Microsoft surprised everyone two days ago when it announced that the new Windows would be called Windows 10, instead of the Windows 9 or Windows Threshold that we all expected. However, the company gave no explanation whatsoever for its decision.
A Reddit user claiming to be a Microsoft developer has reported that the company skipped Windows 9 and went straight to Windows 10 because of Windows 95! As strange as it may sound, it seems that Microsoft was afraid to use the 9 name because third-party applications might confuse the new version of Windows with 95. The developer explains that many applications search for “Windows 9*” with a wildcard “*” which could result in the version being labeled as older.
According to him, there are many companies that use software with old code and may have encountered problems, and Microsoft did not want to create a negative experience in any way. In a tweet he published, he states:
“Early diagnosis revealed many third-party applications that had code of the form:
if(version.StartsWith(“Windows 9″))
{ /* 95 and 98 */ } else {
and this (the name change) was a substantial solution"
engadget.com reports that a similar incident occurred 10 years ago with Windows 2000 – but it affected fewer Microsoft customers. Microsoft, wanting to avoid potential mistakes with Windows 9, decided to change its name, while also signaling a completely new era for the brand.
