All entries for Tuesday 14 October 2008

Windows 7 to be called… Windows 7

Writing about web page http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/13/introducing-windows-7.aspx

I've never been a fan of 'names' for software - the "big cat" naming schemes for MacOS X and the absolutely dreadful Ubuntu naming schemes have never really sat comfortably with me. I think "Vista" was the icing on that particularly bitter cake though.. never could a name so obviously have come from a marketing department. Even better was the marketing gumpf that came out at the time to accompany Vista. I'd like to quote one particularly memorable example from the press release that came out, shortly after Microsoft announcing that Halo 2 for the PC would be a Windows Vista exclusive:

"Why are you releasing Halo 2 for Windows Vista only?
As Bungie Studios and Microsoft are dedicated to delivering a top quality translation of Halo 2 for the PC, their efforts require the use of the best available technological platform for Windows games. Windows Vista will help bring clarity to our customers and help them get more out of their personal computing experience, allowing them to focus on what matters most to them."

Clarity to your customers? What does bringing clarity to your customers have to do with tying Halo 2 to Vista?

Anyway - I digress. The point of the blog post was to link to the announcement from Microsoft that the next version of Windows (codenamed Windows 7) will in fact be released as Windows 7. And I for one salute Microsoft - no marketing crap, just the version number. I suppose we'll still get about 23 different versions of Windows but I'm glad that progress has been made in at least one area!

James Taylor : 14 Oct 2008 09:05 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem