There were many out there who were pretty certain that the next-generation Windows would be called Windows 9. This was the logical progression since we had Windows 7, Windows 8, so the next step would be Windows 9, right? Well Microsoft surprised everyone when they went with Windows 10 instead.
So what gives? Why did Microsoft decide to skip a version? Well the official party line is “Windows is at a Threshold and now it’s time for a new Windows. It wouldn’t be right to call it Windows 9.” But what’s the unofficial party line then? According to a post on Reddit by a person with the handle cranbourne, they claim that it is because of Windows 95 that Microsoft had to go with Windows 10 instead.
Cranbourne claims to be a Microsoft developer and claims that early testing with the Windows 9 moniker ran into some issues with third-party developers. It seems that some of the shortcuts used by developers used to detect apps running on Windows 95 or Windows 98 was causing some problems with the Windows 9 name.
While it does sound like a bit of a stretch, developers that Engadget spoke to have stated that it is a plausible scenario, and that it has happened in the past with Windows 2000 and certain Pentium processors back in the day, but what say you? Could an operating system from 19 years ago be the reason why Microsoft has decided to call their next-gen operating system Windows 10?
Filed in . Read more about Microsoft, Social Hit and Windows 10.