After confusing many by choosing to call their next operating system ‘Windows 10’, it has now been revealed why Microsoft skipped the ‘Windows 9’ moniker.
When Windows 10 was announced just last week, it offered up a hotbed of mixed opinion. On one hand many users were absolutely delighted that Windows 10 would be bringing some much asked for features back after Windows 8 so mercilessly abandoned them, while it would also scrap many of the ones the unpopular operating system introduced. Those brought back include the Start button, which had long been the best way to navigate files and programs, while the Charms bar (the list of settings and options that comes up in Windows 8 when you drag your cursor down the side of the screen) and the Metro style layout have been ditched. But on the other hand, many people were just outright confused – why is it called Windows 10 instead of Windows 9?
That decision, one developer claims, is down to Microsoft’s coding. Revealed by Reddit user Cranbourne, they say that the operating system is called Windows 10 as not to interfere with third-party code that searches for ‘Windows 9’. As many would note, Microsoft already has two operating systems that start with ‘9’, Windows 95 and Windows 98. Cranbourne says that because of this, existing third-party code “if(version.StartsWith(“Windows 9″)) { /* 95 and 98 */ } else {” would refer to the older OS’ rather than the new one.
Cranbourne also explains that this is the “pragmatic solution” to a problem that otherwise couldn’t be solved. Some users have already asked ‘why didn’t they call it Windows 2015?’ but of course, Windows 2000 exists and calling it that would offer up similar issues. So, as a result, calling it Windows 10 was the best fix.
Good luck getting Microsoft to discuss their coding debacle though, as their official statement is “Windows 10 carries Windows forward into a new way of doing things. It is not an incremental change, but a new Windows that will empower the next billion users” which glosses over it altogether.
Nonetheless, Windows 10 will be out next year.
Source: Neowin
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