What were the names of Windows 4, 5, and 6?

[Hulk]

Okay so there was Windows 1, 2, and 3. I'm not talking about the point releases, just the whole number releases.

Is it like this?

Window 95 = Windows 4
XP = Windows 5
Vista = Windows 6

I'm thinking that Windows 98 and 2000 were point releases of 95.
I guess Windows NT could be considered "4" but I think that was more of a niche market, not a biggie like 95, which MS promoted the heck out of I remember.

I'm glad that MS got back on the straightforward number scheme.

Lived a happy life. Was rudely raised from the dead. Going back in ground.
-ViRGE

 

[theevilsharpie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Releases

 

[Bubbaleone]

1981: MS-DOS

1982-1985: Windows 1.0

1987-1992: Windows 2.0, 2.11

1990-1994: Windows 3.0, 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows NT 3.1 (32 bit)

1995-2001: Windows 95, (summer of 1995, the first version of Internet Explorer is released)

1998-2000: Windows 98, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows ME

2001-2005: Windows XP

2006-2008: Windows Vista

2009-Present: Windows 7

 

[Nothinman]

Okay so there was Windows 1, 2, and 3. I'm not talking about the point releases, just the whole number releases.

Is it like this?

Window 95 = Windows 4
XP = Windows 5
Vista = Windows 6

I'm thinking that Windows 98 and 2000 were point releases of 95.
I guess Windows NT could be considered "4" but I think that was more of a niche market, not a biggie like 95, which MS promoted the heck out of I remember.

I'm glad that MS got back on the straightforward number scheme.

NT 4 was far from niche, unless you're talking the consumer market. NT4 was where MS started to really eat into Novell's marketshare and once they figured out which parts of NDS they wanted to steal and rebrand under AD they released NT 4 (Win2K) and really put Novell behind them in the infrastructure and file server departments.

And really, every version of Windows will tell you it's NT version if you just type 'ver' or 'winver' into a command prompt. For example, if you do it on Win7 you get 'Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]'. So Win7 isn't really 7.0, it's 6.1, despite MS' "straightforward number scheme".

 

[Hulk]

So why does MS pick up with Windows 7? They must believe there were 3 significant versions from 4 to 6.

 

[lamedude]

Going by the version numbers NT4 and 9x/ME are Windows 4, Win2K/XP/2K3 are Win5, and Vista was Win6.

 

[MrChad]

It's confusing because Windows used to be split into consumer and business releases with separate code bases.

Consumer: Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

Business: Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

Although a lot consumers adopted (and many pirated) Windows 2000, it was never intended for home users. Windows XP was the first consumer release under the NT code base.

 

[Nothinman]

It's confusing because Windows used to be split into consumer and business releases with separate code bases.

Consumer: Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

Business: Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

Although a lot consumers adopted (and many pirated) Windows 2000, it was never intended for home users. Windows XP was the first consumer release under the NT code base.

It's confusing because MS makes it so. Their naming and numbering aren't consistent from any perspective, within a product line or even minor versions of products. I really wish they would stop trying to be clever and just use consecutive version numbers for everything.

 

[ultimatebob]

Going by the version numbers NT4 and 9x/ME are Windows 4, Win2K/XP/2K3 are Win5, and Vista was Win6.

And to make things more confusing, Windows "7" is actually 6.1 and Windows "8" is actually 6.2.

 

[ultimatebob]

1981: MS-DOS

1982-1985: Windows 1.0

1987-1992: Windows 2.0, 2.11

1990-1994: Windows 3.0, 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, Windows NT 3.1 (32 bit)

1995-2001: Windows 95, (summer of 1995, the first version of Internet Explorer is released)

1998-2000: Windows 98, Windows NT Workstation 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows ME

2001-2005: Windows XP

2006-2008: Windows Vista

2009-Present: Windows 7

Windows NT Workstation 4 came out in 1996. Other than that, the list looks good.

 

[sm625]

Only a company as bloated and near-extinct as microsoft could dream of calling windows version 6.1 "windows 7". That's just so far beyond retarded... Even worse is the fact tthat they probably spent over a million dollars on that one single decision.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724832(v=vs.85).aspx

Product names don't necessarily line up with version numbers. Those are just for the NT guts.

Windows 7 is just the seventh major revision of the consumer-targeted Windows OS. (9x/Me being 4/4.x, XP being 5, and Vista being 6.)

But it's actually Windows NT 6.1.

Oddly, the GetVersion command in Windows 8 returns 8. So there was no (will not have been ?) NT 7.

