I think they are doing this just because they don't want people getting too comfortable with one OS, like with what happened to XP.

Not that i will complain. I tend to enjoy shiny new things

One small complaint: I'm pretty sure Windows 7 isn't the 7th edition of Windows (1.0, 3.1, 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista make 8 already, not counting other point releases or Server/mobile types), so the next one will not necessarily be Windows 8.

Nope...you start planning the next version as soon as the newest version hits the field. Depending on how long all the innovation takes to develop will more than likely determine how long windows 7 will stay around. Doesn't matter which OS you like, they all have to innovate and improve over what's currently available, or noone will want it. Time for some COD5!

Hah! Don't forget Windows 3.0, NT, etc!! Don't have a clue where they came up with their numbering scheme.

man they should give it a rest for like 1 year between os's

And Intel's Core i7 isn't exactly the 7th generation either, but they got away with the naming

It should be...Core i12! (486 = 4, Pentium = 5, Pentium 2 = 6, Pentium 3 = 7, Pentium 4 = 8, Pentium D = 9, Core = 10, Core 2 = 11, Core i7 = 12)

[citation][nom]Tuan Nguyen[/nom]That's a great thing to hear because Microsoft is actually already starting to work on Windows 7 Service Pack 1. [citation]

Fixed. =D

Actually, Pentium D and Core are part of the Netburst architecture, so it'll be i886 while Core 2 is i986 and Core i7 would be i1086 if we were to put it this way.

Windows Vista is technically Windows NT 6.0 and Windows 7 is NT 6.1. Windows 2000 was Windows NT 5.0, Windows XP was Windows NT 5.1 and Windows 2003 was Windows NT 5.2.

So, that's how the numbering kind of came to Windows 7. However, I would rather they just call it Windows 6 just because it's NT6.1 not 7.0.

Plus, even when Windows 7 comes out, 95% I'm sticking to Windows Server 2008 because it works, I pretty much like it and I hate the new taskbar and having transparency on the window border even when maximized. Windows 7 doesn't look like much of a step forward. Not worth the money to invest (and won't use it on any of my computers if my college ends up giving the license to me for free).

Shhhh, you can't reveal Intel's secrets!

Since when rewriting the OS core is called a service pack?


> The core engine is also being reworked to provide dramatic performance improvements

What about the 8088, 8086, 80286, 80386.....that's up to 986 or so.
Then win 1.0, win 2.0, win 3.0, win 3.1, win 3.11 (my fav), nt 3.0, nt 3.5, nt 4.0, 95, 98, 98se (second fav), me, 2k, xp, 2k3, 2k8, vista, 7....that's up to Win19 not 8! Course if we ignore the divergence of nt and win32, we'd only be up to 16

Pretty sure I missed a few also.

Windows 8?!? DX12 anyone?

That was a friendly jab, dude.

Windows 7 is the seventh gen 32-bit windows, just like core i7 is seventh gen 32-bit processor.

One of the main things I want is pure x64 versions, no more of this "Do you want 32 bit or 64 bit - oh, 64 bit isn't available, too bad! Now you can't use the full 6 GB of RAM you have!"

"Mr_Man

One small complaint: I'm pretty sure Windows 7 isn't the 7th edition of Windows (1.0, 3.1, 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista make 8 already, not counting other point releases or Server/mobile types), so the next one will not necessarily be Windows 8."

No its not, but it is NT 7.0, Vista was either 6.1 or 6.0 with server2008 being 6.0 too. XP was 5.1, 2k was 5.0, NT was 4.0 and so on.
Windows 98 and 95 were some variation of the 3.something or 4. something, not sure TBH. In this light the naming DOES make sense, but I understand that it is a rather confusing system. By all rights 7 should be NT6.5 because its so evolutionary instead of revolutionary, but they wanted to start anew with the naming scheme.

What I want is: 64-bit only OS with virtual/sandbox/whatever-you-want-to-call-it 32-bit legacy PRINTER driver support and 32-bit legacy software support.

I can live without 64-bit only drivers for everything except printers. Sometimes, you end up with an office scenario where the cool $50,000 photocopier with 15 paper trays, scanning, binding, stapling, envelope stuffing and automatic coffeemaker is missing a 64-bit print driver.

