You may be asking yourself, “ Windows 6.1? I’ve never even heard of Windows 6″. (Of course, then again you might not be asking yourself that question at all, but that doesn’t really help me continue with my point. So for the sake of expediency let’s just assume for a second that you are.) Believe it or not, you have heard of Windows 6. In fact, you have probably heard lots of things, good and bad, about Windows 6 over the past few years. Simply put: Windows 6 is Windows Vista, but Windows 7 isn’t Windows 7.
Microsoft has been numbering it’s Windows Versions all the way since it’s inception. At the beginning the revision numbers were openly touted (Windows 1, Windows 2, Windows 3, Windows 3.1 and Windows 3.11), however starting with Windows 95, Microsoft decided in its infinite and convoluted marketing wisdom to go ahead and start naming the desktop Windows operating systems based upon the year of release (Windows 95, Windows Millenium Edition, Windows 2000) and then later changed it up again by assigning seemingly random (but apparently really contained some sort of magical marketing value) names to the operating system (Windows XPand Windows Vista). Each version, however still was based upon a sequentially numbered version of Windows.
If you want to find out what version of Windows your machine is running, it’s pretty simple. Bring up a command prompt, type ‘ver’ (without quotes) and hit <Enter>. In my case if I follow this process on my primary workstation I receive this response “Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]” which translates to Windows Vista w/Service Pack 1. Now this is where things get odd with Windows 7. One would think, then that it logically follows, that Microsoft naming the version of Windows after Vista (6.0) Windows 7, that Microsoft was returning to their old naming structure with the name of Windows matching the actual revision of the operating system. However, if you were to lookup the version number for Windows 7 (Beta) using the same process that I used in Windows Vista, you would recieve a response similar to the following: “Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7000]“.
Wait. You’re saying that Windows 7 is really Windows 6.1? Yes! Windows 7 is nothing more than Windows 6.1, and if you look closely at it – you can see that using the name ‘Windows 7′ is nothing more than yet another “brilliant” marketing scheme from the Microsoft Marketing department. The biggest visible difference is the GUI (Graphical User Interface) and some performance and usability tweaks, but underneath all new windows and siding, this is still the same ole house as Vista. See, what seemingly occurred here is that Microsoft wished to distance itself from the Vista platform due to the amazing amount of bad press (most of it unduly deserved if you ask me) and fallout from a wildly successful smear campaign brought against it by a certain unnamed competitor *cough* Apple *cough*.
And so, the Marketing scheme known as Windows 7 was born. Yet, Windows 7 the “wonderful”, “new” and “What Vista shoulda been” OS that everyone seems to be touting should really be called Windows Vista SP2, or R2. Windows 7 isn’t a whole new animal – it’s the same pig with a new shade of lipstick slapped on to make it more palatable for the detractors and to allow them to charge a premium for features that should be free upgrades to Windows Vista.
I’m not happy with Windows 7. I’m not happy with Windows 7 not because it’s a bad operating system, nor because it has any glaring problems. I’m not happy with Windows 7 because it appears to me to be a bold-faced lie aimed at consumers who are buying into the hype, and expecting a revolutionary new operating system which Windows 7 simply is not. Naming it Windows 7 appears to me to be nothing more than a deliberate ploy to mislead the consumer.
That said, I’m still a Microsoft fan. And I will still buy Windows 7, albeit grudgingly, when it comes out because it genuinely does have some performance tweaks and UI changes that appeal to me. But I cannot help but feel that the hype, naming and price are all unwarranted, and exist simply to take advantage of the consumer. I just hope that Microsoft will choose to do things differently in the future.
Filed under: Technology Tagged: | 6.0.6001, 6.1.7000, scam, Windows 7, Windows Vista
Chris Jenkins
Adam Mahle
Kristen Vitartas
Joel Musheno
Damon Muchmore
Jacob Prystowsky
More and more Windows users are getting disgruntled I wonder if Windows is self-destructing.
good article, However you might want to do a lil research into minwin
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20071019/eric-talk-demo-windows-7-minwin/
MinWin is going to be the kernel overhaul for Windows 7 and once implemented, you will probably no longer see 6.1. I realize it may be a little confusing to some of you as to why Windows 7 doesn’t contain everything that will be Windows 7 but quite simply, as with many products, development and testing begins by integrating new code into the latest stable code. Until MinWin is implemented, you can basically consider Windows 7 to be an extension and evolution of Windows Vista SP1
MinWin has been hyped in different versions for years, it’s not a new concept but it does have several variations. If indeed the kernel hasn’t been updated before the public beta then I doubt you’re going to see it done. It would be disastrous for MS to make kernel replacement between beta and release. Note your link is from 10.13.2007 they’ve had plenty of time to implement the kernel. Regardless Windows 7 is not much more than a Service Pack to correct a poor marketing on an incomplete product.
MinWin and Windows 7: There is only one problem with the theory being used. “Windows 7″ the marketing term as released by Microsoft specifically refers to the 6.1 Kernel line. The name “Windows 7″ is used only as such. Microsoft has never released a new Kernel this late in the game – and the ramifications that releasing one this late in the stream would be catastrophic. Developers, and vendors would be irate as hell – and the driver problems that plagued Vista’s launch would be revisited with this launch. It’s just not going to happen. And all recent chatter out of Microsoft pretty much confirms this.
I do, however, believe that the MinWin information does refer to the next full version of Windows… not the incremental change of the 6.1 version. And, when Windows version 7 (code, not marketing name whatever that may be) is released it will contain much of what the current MinWin does. The Marketed “Windows 7″ however, for Microsoft’s sake, better not be it.