Why Microsoft is calling it Windows 10 and not Windows 9

Windows 10 is right around the corner, set to launch later this year as a free upgrade for all users of Windows 7 or 8 OS — genuine or pirated. That’s right, even pirates will get to reap the benefits of what is shaping up to be the next definitive version of windows. There’s a catch though — the software is only free for the first year, after which it must be purchased; it’s not clear whether that means that those refusing the purchase will have their content locked once the time expires. What else isn’t clear is why Microsoft’s nomenclature skipped the number 9 and went straight for 10. We can, however, make a few speculations.

As you may recall, the versions of Windows between Windows 3 and Windows 7 were all designated by a name rather than a number — 95, 98, NT, Me, 2000, Vista — so even the name Windows 7 was a bit of a departure in its own right. Not to mention, the name of each Windows version doesn’t actually match the real version number: Windows 7 is actually Windows 6.1, Windows 8 is Windows 6.2, Windows 8.1 is 6.3, and Windows 10 is version 6.4. The last time the version number and marketing name matched was back in 1996, when the enterprise-minded Windows NT 4.0 launched. The subsequent version of NT was later named Windows 2000, rather than Windows NT 5.0. The key takeaway is that product numbers do necessarily mean anything anymore; what the hell is an Vista?

ExtremeTech suggests that one reason why the number 9 is skipped is the same as why the number 13 is avoided elevator floor numbering: it’s considered unlucky by certain cultures. In this case, the number 9 is considered unlucky in Japanese culture and Microsoft has enough of a presence in Japan to deliberately avoid market sabotage. ExtremeTech points out that the Japanese antivirus company Trend Micro also skipped version 9 of its software.

Another explanation arose from a Reddit user reputing to be a Microsoft developer that claimed that there are still a bunch of legacy desktop apps that use the kind of code shown below to verify the OS version, with code written to check for Windows 95 and 98. As absurd as this sounds, it’s not unlike Microsoft to go to great lengths to ensure maximum backwards compatibility with third party software, even if that means renaming their product.

Alternatively, it could be assumed that Microsoft simply sought to distance itself as much as possible from the disaster that was Windows 8, a product widely considered to be far inferior to Windows 7. If history is a precursor to anything, Windows 10 is expected to be a solid product, and what better way to commemorate this than with a strong number like 10, rather than 9. Otherwise, the company would be throwing away some valuable marketing potential when the time to use the number 10 finally does come up and it winds up being assigned to another poor product. By now we’re all familiar with Microsoft’s tendency of releasing one an awful product after each good one, in alternate sequence that goes back almost 20 years to Windows 95 and 98.  And after all, the name Windows 7 was so different from Windows Vista that one could’ve only assumed the product would be different too; it’s the psychology of association.

Or maybe they skipped a number because half their customer base skipped a number when Windows 8 came out; I know I’m still running Windows 7.

Source: Extremetech