The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows.  We’ve used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or “aspirational” monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista.  And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense.  Likewise, coming up with an all-new “aspirational” name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.

Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore “Windows 7″ just makes sense.

Now after the announcement was made, the web was abuzz as to whether this really was the seventh version of Windows. People began counting the different version of Windows that’s appeared over the years and the seven just didn’t add up. Of course it’s rather amusing that NO ONE thought about this earlier when everyone in the world knew the next version was codenamed “Windows 7’ – but whatever. I suppose news has been slow recently eh? (BTW.. has reporting on CNET’s News.com gotten worse or is it just me?)

So people asked.. and good ol Mike decided to write another posting yesterday to answer this very topic. Here’s some snippets from the posting:

“I’ll say up front, that there are many ways to count the releases of Windows and it’s been both a trip down memory lane and quite amusing to read all the different theories about how we got to the number “7.”

Anyway, the numbering we used is quite simple.  The very first release of Windows was Windows 1.0, the second was Windows 2.0, the third Windows 3.0.

Here’s where things get a little more complicated.  Following Windows 3.0 was Windows NT which was code versioned as Windows 3.1. Then came Windows 95, which was code versioned as Windows 4.0.  Then, Windows 98, 98 SE and Windows Millennium each shipped as 4.0.1998, 4.10.2222, and 4.90.3000, respectively. So we’re counting all 9x versions as being 4.0.

Windows 2000 code was 5.0 and then we shipped Windows XP as 5.1, even though it was a major release we didn’t’ want to change code version numbers to maximize application compatibility.

That brings us to Windows Vista, which is 6.0.  So we see Windows 7 as our next logical significant release and 7^th in the family of Windows releases.””

So there you have it folks.. Windows 7 is the next version and folks attending the PDC and WinHEC will get a chance to see a version of it. Hope to attend PDC.. we’ll see (since I do have jury duty).

Technorati Tags: Windows 7, Mike Nash,

Of course this also reminded me of the original advertisement for Windows 1.0 where Paint was one of the heralded features of the new platform (which of course wasn’t an operating system as of yet since it ran on top of DOS).

Now the real question to answer will be – what exactly is in Windows 7 and when is it slated to come out?

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Windows 7, Milestone 3, Microsoft Paint

While you won’t find any information about what new features will be found in Windows 7 as of yet, the first posting on the blog does mention two important upcoming dates – the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on October 27th and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) the following week. You can expect more detailed in-depth technical information regarding Windows 7 to be revealed at these events.

Finally, Steven and Jon had this to say:

“Starting from the first days of developing Windows 7, we have committed as a team to “promise and deliver”. That’s our goal—share with you what we’re going to get done, why we’re doing it, and deliver it with high quality and on time”

[Check it out via News.com]

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows 7, Engineering Blog, MSDN

This is absolutely classic. Right when the torch lighting was taking place Friday night, a BSOD projection could be seen near the top of the roof. I totally missed this but then again, I think I fell asleep by the time the torch lighting was taking place (that was one long but beautiful ceremony!). In any event, I’m going to have to go back and sift through my HD recording to see if I could see it more clearly. Hilarious.. and classic. Now I wonder.. was this brought to you by Lenovo like everything else? HA! Thanks to Andrew for this one!

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: BSOD, Olympics

The wait is finally over for Windows XP Service Pack 3. SP3 is finally available either via Windows Update or via the Microsoft Download Center here. SP3 was originally delayed by Microsoft due to an incompatibility between the release and Microsoft Dynamic Retail Management software. However, Microsoft got around this by filtering out machines who utilizes the Dynamic Retail Management software.

[Check it out via PC World]

Technorati Tags: Windows XP Service Pack 3

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Technorati Tags: Microsoft Vista, Service Pack 1 RC Refresh 2

According to this article over at PC World, Devil Mountain Software ran their OfficeBench suite of performance benchmarks on a laptop running Office 2007 on top of Windows XP SP3 and found up to a 10 percent speed increase when compared to the previous service pack release. These benchmarks also reveal that Windows XP SP3 is considerably faster than the upcoming Windows Vista Service Pack 1 release. So far – no comment from Microsoft on the performance of XP SP3.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Windows XP, Service Pack 3, Devil Mountain Software

In actuality, while this is certainly a threat, the real problem isn’t so much Boot Camp but applications like Parallels which allows Windows applications to run simultaneously under OS X. Boot Camp only allows you to choose one OS over the other while a program like Parallels will allow you to run Windows within a VM under OS X. Plus – thanks to Intel Virtualization technologies, you will get pretty darn good Windows application speeds out of Parallels. So .. why purchase say Office for Mac when you can run Office for Windows on a Mac OS X platform?

At the end of the day, I believe giving consumers the opportunity to run Windows applications actually will help spur the sales of Mac systems – primarily because consumers can opt to have the best of both worlds – something not quite possibly with a Windows only solution.

[Check it out via CrunchGear]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Boot Camp, Windows, Parallels

I’m sorry but this is absolutely scary if you ask me. I believe the picture is self explanatory here. No words can describe the horror…

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Windows Logo, Home