Hey, this might sound a bit like a joke--and laugh if you like, or don't if you don't like--but I'm actually serious about this.Shouldn't Windows-what-is-now-called-"7" really be9 or higher? Look at this:Windows 1, 2, 3.11; then 95, NT = 4; 98 = 5;2000, Me= 6; so then wouldn't XP be 7 already, so Vista = 8, then now-known-as-"7" would really be 9--NINE?OR...Windows 1, 2, 3.11; then 95 = 4, NT = 5, 98 = 6, 2000 = 7, Me = 8, XP = 9, Vista = 10, then the now-"7" would be 11--ELEVEN? Wait, what's that I'm saying? 7-Eleven? Oh, heheh, yeah, heh....Anyway, so if this now-"7" version is really the 7th major version of Windows, then what are the real numbers of the other ones, and how do they fit in? If this really isn't the 7th major version of Windows, as I'm suggesting it seems not to be, then will you give it a good consideration to be renamed as 9 or 11 (depending on if you view Me to be the "Home" version of 2000 and NT to be the "Pro" version of 95, or if you view them all as completely separate)?Okay, so some of you might be laughing, but will you still take me at least a little bit seriously, and if you have no friendly consideration for the adjustment at all (frowned upon), at least explain why this should be "7" instead of 9 or 11?Thanks,Mike

Welcome to last year :) Yes we all know, it has been discussed, argued, made fun of, and generally beaten to death. We just get to live with it...just like MAC OS X .900000000000 or however many OS X's they have :)

Mike The bottom line it is just a name that sounded good to the people who make the decisions. Like Cold_Realms stated, this discussion already took place last year. Use your favorite search engine and you find several thousand completely different points of view.We are trying to stay focused on testing the beta here.Regards,Thank You for testing Windows 7 Beta Ronnie Vernon MVP

They use 7 for this version because "David Beckham" use No 7 :DOrmaybe you should check this link :http://www.uscourts.gov/bankruptcycourts/bankruptcybasics/chapter7.html

It is 6.1 as it isn't a major release.Windows 95, Windows 2000 and Vista were major releases.NT was 3.5 and 4.0 but belongs in the Server line.

Hi Mike, Actually, Windows 7 was a codename before 2008. On Oct 13, 2008, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Mike Nash wrote a article on Windows Team Blog announced the next version of Windows name, "Windows 7." Hope it helps.