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Why is Windows 7 so called?

I was wondering why Windows 7 and Windows 8 are numbered as such, if there are correspondences to "Windows 1, ..., 6"?

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closed as exact duplicate by Mehper C. Palavuzlar, techie007, harrymc, Daniel Beck, ChrisF Jun 7 '11 at 9:59

This question covers exactly the same ground as earlier questions on this topic; its answers may be merged with another identical question. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

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The naming of Windows 7 is explained in the Windows Team Blog's announcement of Windows 7:

The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows. We've used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or "aspirational" monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new "aspirational" name 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 Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.

Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore "Windows 7" just makes sense.

Windows 8 is still referred to by Microsoft as a code name. The official name of the product has not been announced. It might remain Windows 8, or it could change - we don't know though, and there are no objective sources to tell us one way or the other.

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Thanks! "this is the seventh release of Windows", what are the previous six releases of Windows? In en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows#Timeline_of_releases, there are more releases than six. – Tim Jun 5 '11 at 23:22
As Windows 8 is a code name, do recall Longhorn was the Vista code name, just for example. – Simon Sheehan Jun 5 '11 at 23:23
@Tim you can find a full history of MS Windows here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft_Windows – Simon Sheehan Jun 5 '11 at 23:23
@Simon: what does "code name" mean? A nickname? – Tim Jun 5 '11 at 23:31
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@Tim; I believe it is referring to major kernel version changes, not number of releases. Windows 7 is NT 6.1. – Phoshi Jun 5 '11 at 23:31
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No one knows for sure, not even Microsoft

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/007923.html

and

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/archive/b/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/13/introducing-windows-7.aspx

As you can see a few are missing from the list, Win95, 98, ME

1st: Windows NT 3.1

2nd: Windows NT 3.5

3rd: Windows NT 4.0

4th: Windows 2000 (5.0)

5th: Windows XP (5.1)

6th: Windows Vista (6.0)

And finally 7th: Windows 7 (6.1) (Windows 7 is the 7th major version in the desktop NT line)

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Remember there are also server versions, although I'm not sure their built on NT – Simon Sheehan Jun 5 '11 at 23:26
2000 and up is built on NT. It makes no sense other than MS thought 7 sounded cool. – Moab Jun 5 '11 at 23:29
Seems likely. I was truly hoping they'd move on from that Kernel – Simon Sheehan Jun 5 '11 at 23:31
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Win95, 98, and ME are simply not on the list because they are not NT versions. 95/98/ME are DOS based, for a while DOS and NT versions were produced simultaneously. Nowdays the DOS line has been ended. The server versions are built on NT and have NT version numbers matching the desktop release of the same year (each NT version means a new desktop build and a new server build). – jcrawfordor Jun 6 '11 at 2:15
They can spin it any way they want, and did. Seven definitely sounds better than Vista 2 or some other kludge of a name they might have used. Like I said, they own it and can name it anything they like and adjust the reasoning to fit. – Moab Jun 6 '11 at 2:58
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