Dudes the version of 7 in Windows 7 represents the kernel versions that was traversed since the 1st Microsoft OS. So Windows 7 has the 7th kernel version.

thats normal, hope they start from scratchm, but i fear it will be just another tweak on windows vista...

1- Windows 1
2- Windows 3.##
3- Windows 9x/ME
4- Windows 2000
5- Windows XP
6- Windows Vista
7- Windows 7 (Which of 95,98,me holds to the 3rd edition, Windows 7 should still be 6th edition)

There are two lines of version numbering, the Home line and the NT line. For the Home line:
Windows 3.1 (3.1), Windows 95 (4.0), Windows 98 (4.1), Windows Me (4.9)

For the NT line:
Windows NT 3.51 (3.51), Windows NT 4 (4.0), Windows 2000 (5.0), Windows XP (5.1), Windows 2003 (5.2), Windows Vista (6.0), Windows 7 (6.1)

So if anything, Windows 8 will either be v6.2 or v7.0

This time I'll wait for the second windows to be used on the new kernel so I don't get fucked over like with Vista >_>

If Microsoft charged less for their OSs, than I would consider a good thing to have a new one every 2 years, but I don't believe it's going to happen, so I would prefer them to focus on bringing a Win7 bug-free, offer good updates when necessary and then go to a new one.

And don't tell me I could buy any less than the best home version, because it would be cheaper. Yeah, it would be cheaper AND crappier. God, I hate those millions versions of Windows...

Who cares microsoft just figured out a way not to spend jack loads of money on tring to make an attarctive naming scheme for every release Windows _insert number_

Dman7 wrote:
"Dudes the version of 7 in Windows 7 represents the kernel versions that was traversed since the 1st Microsoft OS. So Windows 7 has the 7th kernel version."

This is correct. There is even a video of the first demonstration of Windows 7 where they explained it.

I agree, and they should have done it with Windows 7 already. But they ARE doing it with Windows Server 2008 R2 - it is 64bit only. 32bit apps mostly run just fine on those PCs, and by the time Win8 is out application virtualization will be common enough to be included in base OS (I hope).. So it won't matter if you're running 64bit Windows 8 - any application from older version of Windows will work just fine.

But let's first wait and see what RTM Windows 7 brings us, shall we?

m$ started the work on the "next" windblow$ version after the monumental vi$hta (aka DRM o$) flop. "$even" is just an interim contingency plan (aka vi$hta SP2 w/lipstick - 6.1 means exactly that) for the dumb con$umer - maybe he'll gulp the bait - hook, line, and sinker - and shell out some more $$$.
Maybe, by just an extremely slim chance, if m$ would let away it's characteristic greed - don't really count on that - "8ight" won't be 6.2.

project greed

I hope win7 will have a built in dosbox like thing - but for running 16bit windows applications. I've recently realized that despite most of my older games being 32bit, many of the installation programs are still 16 bit, so I can't actually install the games.

Good thing there's vmware - but not everything works in vmware. Heroes of might and magic 4 works just fine, but need for speed 3 only works in software mode, and quite a few games not at all.

If you built a light bulb that lasted 1000 years, how long would light bulb companies be in business? If you build an OS that does everything you need it to for the next 1000 years, how long would OS manufacturers be in business?

Planned obsolescence is the nature of commercial enterprise. Do they want to make something that lasts a life time? Heck no - they only want to make something that will barely outlast the competition.

This is why open source software is becoming more and more appealing to me. They step out of the traditional closed commercial enterprise that dominates software. Also, doesn't open source represent the ideal that people want - free, modifiable, customizable, anti-DRM, and utilitarian? (Yet everyone still wants to play their DRM loaded games and movies, so they stick with funding what they are opposed to rather than telling manufacturers to make content for the platform they want or go without the sales income...)

Most of the stuff that they are talking about in terms of Windows 8 seem to be things that the normal consumer would never use. It seems to me that people are getting in a fuss about the next Windows OS when it is pretty clear that what they are working on is the successor to windows server 2008. How many in home customers will have the need to replicate one way. The article even said that it would revolutionise file access in BRANCH OFFICES. That alone screams server edition.