It is called Windows 7 cause they are going back to the number scheme instead of names that they have been using. They used names for the longest time and now are only getting back to the basics and using names again.
It was thought that it was cause it was the 7th version, but that isnt completely true. Win2000 doesnt really count. It was a NT based OS and was geared more toward servers and workstations than home use. Even though many people used it at home, it really wasnt meant for that. The other myth out there is that they names it after the kernel. While this is true to a point, the truth is the fact that the same kernel that is used in Win7 is also the same kernel used in Vista post SP1. Version 6.1. So while it is technically the 7th iteration of the kernel, it was in use long before Win7 hit the market.
It is basically the 7th home based OS released.
Windows 3.1
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows ME
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows 3.1 counts over 2000 for the fact that it was released and used by more home users than Win2000 at its time. There was also Windows 3.11 for Workgroups which was basically like a SP for that version but they didnt call it that back then. Just like there was Win95A and Win95B as well as Win98A and Win98 Second Edition. It wasnt until XP that there was a true SP released for home based versions of Windows even though the NT line (Win2000 and prior) were using SP's back then.
But even Win3.1 doesnt fully count for the fact that PC's were not common in homes back then. They were thousands of dollars and also complicated to build. You got a box of parts and had to read blueprints and build everything yourself. It wasnt till the release of Win95 that you say the types of machines that are around today. Before that they were semi preassembled, but i remember building my first PC and it was basically a box with a bunch of parts and i had to read the blueprints to put it together diode by diode, transistor by transistor and so on. It wasnt like buying a part today.
So there you have it. The story of the name. Microsoft has a strange way of doing names and that. The Beta for XP was called Whistler. Vista was called Longhorn. Win7 was originally called Blackcomb but they changed it long before the OS was in Beta stages. Win 95 was Chicago.
List of Microsoft codenames - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There is a full list of the codenames of the Beta and the final names. They are getting out of this proper name and going with numbers cause it makes life easier on all who try to do the support.
