Windows 10: What’s in a name?

Microsoft announced to the world yesterday that “Windows 9” will actually be called Windows 10.

The name caught most of the tech media and Windows users by surprise. As with all things Microsoft there will be naysayers and bashers no matter what the company chose for the name, but it seems reasonable to question why Microsoft would go from Windows 8 to Windows 10, and just skip Windows 9.

I wrote a blog post exploring some of the names that were rumored, as well as some speculation about why it is not being called Windows 9:

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

~ William Shakespeare from Romeo and Juliet

Microsoft held a media event in San Francisco on Tuesday morning to unveil the latest version of the Windows operating system. Most of the world had settled on the idea that it would simply be called Windows 9, but Microsoft shocked everyone with the announcement that it will be named Windows 10.

It was codenamed “Windows Threshold,” and there has been speculation that it might actually be called Windows Threshold, Windows TH, or that Microsoft would drop the numbering convention completely and just call it Windows. When media entered the event, they were told the password for the Wi-Fi network was Windows2015, so that started even more drama and speculation.

When Terry Myerson, the head of Microsoft’s Windows, took the stage, he opened by laying out a vision for the future of the Windows platform. He even said, “Windows is at a threshold, and now it’s time for a new Windows,” which caused many to lean back toward thinking it would be Windows Threshold.

Then the presentation shifted to the mobile-first cloud-first world concept that has been the keystone of Satya Nadella’s strategy since he took over the reins as CEO. Microsoft has already painted a vision of a unified OS — one operating system platform that scales from mobile devices to laptop and desktop PCs, as well as game consoles and everything in between.

Read the full post at TechRepublic: Microsoft continues its interesting OS naming schema with Windows 10.