While most technology companies develop their hardware and software products under temporary working titles before eventually settling on an official brand name prior to launch, Microsoft has decided to solidify the Windows 7 moniker already attached to its next computer operating system.
Microsoft confirms Windows 7 will be called Windows 7. Image: iwantanimac/Flickr.
With Windows Vista crafted under the codename of “Longhorn”, it was somewhat expected that Redmond-based Microsoft would, at some point, abandon the rather bland Windows 7 for something more typical of the evolving product line (ME, NT, 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista).
And, given that Microsoft’s inbound operating system will be built on the back of Vista and will be widely compatible with the current platform, there were even suggestions that the software titan would merely tag SE (special edition) on the end of Windows Vista.
Writing on Microsoft’s Vista blog on Monday, Mike Nash, the company’s vice president of Windows Product Management, confirmed that Windows 7 has indeed been cemented as the official product name for the new operating system, which is expected for launch in late 2009 or early 2010.
“Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore ‘Windows 7’ just makes sense,” he wrote.
In explaining away the decision to focus on a simplistic product name as opposed to something more traditionally chronological, Nash said that Microsoft does not ship new operating systems every year and therefore wasn’t attracted to a title based upon the year of launch (the last such OS was Windows 2003).
He also added that “coming up with an all-new ‘aspirational’ name [like Windows XP] does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Vista into the next generation of Windows.”
As pre-launch interest in Windows 7 begins to gather pace, Microsoft will be handing over a “pre-beta developer-only release” of the evolving operating system to attendees of its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on October 27, and also during its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) on November 05.
In terms of anticipated reception for the official branding of Windows 7, Computerworld points to a reader poll recently conducted by Windows blogger Ed Bott, which returned 20 percent support for Windows 2010, while Windows 7 received 15 percent of the votes. Other names considered worthy were Windows 2009, which garnered 14 percent, and Windows Vista R2, which took a mere seven percent.
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