 

[Kathi201]

NT 3.1 Windows NT 3.1 Workstation (named just Windows NT), Advanced Server

NT 3.5 Windows NT 3.5 Workstation, Server

NT 3.51 Windows NT 3.51 Workstation, Server

NT 4.0 Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Server, Server Enterprise Edition, Terminal Server, Embedded

NT 5.0 Windows 2000 Professional, Server, Advanced Server, Datacenter Server, Advanced/Datacenter Server Limited Edition

NT 5.1 Windows XP Home, Professional, 64-bit Edition, Media Center (original, 2003, 2004 & 2005), Tablet PC (original and 2005), Starter, Embedded, Home N, Professional N

NT 5.1 Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs N/A

NT 5.2 Windows XP 64-bit Edition Version 2003[18]

NT 5.2 Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, Storage, Small Business Server, Compute Cluster

NT 5.2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

NT 5.2 Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, Storage, Small Business Server, Compute Cluster

NT 5.2 Windows Home Server N/A

NT 6.0 Windows Vista Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate, Home Basic N, Business N

NT 6.0 Windows Server 2008 Foundation, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web Server, HPC Server, Itanium-Based Systems[19]

NT 6.1[20] Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate[21]

NT 6.1[20] Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web Server, HPC Server, Itanium-Based Systems

NT 6.2[24] Windows 8 TBA

TBA Windows Server 8 TBA

 

[TheSlamma]

It's confusing because MS makes it so. Their naming and numbering aren't consistent from any perspective, within a product line or even minor versions of products. I really wish they would stop trying to be clever and just use consecutive version numbers for everything.

Their CAL license system is even worse, I swear every call to their volume licensing center is a different answer every person you get.

 

[xSauronx]

Their CAL license system is even worse, I swear every call to their volume licensing center is a different answer every person you get.

i have heard nightmare stories about this...but fortunately have not had to deal with it myself.

 

[Nothinman]

Their CAL license system is even worse, I swear every call to their volume licensing center is a different answer every person you get.

All licensing is that way. I don't think we've had a single Cisco Voice project have proper licensing ordered so we always have to call TAC to get it resolved. And most of the time TAC just sends us the licenses we ask for to get the project going instead of trying to actually figure out what happened. And I had a CommVault partner tell me the same thing about them. I find it ironic that closed software proponents complain about the incompatibilities of certain free licenses while anyone with a little time and technical knowledge can read and understand the limitations of the licenses but not even the people who write and sell closed software can tell you what licenses you need with 100% certainty.

 

[FalseChristian]

I can't wait for Windows 4000. It should be better than Windows 8.

 

[Tech-Nerd]

The naming of Windows 7 (& 8) is really very simple, and has nothing to do with versions. Windows '95 was called that because it was released in 1995. Ditto Windows '98 in 1998 and Windows 2000 in 2000. Well, Microsoft planned to release their new Windows in 2007, with the name Windows '07, same time they released Office 2007, but the release date slipped a few times. They just kept the name (Windows 7) because it sounded cool. So of course the next obvious big release would be Windows 8. (Can't call it Windows 13 -- how unlucky!)

 

[GMasonDragonDad]

Pure Marketing!

Windows 1, 2, 3 just version numbers.

Windows 95/98/Me were year released. (Why buy a 1999 computer with last years OS on it?)

Windows NT (business OS) for use with networks.

Windows 2000 (year released for business OS clashed with consumer version "Millennium edition"

Windows XP (fresh name) - death of the 9x/Me into the NT core.

Vista - epic failure

Windows 7 - "Lucky #7" - get away from Vista's nightmare.

Windows 8 - "Unlucky 8-ball" - experiment gone wrong..

Windows 9 - ??

 

[Dude111]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Releases

Thanks for the link...... My OS falls under the 4.x series (4b I think)

4a is Win95 (All versions)
4b is all flavours of Win98/98se

 

[IndyColtsFan]

NT 3.1 Windows NT 3.1 Workstation (named just Windows NT), Advanced Server

NT 3.5 Windows NT 3.5 Workstation, Server

NT 3.51 Windows NT 3.51 Workstation, Server

NT 4.0 Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, Server, Server Enterprise Edition, Terminal Server, Embedded

NT 5.0 Windows 2000 Professional, Server, Advanced Server, Datacenter Server, Advanced/Datacenter Server Limited Edition

NT 5.1 Windows XP Home, Professional, 64-bit Edition, Media Center (original, 2003, 2004 & 2005), Tablet PC (original and 2005), Starter, Embedded, Home N, Professional N

NT 5.1 Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs N/A

NT 5.2 Windows XP 64-bit Edition Version 2003[18]

NT 5.2 Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, Storage, Small Business Server, Compute Cluster

NT 5.2 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

NT 5.2 Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web, Storage, Small Business Server, Compute Cluster

NT 5.2 Windows Home Server N/A

NT 6.0 Windows Vista Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate, Home Basic N, Business N

NT 6.0 Windows Server 2008 Foundation, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web Server, HPC Server, Itanium-Based Systems[19]

NT 6.1[20] Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate[21]

NT 6.1[20] Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation, Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web Server, HPC Server, Itanium-Based Systems

NT 6.2[24] Windows 8 TBA

TBA Windows Server 8 TBA

Windows 8 Server = Windows Server 2012 = 6.2
Windows 8.1 Server = Windows Server 2012 R2 = 6.3

 

[88keys]

Don't try to explain or understand. M$ just wanted to call it Windows 7 and that's it.

Given their pattern they'll probably stop numbering them after Windows 9 anyway.