Windows 4, 5 and 6?
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From my WinXP system:
C:\>ver
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
From my wife's Vista system:
C:\>ver
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
My Windows 7 reads:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
So unfortunately doesn't quite work. If Vista read 7.0 and Win 7 read 7.1, then it would have worked quite nicely.
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So we now have Windows 7. That got me wondering what the previous numbers were. We all remember Windows 3.11 (either from actual use or from your history classes in school). But what about the others? I'm guessing Windows 95, 98 and ME are all lumped together into Windows 4. That would make XP Windows 5 and Vista Windows 6. Of course, that leaves a lot of forking questions about where NT fits into the numbering scheme, but I'm willing to give that a miss. Of course, if my guessing is correct, that would mean that Windows 95 was 4.0, 98 was 4.1 and ME was 4.2, for which we paid full boat "new version" prices. Say, it suddenly occurs to me that I have this all wrong. Maybe it's Windows 95/98/ME as 4, all that NT stuff as 5, XP as 6 and Vista as version 7. That would mean Windows 7 is really just Windows 7.1, which makes much more sense. Of course, we'll still be paying the full "new version" pricing for the dot release. But then, that precedent was already set in the Windows 9x stuff, so I guess it's okay. Now my head is spinning. Is it too early to have a drink?
Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Copywriting Services
Wikipedia help us! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows#Timeline_of_releases[^] That said, it is worth remarking that Windows 7 is actually Windows 6.1. Oh, Microsoft...
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I think you got it right - the most important bit is "Kernel." Windows 9x didn't come into the versioning scheme - considering they were all essentially the same (basically just explorer.exe tweaks ;P ) that makes sense. On top of that; that line was abandoned when XP came out so the versions are not important. The versioning for Win7/2008 is a compatibility hack. They are a new version because they are based on MinWin component model - but Microsoft decided to leave the 'internal' version the same for developers who don't know how to use the '&&' operator. So the last line should read: Windows 7/Server 2K8 R2 officially NT 7.0 (and probably 7.1, respectfully) but left at 6.1 for compatibility. Otherwise, spot on!
He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. [Chineese Proverb] Jonathan C Dickinson (C# Software Engineer)
You're right...it's 7 but labeled 6.1 so that they don't have the same issues with the transition from XP to Vista. In all honesty, checking version numbers for compatibility is lazy and broken and irritates me to no end. But people are going to do it anyway. So at least MSFT is doing what they can to minimize the issue. If you ask me...I think they named it Windows 7 just so they could rhyme it with heaven as in this video[^] Another interesting note: the XP in Windows XP is really the Greek characters Chi and Rho (pronounced Cairo)
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So we now have Windows 7. That got me wondering what the previous numbers were. We all remember Windows 3.11 (either from actual use or from your history classes in school). But what about the others? I'm guessing Windows 95, 98 and ME are all lumped together into Windows 4. That would make XP Windows 5 and Vista Windows 6. Of course, that leaves a lot of forking questions about where NT fits into the numbering scheme, but I'm willing to give that a miss. Of course, if my guessing is correct, that would mean that Windows 95 was 4.0, 98 was 4.1 and ME was 4.2, for which we paid full boat "new version" prices. Say, it suddenly occurs to me that I have this all wrong. Maybe it's Windows 95/98/ME as 4, all that NT stuff as 5, XP as 6 and Vista as version 7. That would mean Windows 7 is really just Windows 7.1, which makes much more sense. Of course, we'll still be paying the full "new version" pricing for the dot release. But then, that precedent was already set in the Windows 9x stuff, so I guess it's okay. Now my head is spinning. Is it too early to have a drink?
Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Copywriting Services
Where is the windows 1 and 2? So you have: Windows 3.11, Windows CE, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7; What you need to resolve the puzzle is group "similar" windows(es) (how it is the plural of "windows" anyway?) and set it from earlier to later and you will get Windows 7 at 7-th place ;) But then I do not think Windows 3.11 will be the third. Think about it as the way series of star wars released :)
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From my WinXP system:
C:\>ver
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
From my wife's Vista system:
C:\>ver
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
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So we now have Windows 7. That got me wondering what the previous numbers were. We all remember Windows 3.11 (either from actual use or from your history classes in school). But what about the others? I'm guessing Windows 95, 98 and ME are all lumped together into Windows 4. That would make XP Windows 5 and Vista Windows 6. Of course, that leaves a lot of forking questions about where NT fits into the numbering scheme, but I'm willing to give that a miss. Of course, if my guessing is correct, that would mean that Windows 95 was 4.0, 98 was 4.1 and ME was 4.2, for which we paid full boat "new version" prices. Say, it suddenly occurs to me that I have this all wrong. Maybe it's Windows 95/98/ME as 4, all that NT stuff as 5, XP as 6 and Vista as version 7. That would mean Windows 7 is really just Windows 7.1, which makes much more sense. Of course, we'll still be paying the full "new version" pricing for the dot release. But then, that precedent was already set in the Windows 9x stuff, so I guess it's okay. Now my head is spinning. Is it too early to have a drink?
Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Copywriting Services
People, if you go to the command prompt and type the command VER, then you will be enlightened with you Windows OS version ;P. Now with that said, my Windows 7 reported version 6.1.7600 :confused: