Today is Christmas Day! As you sit down to relax and open the gifts and watch the people open the gifts you purchase there are undoubtedly tech gifts amongst them. Maybe even a computer. Of course the most popular operating system in use in the Windows OS and at this point with only 6 days left in the decade Windows 10 is king of the coop. You may remember back to Windows 8 but you don’t remember Windows 9.
What happened to Windows 9?
Windows 8
Windows 8 was not a popular operating system. It was released in 2012 amid the usual fanfare and its reception was mixed. A year later it was considered to already be a commercial flop, and not just a small one but one of the worst one of the decade. And that was only 3 years into the 2010s.
Microsoft was of course working on the next version of the operating system and they were well aware of the public reception. A change was needed.
Change Of Strategy At Microsoft
The decision to skip Windows 9 was not based on scrapping a version that was in the works and starting all over. Instead according to a Microsoft executive on the day that Windows 10 was released the reason to skip it was to simply signify that Microsoft was starting a new era of Windows. Windows 10 was to be a huge step away from the traditional Windows model.
They may have also wanted to distance themselves from the flop that was Windows 8 as well. One executive joked that they couldn’t restart the brand and call it Windows One since that already existed. For users with Windows 8 they got to download Windows 10 for free.
There is no plan for Windows 11 or 12 or 13 to ever happen. Instead Microsoft plans to simply make small updates to improve on Windows 10 in perpetuity.
Don’t Download Windows 9
One of the major scams going around the Internet for the 2010s was a scam that tricked people into downloading Windows 9. It is not quite as prevalent today as most people have realized that Windows 9 does not exist and will never exist but more than a few people fell for it. At this point it is a joke and it even has its own Facebook page.
As we head into a new decade the way our technology works is different. It will be very interesting to see what Windows looks like at this time in another decade and chances are it will look very different. By then the days of the desktop and laptop computer may be limited. It is also very interesting to think of what we will use for our computers in another decade. There, that should make a nice conversation starter today! And if not, this killed a few minutes for you.
Have a Merry Christmas from everyone at Nicely Done Sites.