confirmed (with Microsoft) what the hell Windows Strata is compared to Windows 7???

TG Daily says Windows "Cloud"/"Strata" is an API, nothing more. Other sites say it's an OS that "looks like Windows Server 2008". So which is it?

If it's some sort of cloud-computing OS, where does that put Windows 7, with most of the conventional middleware being displaced by means of Windows Live S+S offerings???

Um, isn't Windows 7 a "cloud OS", as defined by Microsoft's S+S vision, now that Windows Live is going to be a dominant user experience?!

C'mon Paul. Shed some light on the subject.

PDC is still some days away after all....

Someone tickle Ballmer again. Maybe we'll get some more hints on this.

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

subzerohitman721 — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:17:28 GMT

Since Windows Seven is ushering the age of cloud computing separately from the Windows Strata, I have proposed that Windows Seven release name should be "Windows Apollo" after the moon missions of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Much like the Mercury Program set up Apollo, Vista sets up Windows Seven.

You could actually have Earth as the orb and clouds forming the Windows Logo. You could easily use the "One small step for a man, One giant leap for Mankind" for marketing purposes. I could also envision using the music of "Thus Spake Zarathustra" and the symbolism of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odessy for marketing too.

I believe it would make a bold statement about the next version of Windows, IMO. Vista being the secure OS getting you into the cloud era, Apollo takes to the the cloud and beyond. The Greeks and Roman god Apollo was the god of of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; medicine and healing; music, poetry, the arts, and more. So a lot of great things from that name.

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

shark47 — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:59:58 GMT

tayme, Mike was right about 'nucular' and the GOP. Most Dems didn't consider McCain to be a Republican and actually liked him until he won the nomination.

Windows Me X Ultimate Edition SP2

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

Waethorn — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:57:45 GMT

"The '10' is still artificially frozen for marketing purposes."

It likely has to do with the original reason for using "X" instead of "10" is because of the fact that it uses Unix, with X-Windows being always associated with Unix. Calling it OS XI or whatever, would be dumber. Of course, calling it X+1 would be even dumberer. :P

"Apple has seemingly shifted their "major" number one point to the right."

No....THAT'S marketing talking now.

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

tayme — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:17:28 GMT

@danieldecker - Of course, you are probably right...but Mike will never admit it. It sounds a lot like what Sun did with Solaris when they jumped from Solaris 2.6 to 5.7...It is pretty well known that Solaris 7 was Sun OS v5.7, Solaris 8, Sun OS v5.8, and so on. The second digits being used for marketing purposes.

--tayme

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

danieldecker — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:23:48 GMT

Nah Mike, I think perhaps I had a little mush mouth.

In Apple's scheme, 10.x.xx, the x is the "major" version number. Like 10.4 to 10.5 The last number, the xx is obviously for incremental updates and bug fixes. The tick up form 10.4 to 10.5 certainly did contain some architectural changes. From 10.5.0 to 10.5.1 and so on have only been minor interface tweaks and bug fixes.

The '10' is still artificially frozen for marketing purposes. Apple has seemingly shifted their "major" number one point to the right.

It will be interesting to see if Apple will abandon the '10' or are we destined to see 10.10.0, ;-)

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

mikegalos@msn.com — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:02:31 GMT

danieldecker

btw: we're agreeing that 10 is the major version number. You say it's artificially frozen to keep it equivalent to X, I'm saying there are additional factors that make them not want to change the major version number.

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

mikegalos@msn.com — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:59:40 GMT

danieldecker

Hardly true. The core architecture hasn't changed. As I said, companies are loathe to change major version number. Now, you could argue that Apple doesn't use 10 in their naming but then you'd have to say that each little bug fix release is a full "point release"

Are you really saying 10.5.4 was a full point release over 10.5.3 that's the equivalent of upgrading the version from 5.4 to 5.3? The were released only a month apart.

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

danieldecker — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:18:14 GMT

@ mikegalos@msn.com

"btw: you'll note that Apple is even more tight about doing major version releases and we've been seeing version 10.x of their OS now for close to a decade."

Mike, that's a fundamental misunderstanding of Apple's numbering scheme.

Since the introduction of OS X they have artificially restricted the "major" version number, 10, since it is the 'brand' of the OS. In it's current scheme, changing the 10 would be like changing 'Windows'. They have since moved to using the second number, after the point to denote new major versions. I think you probably understand this without my explanation. And of course updates and bug fixes can increment the third number. They also employ a build number that ha a version scheme all on it's own.

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

Master3 — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:45:02 GMT

Windows 7 Snow Feisty Fawn Ultimate Edition!

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

rjohn05 — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:16:38 GMT

Snow Vista!! Ha!

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

Waethorn — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:42:35 GMT

"Maybe they should call it Windows OS XI."

LOL! How about "Snow Vista"? :P

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

richardfrisch — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:05:01 GMT

Maybe they should call it Windows OS XI.

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

benjwah — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:09:17 GMT

I'd really like to see it be called, "Windows 98, 3rd edition".

Just to confuse people.

re: Will Windows 7 get a new name for its release?

mikegalos@msn.com — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:52:37 GMT

Let's get some terminology down. A software product coming out of Microsoft has a 3 part version. Something like X.YY.ZZZZ

X is the Major Version number

YY is the Minor Version number

ZZZZ is the Build number

Changing a major version number is a HUGE deal that involves changes to contracts and forces corporate customers to do major evaluation cycles that they don't do on a point release so it is never, ever done without a LOT of good reasons.

Changing a minor version number (sometimes called a "point release" is not as big a deal but implies that core designs weren't changed. Lots of features could be added but the architecture is likely to not be different.

Build numbers are effectively internal and get changed pretty easily to track lots of different things.

I'm guessing (and it's just a guess) that it will be something like Windows 2010 and that it will have a version of something like 6.2.6300

btw: you'll note that Apple is even more tight about doing major version releases and we've been seeing version 10.x of their OS now for close to a decade.