Some around the web have expressed confusion as to how Microsoft came up with the Windows 7 name it officially intends to use for the next version of Windows. The Windows Vista Team blog, the official blog of Windows 7 development, comes to the rescue with a little trip down Windows lane:
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.
Microsoft simply used the next version number in Windows’ long line of version numbers. Windows 7 is really the seventh version of the Windows kernel, though it will officially be versioned at 6.1 for compatability reasons.
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