Nathan
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Why Did Microsoft Skip Windows 9?
Over the years, Microsoft has followed a pretty consistent naming scheme for its major OS releases. For example, we had Windows 95, 98, 2000, all the way up to Windows 8. But when the company released the next major version of Windows after Windows 8, it decided to call it “Windows 10” skipping the number 9.
When Windows 10 first launched, multiple theories intending to explain the rationale behind Microsoft’s decision to skip the number 9 popped up.
For instance, one of the more widespread and plausible ones was from a Redditor. Allegedly, many legacy programs use “Windows 9” as a reference to Windows 95 and 98 in their code. To avoid widespread technical issues, Microsoft decided to call the new OS “Windows 10”.
While this reason makes sense, it is not official. The reasons we have from official sources describe the motivation behind Microsoft skipping Windows 9 as simple marketing.
According to acclaimed Microsoft insider Mary Jo Foley, the company went with “Windows 10” because it wanted to signify that the OS would be the last major Windows update. So, the number 10 was a way of saying “hey, this is it, and there’d be no more Windows X releases”.
So there you have it folks, EXCEPT that Microsoft then came out with Windows 11, and are currently in development with Windows 12.
Over the years, Microsoft has followed a pretty consistent naming scheme for its major OS releases. For example, we had Windows 95, 98, 2000, all the way up to Windows 8. But when the company released the next major version of Windows after Windows 8, it decided to call it “Windows 10” skipping the number 9.
When Windows 10 first launched, multiple theories intending to explain the rationale behind Microsoft’s decision to skip the number 9 popped up.
For instance, one of the more widespread and plausible ones was from a Redditor. Allegedly, many legacy programs use “Windows 9” as a reference to Windows 95 and 98 in their code. To avoid widespread technical issues, Microsoft decided to call the new OS “Windows 10”.
While this reason makes sense, it is not official. The reasons we have from official sources describe the motivation behind Microsoft skipping Windows 9 as simple marketing.
According to acclaimed Microsoft insider Mary Jo Foley, the company went with “Windows 10” because it wanted to signify that the OS would be the last major Windows update. So, the number 10 was a way of saying “hey, this is it, and there’d be no more Windows X releases”.
So there you have it folks, EXCEPT that Microsoft then came out with Windows 11, and are currently in development with Windows 12.
